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Madhyamavyayoga

Play · 700 est

In the forest where the Pandavas are in exile, Ghatotkacha captures a Brahmin family for his mother Hidimba, who wants a human meal. Each family member volunteers to die in the others’ place, until the priest’s middle son goes to fetch water. When Ghatotkacha calls for the “middle one,” Bhima mistakes the call for himself and arrives. The ensuing dispute and wrestling match reveal that Ghatotkacha is Bhima’s son; Hidimba recognizes her husband, and both families part in peace.

Mahomet the Imposter

Play · 1744

Mahomet the Imposter is a 1744 tragedy by the British writer James Miller. His final play, it was inspired by the 1736 French work Mahomet by Voltaire. It was Miller's only tragedy, as his other works were sentimental comedies. The title is sometimes spelt as Mahomet the Impostor. The original Drury Lane cast included David Garrick as Zaphna, Dennis Delane as Mahomet, Henry Giffard as Alcanor, Richard Winstone as Pharon and Anna Marcella Giffard as Palmira.

Major Barbara

Play · 1905

Major Barbara Undershaft, a Salvation Army officer in London, is disillusioned when the Army accepts donations from her estranged father, Andrew Undershaft, a wealthy munitions maker, and a whisky distiller. She visits his factory and sees the wages and stability it provides to workers, while he visits her shelter and observes her work with its visitors. Barbara ultimately decides that bringing salvation to those with material plenty may be more meaningful than feeding the starving; her fiancé Adolphus Cusins becomes heir to the factory.

Man Alive!

Play · 1955

Man Alive! is a comedy play by the British writer John Dighton. In a strange turnaround at a department store in Oxford Street, a shop window mannequin comes to life and takes over the store while the unpopular manager is temporarily turned into a dummy. After premiering at the Pleasure Gardens Theatre in Folkestone it transferred to the Aldwych Theatre where it ran for 84 performances from 14 June to 25 August 1956. The cast included Robertson Hare, Brian Reece, Wendy Craig, Joan Hickson and Joan Sims.

Management

Play · 1799

Management is a 1799 comedy play by the British writer Frederick Reynolds. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 31 October 1799. The original cast included William Thomas Lewis as Captain Lavish, John Fawcett as Mist, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Worry, Alexander Pope as Sir Hervey Sutherland, Charles Farley as Alltrade, Charles Klanert as Frank, Samuel Simmons as Stopgap, George Davenport as Geoffrey, Mary Ann Davenport as Mrs Dazzle and Maria Ann Pope as Juliana. The Dublin premiere was at the Crow Street Theatre on 13 February 1800.

Manuel

Play · 1817

Manuel is an 1817 tragedy by the Irish writer Charles Maturin. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 8 March 1817. The original cast included Edmund Kean as Manuel, Count Valdi, Alexander Rae as De Zelos, James William Wallack as Torrismond, Charles Holland as Mendizabel, Thomas Cooke as Almorad, John Powell as Guide and Margaret Somerville as Victoria. The published work is dedicated to the writer Walter Scott. It takes place in the wake of the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa in Spain. It failed to recapture the success of his debut play Bertram of the previous year, despite both starring Kean.

Many Waters

Play · 1928

Many Waters is a play by the Irish writer Monckton Hoffe. It was first performed in 1926 under the title The Unnamed Play lasting for one performance at the Stand Theatre in London. Revised and under its new title it enjoyed a much longer West End run at the Ambassadors Theatre, lasting for 313 performances between 18 July 1928 and 20 April 1929. The 1928 cast included Nicholas Hannen, Marda Vanne, Milton Rosmer, Reginald Denham, Aubrey Dexter and Robert Douglas in his West End debut. The title is from the expression "Many waters cannot quench love" (Song of Solomon 8:7).

Marat/Sade

Play · 1964

Set in the historical Charenton Asylum, Marat/Sade is almost entirely a "play within a play". The main story takes place on 13 July 1808; the play directed by the Marquis de Sade within the story takes place 15 years earlier, during the French Revolution, culminating in the assassination (13 July 1793) of Jean-Paul Marat, then quickly brings the audience up to date (1808). The actors are the inmates of the asylum; the nurses and supervisors occasionally step in to restore order. The bourgeois director of the hospital, Coulmier, supervises the performance, accompanied by his wife and daughter. He is a supporter of the post-revolutionary government led by Napoleon, in place at the time of the production, and believes the play he has organised to be an endorsement of his patriotic views. His patients, however, have other ideas, and they make a habit of speaking lines he had attempted to suppress, or deviating entirely into personal opinion. Having come out of the revolution no better than they went in, the inmates are not entirely pleased with the course of events as they occurred. The Marquis de Sade, the man after whom sadism is named, did indeed direct performances in Charenton with other inmates there, encouraged by Coulmier. De Sade is a main character in the play, conducting many philosophical dialogues with Marat and observing the proceedings with sardonic amusement. He remains detached and cares little for practical politics and the inmates' talk of right and justice; he simply stands by as an observer and an advocate of his own nihilistic and individualist beliefs.

Marco Polo Sings a Solo

Play · 1973

According to Samuel French's website, the play is set in "...1999, the place an island off the coast of Norway. Stony McBride, a young movie director and adopted son of an aging Hollywood star, is writing a film about Marco Polo, in which, it is hoped, his father will make a comeback. Stony is also attempting to deal with his attractive wife, a former concert pianist whose lover, a dynamic young politician who has gotten hold of the cure for cancer, is also on hand. Adding to the rapidly multiplying complications are Stony's mother (a transsexual, as she later confesses); a friend named Frank (who has been in space orbit for the past five years); a maid (who is impregnated astrally by Frank); and another friend, Larry (who is fitted with a set of mechanical legs). There is also an earthquake; the discovery of a planet; and the birth of a new hero (Stony himself?); all coming together, within the bizarre action of the play, to yield some chilling, albeit very funny, glimpses of the future that may await us all."

Margin for Error

Play · 1939

Officer Finkelstein, a Jewish policeman, is assigned to protect Karl Baumer, the consul for Nazi Germany in an American city. While hosting a group of people listening to a radio broadcast of a speech by Adolf Hitler, Baumer is apparently murdered. Finkelstein's investigation discovers that each of the others present has a motive for murdering Baumer. Dr. Jennings paid to get relatives out of Germany, only to discover Baumer has cheated him. Sophie Baumer hated her husband's cruelty and amorality. Baumer threatened to expose the Jewish ancestry of Baron Max von Alvenstor, and planned to kill Otto Horst. Thomas Denny, an American journalist, hates Baumer's Nazi ideology. All the suspects are found to be innocent; Baumer accidentally drank poison that he had prepared to murder one of his guests.

Mariamne

Play · 1723

Mariamne is a 1723 tragedy play by the British writer Elijah Fenton. It is based on the biblical Mariamne, wife of Herod the Great of Judea. The following year Voltaire produced a French play of the same title. Staged at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre the original cast included Anna Maria Seymour as Mariamne, Anthony Boheme as Herod, Jane Egleton as Salome, Thomas Walker as Pheroras, Jane Rogers as Arsinoe, James Quin as Sohemus, Lacy Ryan as Flaminius and John Leigh as the High Priest.

Marriage à la mode

Play · 1673

The setting is in Sicily. The plot concerns two separate storylines, one a romance between Palmyra and Leonidas, who were separated from their parents as babies and who were raised together by Hermogenes, who has kept their past a secret. When Hermogenes is recognized by the usurper-king Polydamas, he declares that Leonidas is Polydamas's son. However, as Leonidas's new position of prince then forbids him to marry Palmyra, much misery is brought to the couple. When the lovers refuse to stop seeing each other, Palmyra is sentenced to death. Hermogenes then steps forward and reveals that he was lying before: in fact Leonidas is his own son, he says, and he had lied in the hopes of bettering the boy by making him prince, whereas Palmyra is the real child of Polydamas. After offering proof of this new claim, Palmyra is established as princess, but again this prevents her and Leonidas from marrying. Hermogenes eventually admits that he once again was withholding information, and reveals the whole truth to Leonidas—Leonidas is the son of the rightful king, whose throne was usurped by Polydamas. As soon as he learns this, Leonidas forms a rebellion against Polydamas, wins, and establishes himself the new king, finally allowing himself and Palmyra to be married. The second storyline, which intertwines with the first, concerns Rhodophil and his friend Palamede. Palamede has fallen in love with Rhodophil's wife Doralice, and Rhodophil is in love with Palamede's fiancée Melantha. Each of the women seem to find their pursuers agreeable, and great care is taken by all parties to keep their meetings secret from each other, with disastrous results as the two couples seem to always choose the same locations and tactics for meeting. When finally the actions of everyone are discovered, Palamede and Rhodophil decide that since their tastes in women are so similar, each would be best sticking to his rightful claim. Palamede then manages to win the heart of Melantha, and amicably break off his relationship with Doralice.

Married for Money

Play · 1939

Married for Money is a 1939 comedy play by the British author Will Scott. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Birmingham before transferring to the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End where it ran for performances between 17 November and 26 December 1939, in the early months of the Second World War. The West End cast included Bryan Coleman, Ronald Simpson, Mackenzie Ward, Eliot Makeham, Nora Swinburne, Dinah Sheridan and Viola Lyel. It is a farce revolving around a put-upon husband who conceals a secret stash of money from his wife.

Marseilles

Play · 1930

Marseilles is play in three acts by Sidney Howard that was adapted from Marcel Pagnol's Marius (1929). Produced and directed by Gilbert Miller, it premiered at Parsons Theatre in Hartford, Connecticut on November 3, 1930, with a cast led by Alexander Kirkland as Marius. It transferred to Broadway's Henry Miller's Theatre on November 17, 1930. It ran for 16 performances. Helene Pons designed the gowns worn by the women in the production. Others in the cast included Guy Kibbee as Panisse, Douglas Wood as Monsieur Brun, and Alison Skipworth as Honorine.

Marvin's Room

Play · 1990

Bessie, a strong-willed woman, takes care of her bedridden father and eccentric Aunt Ruth. After Bessie is diagnosed with leukemia, her estranged sister, Lee, comes to visit and to be tested as a possible bone marrow donor for her sister. The reunion between the sisters is initially uncomfortable, aggravated by the difficult behavior of Lee's two sons. The two women eventually confront their shortcomings as sisters, reach out to each other, and arrive at an understanding about the importance of family.

Mary Jane's Pa

Play · 1908

The play takes place over the course of several weeks in September during the early 1900's, in Gosport, Indiana. Act I (Interior of the Perkins home. Afternoon.) Lucille is studying when Ivy comes in the back door, her hair in rollers. She wants to borrow something, but hides when Barrett calls. He and Lucille discuss Portia's antipathy to their seeing each other. Star drops by, then Claud Whitcomb comes in, followed by Miss Faxon. Joel Skinner is next and Ivy's nerve finally breaks. She dashes from the house, hands covering her hair, shouting "Don't look!". The others are startled but Lucille shrugs and says "Ivy". Miss Faxon wants her ad in the Clarion changed, while Claud has a load of firewood for sale and some local news for the newspaper. Joel Skinner is cagy about his business with Portia. Linc arrives next, also with some tidbits for the Clarion. He takes Miss Faxon to the depot, while Portia quizzes Skinner. He wants her to stop the political attacks in the Clarion, accusing her of favoring his rival Rome Preston for personal reasons. Later, Mary Jane and Lucille voice their distress to Portia about rumors she is a "suffragist" and too friendly with Rome. Mary Jane also wonders why Portia has no photos of and never talks about her father. As Portia sits alone, a knock is heard and in walks Hiram after eleven years. Portia is astounded. Hiram recounts his years wandering the world; he has little money and looks like a tramp. Portia excoriates Hiram for his abandonment, but allows him to stay on condition he does the cooking and housework and tells no one of his identity. Hiram agrees and picks the alias "Nabal". As he goes upstairs, Rome Preston calls out "good night" to Portia from the street. (Curtain) Act II (Perkins Print Shop and office of the Clarion. Friday morning, three weeks later.) Barrett Sheridan and his troupe have returned. He has hired a brass band to parade down Main Street. They can be seen through the windows and open doors of the print shop, where Gene Merryfield and Lewellyn are working. Ivy flirts with Gene until Star shows up. Star and Ivy go out when Nabal enters. He irritates Gene by pointing out a misspelt word in his type. Barrett asks about his show's advertising fliers, but is delighted to see Nabal, whom he knew as "Evans" when both worked at a big city paper. Nabal says he has written a book for Barrett's father, a wealthy publisher. Portia asks Lewellyn to fetch a buggy from the livery stable, so she can take Jenny Miller's affidavit at the factory. She spies Lucille and Barrett talking in front of the shop, oblivious to all. She sends Lucille away then argues with Barrett about his suitability for her daughter, not wanting Lucille to make the same mistake she did. At this, Nabal excuses himself. Preston tries to dissuade Portia from printing the Miller story, fearful Skinner will retaliate against her. Preston and Linc are surprised when Miss Faxon pulls her ad from the Clarion; she advises them not to associate with it, because of Nabal. Gene, also afraid for Portia, leaves so Preston can sabotage the Miller story by disabling the big press. Preston attempts to patronize Nabal, is defeated by his erudition, but asks him to leave town for Portia's sake. Mary Jane accepts a note from Sheridan at the shop front. She comes in and watches Nabal resetting the type for the Miller story. She admires how he learned so many things, and says how much she likes him. When Lucille returns she receives Barrett's note from Mary Jane. Portia returns; Lucille and her spar over the Skinner fight, and Barrett. Lucille and Mary Jane leave. Portia then begs help from Hiram to get the paper ready. They recondition a smaller press since Preston removed a piece from the larger one. Skinner and Whipple come in to bribe or browbeat Portia, but get the worst of it. Hiram prints the Clarion for the nominating convention that afternoon. (Curtain) Act III (Perkins yard, with side and back porches. Evening of the next day.) Mary Jane and Portia are in the yard, when Ivy comes to borrow spoons and napkins for a party to which none of the Perkins are invited. Ivy explains she wanted to, but other folks said they wouldn't come otherwise. Nabal consoles Mary Jane by showing her a cake he baked. He also hands her an envelope with money he received from Barrett's father for completing his book. Lucille returns from school carrying her textbooks. She tells Portia she isn't going back because of the gossip, but doesn't mention her planned elopement. But Star has found the note from Barrett she dropped, and threatens to expose her as being like her mother. Lucille gives him a roundhouse slap that staggers him. He teeters into Ivy's house, mumbling threats. Rome accepts Portia's congratulations on winning the nomination, and confesses to sabotaging the big printer. Nabal stops Lucille from eloping; he insists Barrett take her for a walk then come back. Gene and Lewellyn run over to Portia: a mob led by Skinner and Miss Faxon are wrecking the print shop. Linc hurries over to warn the mob is headed this way. Skinner and Miss Faxon incite the mob to tar and feather Nabal. Rome, Linc, and the printers stand by Portia, who in turn protects Nabal. She shouts that Nabal is her husband of 17 years, Hiram Perkins. The crowd is dumbfounded and starts melting away; Skinner insults Portia and Hiram decks him. Portia and Rome have a bittersweet parting. Hiram, planning to depart, is told by Portia to stay. Hiram in turn reconciles her to Barrett as a son-in-law, as Lucille and him stroll back into view. (Curtain)

Mary Read

Play · 1934

Mary Read is a 1934 historical play by the British writer James Bridie and Claud Gurney, based on the life of the early eighteenth century pirate Mary Read. After premiering at the Manchester Opera House it ran for a 108 performances in London's West End, first at His Majesty's Theatre before transferring to the Phoenix Theatre. Produced by Tyrone Guthrie, it starred Flora Robson in the title role supported by a cast that included Robert Donat, Claud Allister, Charles Farrell and Iris Hoey.

Mary Rose

Play · 1920

This is the fictional story of Mary Rose, a girl who vanishes twice. As a child, Mary Rose was taken by her father to a remote Scottish island. While she is briefly out of her father's sight, Mary Rose vanishes. The entire island is searched exhaustively. Twenty-one days later, Mary Rose reappears as mysteriously as she disappeared... but she shows no effects of having been gone for three weeks, and she has no knowledge of any gap or missing time. Years later, as a young wife and mother, the adult Mary Rose persuades her husband to take her to the same island. Again she vanishes: this time for a period of decades. When she is found again, she is not a single day older and has no awareness of the passage of time. In the interim, her son has grown to adulthood and is now physically older than his mother.

Mary Stuart

Play · 1840

Mary Stuart is an 1840 historical tragedy by the Irish writer James Haynes. It is based on the assassination of David Rizzio, a courtier to Mary, Queen of Scots. The play was staged as part of an ambitious plan to relaunch the reputation of London's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane by the new manager William John Hammond, but faced issues of censorship from Charles Kemble and the Lord Chamberlain's office. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 22 January 1840. The original cast featured Mary Warner as Mary Stuart, William Macready as Earl of Ruthven, Samuel Phelps as Earl of Darnley, Henry Howe as George Douglas, Edward William Elton as Rizzio, George Yarnold as Earl of Bothwell, Sarah West as Countess of Argyle and Fanny Cooper as Celine. Haynes dedicated the work to Macready.

Mary of Scotland

Play · 1933

Mary of Scotland was a 1933 Broadway three-act play written in blank verse by Maxwell Anderson, produced by the Theatre Guild, directed by Theresa Helburn and with scenic and costume design by Robert Edmond Jones. It ran for 248 performances from November 27, 1933 to July 1934 at the Alvin Theatre. Anderson's son Quentin Anderson played a warder. It was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1933-1934. It was adapted into a 1936 film Mary of Scotland mostly directed by John Ford and starring Fredric March and Katharine Hepburn. A rehearsal for the play provided the setting for a 1976 sketch of "Mama's Family" on The Carol Burnett Show that featured Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, and Madeline Kahn.

Mary's Birthday; or the Cynic

Play · 1857

The play opens with Parson Hawthorne talking to George Lordly (the titular cynic), with George's father in law, Adam, in the immediate vicinity. Notably, Adam has gone mad after Helen, his daughter and George's wife, ran off with another man, Harley. Parson Hawthorne laments that a man whom he had recently begun to promote turned out to have cuckolded a parishioner the previous night. George expresses amusement at his friend's anguish. Parson Hawthorne and George spot George's brother Vernon Lordly walking down the path with Alice Hawthorne, Parson Hawthorne's daughter. George suspects that Vernon is unfaithful to his fiancé, George's ward, Mary Stillworth, and is courting Alice instead. The pair enters, and upon finding Parson Hawthorne and George at the grotto, Alice breaks off her relationship with George. George takes Vernon aside and tells him that he is breaking Mary's heart. Vernon insists that Mary does not love him. After all the aforementioned characters have departed, with the exception of Adam, Helen and Harley return, apparently from Italy, bedraggled and malnourished. Helen tearfully reunites with her father. George insists that Mary and Vernon marry. Because this is what he wishes, Mary consents, and decides to marry Vernon the following day- even though she is secretly in love with George. In a soliloquy, George implies that he is in love with Mary, who soon afterwards discovers a letter from her deceased father that was intended to be discovered on her twentieth birthday. The letter discloses that George took the blame for an act of financial fraud that Mary's father had committed. Mary confronts her guardian with the letter, and demands that he tell the world the truth. George rebuffs his ward, asserting that he has a duty to her father, who nursed George after he was injured in a duel with Harley. Mary argues that he has fulfilled his duty by raising her, but George disagrees, and insists that he will travel to England after Mary and Vernon are wed, as he does not want to be a damper on their lives. Later, Mary tells Alice that she need not despair over Vernon; Mary will die shortly after her wedding, covertly implying that she will die of heartbreak because she is in love with George. The day of the wedding, as guests gather at Lordly's house, a funeral bell tolls. Mary declares that this is a sign of her impending death. Vernon helps Mary and George realize that the other reciprocates their feelings. Suddenly, Adam, who has just regained his sanity, enters. He has rung the funeral bells himself. He tells the partygoers that Helen and Harley have died, and confesses that the former was always in love with the latter, but was forbidden by her father to marry him due to his lack of wealth. Upon revealing this, Adam dies. Throughout the play, the servants Beale and Jane provide humorous commentary on the events of the plot.

Mary, Mary

Play · 1961

The plot focuses on wisecracking cynic Mary and infuriatingly-sensible Bob, who have recently divorced and have not seen each other in nine months. They meet at his apartment in hopes that they can avert an audit by the Internal Revenue Service, and a snowstorm forces Mary to spend the night. The next morning, mutual friend and lawyer Oscar, Hollywood-heartthrob neighbor Dirk Winston, and Bob's considerably-younger fiancée Tiffany arrive on the scene. The comedy's humor is derived from discussions about income taxes, marriage, alimony, divorce, remarriage, extramarital affairs, weight-loss programs, exercise, and sex.

Mary, Queen of Scots

Play · 1789

Mary, Queen of Scots is a 1789 historical tragedy by the British writer John St John. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 21 March 1789. Its Irish premiere took place at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 22 December 1802. The original Drury Lane cast included Sarah Siddons as Queen Mary, John Philip Kemble as the Duke of Norfolk, James Aickin as Sir William Cecil, William Barrymore as Lord Herries, John Hayman Packer as Davison, Robert Benson as Earl of Shrewsbury, John Phillimore as Earl of Huntingdon, John Fawcett as Sir Amias Paulet, Matthew Williames as Beton, Sarah Ward as Queen Elizabeth, Jane Farmer as Lady Douglas and Charlotte Tidswell as Lady Scrope.

Mass Appeal

Play · 1980

Father Tim Farley is highly popular with his parishioners due to his charm, wit, easy-going manner, and entertaining (but unchallenging) sermons. One Sunday, seminarian Mark Dolson interrupts Farley's sermon to challenge his stance on the ordination of women. The pastor is outraged yet intrigued by the young man, and asks to have him assigned to work with him. Dolson is a firebrand eager to change the Church. He enjoys attacking Farley's "song and dance theology" and questioning why he drinks so much. Dolson feels it is his job to shake parishioners out of their complacency. Farley likes Dolson, but sees that he will never succeed as a priest if all he does is irritate people and make enemies. Each man has something to teach the other about how to perform his priestly duties.

Master Class

Play · 1995

The opera diva Maria Callas, a glamorous, commanding, larger-than-life, caustic, and surprisingly funny pedagogue is holding a singing master class. Alternately dismayed and impressed by the students before her, she retreats into recollections about the glories of her own life and career. Included in her musings are her fierce hatred of her rivals, the unforgiving press that savaged her early performances, her triumphs at La Scala, and her relationship with Aristotle Onassis. It culminates in a monologue about sacrifice taken in the name of art.

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