Famous actors including Dame Judi Dench, Sir Anthony Sher and Sir Ian McKellen will appear on a new CD released by the Royal Shakespeare Company to mark over four decades of ‘memorable performances.’

The British Library Sound Archive have cleaned up the performances, some of which date from as far back as 1959. Technician Nigel Bewley says that the Archive didn’t want to clear up every blemish on the recordings, as it “would have resulted in something anodyne or sterile.???

Excerpts will include Richard II and King Lear. The first on the album is from a 1959 performance of Coriolanus, starring Sir Lawrence Olivier, with the final track a rendition of All’s Well That Ends Well from 2002.

RSC associate director Gregory Doran, who was responsible for picking the performances, says he decided to pick “a few extracts from some of my personal favourites."