8284 shows
Clear filtersMost of the Game is a 1935 comedy play by the British writer John Van Druten. Much of the play is set in New York where a British writer and his aristocratic wife have fallen out of love with each other, and started new relationships with a teacher's daughter and a Hollywood actor respectively. Complications ensue when the press gets hold of the story. The play's Broadway run was at the Cort Theatre. The cast included Dorothy Hyson and Robert Douglas.
While his father is overseas, Philolaches borrows money to free the woman he loves and hosts a party. On his father's unexpected return, the slave Tranio invents a haunting to conceal the revelry and debt, spinning further deceptions until the truth emerges and the father forgives them.
Mother is a 1910 play which was the first successful play by Jules Eckert Goodman. The play was first performed on March 7, 1910 in Plainfield, New Jersey. Produced by William A. Brady, it debuted on Broadway on September 7, 1910 at the Hackett Theatre. It played at the Hackett through December 3, 1910, and then moved to the Circle(?) Theatre, where it opened on December 5 and ran through December 31, for a total run of 133 performances. The play was adapted to the screen in a 1914 silent film of the same name.
In a farcical rural comedy, two wealthy fathers try to arrange marriages between their foolish children while two poorer young lovers are kept apart by their families. Disguises, scheming pages and a secret exchange of babies unravel the fathers’ plans; Mother Bombie, a local cunning woman, helps reveal the truth and enable a happy ending.
The black comedy moves between 18th-century London, where Mother Clap’s molly house serves a gay subculture, and a 2001 party organized by a group of gay men, exploring the diversity of human sexuality.
During the Thirty Years' War, canteen woman Anna Fierling, called Mother Courage, follows armies to profit from the conflict while trying to protect her children. Over twelve years, she loses Eilif, Schweizerkas, and Kattrin to the war, yet keeps pulling her cart after Kattrin's death. The play follows how the business she depends on destroys her family.
Phyllis, a hardheaded matriarch, attempts to guide the direction of her children's lives as they move into a new apartment in Washington, D.C.
The play begins in 1992 post-Soviet Russia as the unassuming son (Evgeny) of a former powerful bureaucrat returns to his hometown of St. Petersburg. The play also features a narrator who is none other than Mother Russia herself, functioning as both a witty commentator and a voice of reason.
The play takes place 20 years after the events in McNally's 1990 television play Andre's Mother. Katharine Gerard lost her son to AIDS 20 years ago, and now Katherine visits her son's partner, Cal, who has married Will. The two attempt to reconcile.
In an unnamed prison, a young woman, an elderly woman, and two male prisoners face a regime whose guards control them and suppress the language they speak.
Act I It is late spring in front of the Mannon house. The master of the house, Brigadier-General Ezra Mannon, is soon to return from the Civil War. Lavinia, Ezra's daughter, like her mother Christine, has just returned from a trip to New York. Seth, the gardener, takes Lavinia aside. He warns her against her would-be beau, Captain Brant. Before Seth can continue, Lavinia's friend Peter Niles and his sister, Hazel, arrive. If Peter is proposing marriage to Lavinia again, he must realize she cannot marry anyone because her father needs her. Seth asks Lavinia if she has noticed that Brant resembles members of the Mannon family. Seth believes Brant is the child of David Mannon (Ezra's uncle, who later hanged himself) and Marie Brantôme (a French Canadian nurse), a couple expelled from the house due to fear of scandal and public disgrace. Suddenly Brant himself enters from the drive. Calculatingly, Lavinia derides the memory of Brant's mother, who died of starvation as Ezra never replied to a message she sent for help. Brant explodes and reveals his heritage. He tells Lavinia that her own grandfather (Ezra's father) also craved his mother and thus cast David out of the family. Brant has sworn vengeance. Act II Lavinia appears inside her father's study. Christine enters indignantly, wondering why Lavinia has summoned her. Lavinia reveals that she followed her to New York and saw her kissing Adam Brant. Christine defiantly tells Lavinia that she has long hated Ezra and that Lavinia was born of her disgust for him. She loves Lavinia's brother Orin because he always seemed to be hers alone, and never Ezra's. Lavinia says that she will keep her mother's adultery a secret for Ezra's sake but Christine must promise to never see Brant again. Christine accuses her daughter of wanting Brant for herself. Christine then appears to agree to Lavinia's terms but proposes to Brant that they poison Ezra and attribute his death to his heart trouble. Act III One week later, Lavinia stands at the top of the front stairs with Christine waiting for Ezra. When he arrives, Lavinia rushes forward and embraces him. Once Ezra is alone with his wife, he impulsively kisses her hand. The war has made him realize that they must put aside their differences. Christine agrees. They kiss and, for the first time in many years, share a bed. Act IV Toward daybreak in Ezra's bedroom, Christine slips out. Ezra, waking, bitterly rebukes her. He believes Christine awaits his death. Later, she deliberately taunts him that she is Brant's mistress. Ezra rises in fury, threatening to kill her but falls back, clutching his heart and begging for his medicine. Christine gives him poison instead. After taking it, Ezra realizes her treachery and calls out to Lavinia. Lavinia rushes into the room. With his dying breath, Ezra indicts his wife: "She's guilty — not medicine!", he gasps, and then dies. Christine collapses in a faint, and Lavinia falls to her knees in anguish. Act I Peter, Lavinia, and Orin arrive at the house. Orin complains of his mother's absence. He jealously asks Lavinia about Christine and Brant. Lavinia warns him against believing their mother to be innocent of an affair. Suddenly, Christine appears and embraces her son jubilantly. Act II Orin asks his mother about Brant. Christine explains that Lavinia has gone mad. Orin sits at Christine's feet and recounts his wonderful dreams about the two of them in the South Sea Islands. The islands represent everything the war was not: peace, warmth, and security, or Christine herself. Lavinia reappears in the room and coldly calls Orin to view their father's body. Act III In the study, Orin tells Lavinia that Christine has already warned him of her madness. Lavinia insists that Orin certainly cannot let their mother's lover escape. She proposes that they watch Christine until she goes to meet Brant as this should convince Orin of her treachery. Orin agrees. Act IV The night after Ezra's funeral, Brant's clipper ship appears at a wharf in East Boston. Christine sneaks out to meet Brant on the deck, and they retire to the cabin. Lavinia and an enraged Orin (who followed their mother from the house) listen from the deck. Brant and Christine decide to flee east and seek out their Blessed Islands. They painfully bid each other farewell. When Brant returns, Orin shoots him and ransacks the room to make it seem that Brant has been robbed. Act V The following night Christine paces the drive before the Mannon house. Orin and Lavinia appear, revealing that they killed Brant. Christine collapses. Orin kneels beside her promising he will make her happy, that they can leave Lavinia at home and go abroad together. Lavinia orders Orin into the house. He obeys. Lavinia tells her mother she can still live. Christine glares at her daughter then enters the house. Lavinia remains outside. A gunshot is heard from Ezra's study. Lavinia stammers: "It is justice!" Act I, scene 1 A year later, Lavinia and Orin return from their trip abroad. Lavinia now resembles her mother, even wearing a green dress like the one her mother was wearing at the start of the play. Orin has grown dreadfully thin and bears the statue-like attitude of his father. Act I, scene 2 In the sitting room, Orin grimly remarks that Lavinia has stolen Christine's soul. Peter enters from the rear and gasps, thinking he has seen Christine's ghost. Lavinia approaches him eagerly. Orin jealously mocks his sister's warmth toward Peter, accusing her of becoming a true romantic during their time in the South Seas. Act II A month later, Orin is working intently at a manuscript in the Mannon study. Lavinia enters and asks what he is doing. Orin says they must atone for their mother's death. As the last male Mannon, he has written a history of the family crimes. He then observes that Lavinia only became pretty like their mother on the islands they visited. Orin angrily accuses her of sleeping with one of the men on that island and Lavinia assumes Christine's taunting voice. Reacting like Ezra, Orin grasps her throat, threatening to kill her. It becomes apparent that Orin has taken Ezra's place as Lavinia has taken Christine's. Act III A moment later, the scene switches to Hazel and Peter in the sitting room. Orin enters, insisting that he see Hazel alone. He gives her a sealed envelope, warning her to keep it away from Lavinia. She should only open it, (a) if something happens to him, or (b) if Lavinia tries to marry Peter. Lavinia enters from the hall. Hazel tries to keep Orin's envelope hidden behind her back, but Lavinia rushes to Orin, beseeching him to let her see it. After Lavinia says she loves him, and agrees to do whatever he wants, Orin gives her the envelope. Orin then tells Hazel to leave. Orin forbids Lavinia from ever seeing Peter again. He tells her he loves her. Lavinia stares at him in horror, saying, "For God's sake—! No! You're insane! You can't mean—!" Lavinia wishes his death. Startled, Orin realizes that his death would be another act of justice. He thinks Christine is speaking through Lavinia. Peter appears in the doorway in the midst of the argument. Orin remarks that he was about to go clean his pistol and exits. Lavinia throws herself into Peter's arms. A muffled shot is heard, as Orin commits suicide in the other room. Act IV Three days later, Lavinia appears dressed in deep mourning. A resolute Hazel arrives and insists that Lavinia not marry Peter. Hazel admits she has told Peter of Orin's envelope. Peter arrives, and he and Lavinia pledge their love anew. Surprised by the bitterness in his voice, Lavinia desperately flings herself into his arms crying, "Take me, Adam!" Then, horrified, she breaks off their engagement and sends Peter away. She realizes she is forever bound to the Mannon dead. As there is no one left to punish her, she must punish herself. She decides to live alone in the old house with the ghosts of her ancestors. She orders Seth to board up the windows and throw out all the flowers – then she enters the dark house alone and shuts the door.
Two performers play Cassandra, a writer whose mother has died. As Cassandra prepares the eulogy, she loses the ability to speak; the play follows her struggle with grief and the politics of women’s voices over one day in present-day Toronto.
A short poetic drama, based on rumors surrounding Mozart’s early death, features Mozart, Salieri and a blind fiddler whose playing draws opposite reactions from the composers.
Mr Faint-Heart is a 1931 comedy play by the British writer Ian Hay. It was staged at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End between 20 April and 20 June 1931. In 1935 it was adapted into a film All at Sea directed by Anthony Kimmins and starring Tyrell Davis, Googie Withers and Rex Harrison. A mild-mannered man inherits some money and goes on a cruise around the Mediterranean. To impress a lady on board, he pretends to be a famous writer, but this soon gets him into complications.
Mr Foote's Other Leg is a 2015 stage adaptation of Mr Foote's Other Leg: Comedy, tragedy and murder in Georgian London, a 2012 biography of the 18th-century actor Samuel Foote. Both the biography and the play were written by Ian Kelly. The play's prelude is an attempt to steal Foote's amputated leg from the Hunterian Collection, but the drama mainly covers the period from Foote's tutelage under Charles Macklin in the 1740s until his involvement in the controversy surrounding Elizabeth Chudleigh in 1774–76. The play premiered in London at the Hampstead Theatre, running from 14 September to 17 October 2015, directed by Richard Eyre and designed by Tim Hatley, with Kelly himself as George III, Foote played by Simon Russell Beale, David Garrick by Joseph Millson, Jock Hunter by Forbes Masson, Peg Woffington by Dervla Kirwan, Charles Macklin and Benjamin Franklin by Colin Stinton and Frank Barber by Micah Balfour. The production transferred to the West End to the Haymarket Theatre (a theatre previously run by Foote), with performances from 28 October 2015 to 23 January 2016.
The aristocratic landowner Puntila is warm and affectionate when drunk but cold and miserly when sober. His daughter Eva loves Matti, her father’s chauffeur, while Puntila tries to arrange her marriage to an attaché; Matti’s final resignation exposes the class barrier between them.
In a London bedsit in the late 1950s, George’s plans for a night out draw in his friends and landlady. The arrival of Mr Thomas turns the gathering sinister in a drama of repression, homosexuality and alcoholism.
A Corsican vendetta threatens the happiness of the lovers. When a fatal mistake removes the man stirring up the feud, the conflict gives way to reconciliation and marriage.
Mrs. Boullock asks Tintin and the Thompsons to find her missing millionaire husband, but two amnesiac men both claim to be him. Tintin seeks help from Professor Doryford and his truth-detector while an impostor’s henchmen try to stop them; the adventure ranges from Brussels to Casablanca, Argentina, China and Tibet before the impostor is exposed.
Shortly after an unspecified apocalypse, six survivors gather at a campfire. To distract themselves from mourning, they attempt to recount the episode "Cape Feare" of the TV show The Simpsons—itself a spoof on the story and characters of Cape Fear and its existing film adaptations based on a novel—as well as several other pieces of media. Seven years later, the group has formed a travelling theatre company that specializes in performing Simpsons episodes. Live theatre is a major entertainment form in the new society, with troupes fiercely competing to replicate pre-apocalyptic stories. Despite this goal, the group's rendition of "Cape Feare" differs from the real episode in many small ways. During a rehearsal, the group is attacked by armed robbers, with their fates unknown. 75 years after that, "Cape Feare" is performed as a musical in a theater dedicated to The Simpsons. The characters, plot and morals have changed into more serious and epic forms. For example, Mr. Burns has been combined with Sideshow Bob (the actual "Cape Feare" villain) and is now a supernatural avatar of death and destruction. In the musical's story, Burns destroys Springfield by sabotaging the nuclear power plant. The Simpsons flee from the catastrophe onto a houseboat. Burns and his demonic henchmen Itchy & Scratchy sneak onto the boat and untie the mooring ropes, then begin killing the Simpsons one by one. Bart, the last survivor, almost surrenders out of despair. However, he receives encouragement from the ghosts of his family and duels Burns in a swordfight. Burns almost wins, but when the boat enters violent rapids, he is flung onto Bart's sword and dies. As Bart sings a finale song about hope for the future, the stage is lit up by bicycle-powered electric lights—the first appearance of electricity in the play.
A comedy about a man who must literally live a dog's life in order to marry the woman he loves.
Mr. Kettle and Mrs. Moon is a comedy play by the British writer J.B. Priestley first staged in 1955 at the Duchess Theatre in London. The original cast featured Clive Morton and Fanny Rowe in the title roles and was directed by Tony Richardson. It ran for 211 performances. It is also known by the longer title The Scandalous Affair of Mr Kettle and Mrs Moon. Other cast members included Beckett Bould, Wendy Craig and Richard Warner.
Dryden's play bears significant parallels to his friend George Etherege's 1676 production The Man of Mode; both feature a man whose sexual attraction is so great (Woodall), that an intelligent and moral woman (Ms Pleasance) is willing to engage in an affair with him. He mentions working on the play in a letter dated October 1677, while a number of references, including one to the French general François de Créquy, date his revisions to 1679. The terms 'Mistress' and 'Keeper' implied a sexual relationship between an unmarried woman, the Mistress, and her male lover or 'Keeper', who supports her financially. Society at the time made a clear distinction between kept mistresses and prostitutes, several of whom appear as minor characters in the play; in Annus Mirabilis, Dryden suggested Charles II's multiple mistresses demonstrated his generosity of spirit, rather than immorality. The main characters include: Mr Woodall: a young, wealthy and amoral aristocrat Ms Judith: unmarried, servant of Mrs. Brainsick, seduced by Woodall Mrs. Brainsick: married to Mr. Brainsick, seduced by Woodall Ms Tricksy: Limberham's 'Mistress', who is seduced by Woodall Mr Limberham: Ms. Tricksy's 'Keeper', whom he later marries Ms Saintly: a widow, agrees to be seduced by Woodall who asks Gervase to stand in for him so he can sleep with Ms Pleasance Mr Gervase: Woodall's servant, who takes his place with Ms Saintly and marries her Ms Pleasance: Woodall's prospective bride (unknown to both of them) but who is willing to be seduced by him Mr Brainsick: husband to Mrs Brainsick, who remains unaware of her affair with Woodall Mr Aldo: a widower, who discovers he is Woodall's father Woodall first seduces the maidservant Judith, followed by Ms Tricksy, then Mrs. Brainsick; he asks his servant Gervase to take his place with Ms Saintly, a widow and is about to bed Ms Pleasance when he discovers she is his intended bride. While the female characters are all aware of each other's relationships with Woodall, the men are not, with the exception of Aldo; he supports Woodall in his seductions, arguing that he did the same when young and later discovers he is Woodall's father. At the end of the play, a series of marriages are agreed; Woodall to Ms Pleasance, Gervase to Ms Saintly and Limberham to Tricksy, while Brainsick is happily unaware that his wife was seduced. It finishes with Woodall telling the audience to find a woman who can be both a "wife and mistress".
Four-year-old Lucy plays with her imaginary friend, the often-absent Mr. Marmalade, while she tries to make sense of the adults around her. His assistant Bradley, her babysitter, and a troubled boy reveal the darker realities beneath her playacting.
An aging former Pan Am pilot, now befuddled and adrift, considers buying an abandoned nightclub largely because it is near a shoe shop that stocks his narrow size. Around him gather a squatter, a property owner, people searching for missing partners, a pregnant young woman and her musician friend in a space where the living and dead may meet.
The play takes place at the Marden house in Buckinghamshire. The title character, Mr Carraway Pim, arrives at the Marden house to deliver a letter of introduction for George and is received first by Anne, then by Dinah, who tells Mr Pim about her life (including her engagement the night before) and the lives of her uncle George and aunt Olivia. Brian enters and converses with Dinah about his attempts to tell her uncle about their engagement. Olivia enters, having overheard part of the conversation, and is delighted to learn of the engagement. She offers to help break the news to her husband. George enters, seeking out Mr Pim, who has since left; Olivia pushes the young couple to tell George of their engagement. While Olivia is optimistic about their future, George is heavily set against it, citing Brian's young, slow career as a "futuristic" artist as evidence that he and Dinah will be unable to support each other. George and Brian continue to clash on Brian's career, and George's views on marriage and politics before Olivia sends Brian and Dinah out for a walk. While they are out, Olivia tries to convince George of his hypocrisy and pessimism by questioning him on the motives behind their marriage, as well as their financial well-being. George stumbles and struggles to find answers for her questions while still justifying his decision regarding Brian and Dinah, while also becoming more and more impatient and uncomfortable with the black-and-orange curtains Olivia is sewing and planning to hang up. Olivia reminds George of the first man she fell in love with, and how her father had arranged for her to marry someone else, which resulted in a miserable marriage until her husband died. After George leaves, Brian and Dinah come back. Olivia tells them that she thinks George will be fine with their marriage, though George hasn't made much progress in accepting them. Olivia also reminds them that Lady Marden is coming for lunch, after which Mr Pim returns. George returns to receive him. While talking to George and Olivia, Mr Pim tells them that he had just returned from a trip to Australia, and while on his way back, he had seen a man whom he had thought dead. He tells them the man's name was Telworthy, which was the name of Olivia's first husband, who had also lived (and was presumed to have died) in Australia. Before George and Olivia can consider the implications of this, Lady Marden arrives. Olivia, Lady Marden, Dinah, George, and Brian prepare to have lunch on their terrace, as Anne follows with their coffee. Brian and Dinah retreat back indoors, where they again speak of their concerns about their marriage and George. Not long after, Olivia, George, and Lady Marden return inside. Olivia asks Dinah to show Lady Marden "the pigs" (which George keeps as pets) and they are joined by Brian. Alone at last, Olivia and George begin to tentatively discuss the news Mr Pim had brought them in Act I. At first, George is in denial about the entire revelation, but Olivia reminds him that her late husband was the only Telworthy in Australia, so it must have been true. George then laments over having married Olivia while she was still another's wife, and expresses his desire to get their marriage annulled for the sake of the law and their publicity. Olivia reacts to this with some sadness and disbelief. She reminds him that they were happy together, and that she was happy to be away from her first husband. When George holds his position on the annulment, she begins to talk about going back to live with her first husband, which begins to make George angry and jealous. He tells her he doesn't want to send her away, but that he still feels as if he should because it is the right thing to do. They eventually decide to send for Mr Pim again, and consult Lady Marden. Dinah returns for a brief moment before being sent by George to fetch Lady Marden and Brian, who are still outside. Before they all return, George is conflicted about whether to tell Dinah and Brian about Olivia's situation, but Olivia tells him that they should know. Upon hearing the news, Lady Marden is shocked, and refers to Olivia as a "bigamist," while Brian argues that George should fight for Olivia and prevent her from going back to her miserable marriage. Despite this, Lady Marden agrees that the marriage should be annulled, to the disgust of Brian, which causes him to land in another argument with George over morals and marriage before being sent out for another walk with Dinah. George again laments over his confusion; he understands that Olivia does not want to go back to her first husband, but he wants to do the right thing in the eyes of the law and public opinion. Olivia laments over George, the man she "didn't quite marry" in a last-chance-attempt to get him to fight for her. Mr Pim is then announced by Anne. Mr Pim joins Lady Marden, George, and Olivia, who question him about Mr Telworthy again. After confirming it was him whom Mr Pim spoke of, they tell him of the situation regarding George's and Olivia's marriage, and ask Mr Pim where Mr Telworthy might be. Mr Pim tells them that after seeing him a few days before, Mr Telworthy had died in Marseille by choking on a fish-bone. Olivia jumps up in surprise and joy. Olivia and George marvel over this new revelation, while Mr Pim regrets having delivered shocking news to the same family twice in one day. George hastily shows a still apologetic Mr Pim out, after which he expresses his relief and joy over Olivia's first husband still having died. Olivia puts a damper on the celebration when she reminds George that she was still technically married to her first husband up until a few days ago, when he was said to have perished by Mr Pim. George, however, has changed his attitude of anxiousness to one of optimism, remarking to Olivia that they can just remarry quietly at the registry office in London the following day. Olivia, deciding to have a bit of fun, suggests that George ought to propose to her again if he wishes to marry her again. The two approach each other and become engaged while putting on the shy, cheeky demeanour of a new young couple. Olivia further taunts George by inquiring whether he can afford to support a wife, and whether he is thinking about their future, as "love may seem to be all that matters" with a new engagement. George grows impatient, realising that Olivia is using the situation to change his mind about Brian and Dinah's engagement. After arguing about whether Olivia will accept George's proposal, or whether she would stay in his house should she refuse it, George storms off in anger. Mr Pim uses this opportunity to return – this time, by the window – hoping to leave before George returns. He tells Olivia that he got the name wrong since the beginning – the man whom he had known from Australia, whom he had met on his way back, and whom had died from choking on a fish-bone was named Pelwittle, not Telworthy as he had led everyone to believe. He explains to Olivia how Dinah that told him of Olivia and her previous marriage to Telworthy and her residence in Australia with him, which had led to his mixing up the two names. Olivia confirms that Mr Telworthy had indeed died before she'd married George, and while she thanks Mr Pim – who is apologising yet again for the mix-up – Dinah and Brian come in. They are delighted to see Mr Pim again, and are oblivious to the conversation which had just taken place. Olivia sends them to see Mr Pim out. Brian stays behind momentarily to tell Olivia that he is "on her side" about the annulment situation, after which Olivia reveals to him her conversation with Mr Pim. Before he can say anything more, she sends him off when she hears George returning. George enters humming, appearing to have calmed down a bit. He observes the room and its decor, as well as the curtains Olivia is working on, which he had detested at the beginning of the play. To Olivia's surprise, George (who is established to be very old-fashioned) remarks that they should perhaps consider redecorating the room, to brighten it up a bit, and commends Olivia's curtains. It is evident that he wishes to take Olivia to London to be married again from his suggesting that they buy new carpet and furnishings to match the curtains. Olivia tells George that she told Brian and Dinah that Mr Pim had made a mistake with the name (without telling George that the mistake actually happened) so that Brian and Dinah think that Olivia and George had been truly married the whole time. George, not realizing that the mistake was real, asked Olivia if she was actually considering marrying him again, quietly. Coyly, Olivia tells him yes, which greatly pleases George; he proceeds to shower Olivia with affection and offers to buy her whatever new furnishings she should want in London the following day. They embrace, during which Brian and Dinah re-enter and remark on Mr Pim's big mistake. George, still believing that the "mistake" was a lie, plays along with them, to the enjoyment of Olivia. George invites Brian to look at the pigs, while Olivia and Dinah converse about Olivia's trip to London with George; Dinah thinks they are going strictly for shopping. Olivia attempts to hang up her curtains, but realises she needs George's help. Dinah calls for him, and he returns with Brian, who happily tells Dinah that George has agreed to their marriage after all. As they share in celebration, George steps back to regard Olivia's new curtains, now seeming to have adopted a new appreciation for them. As the four of them sit in the room, Mr Pim again returns, this time to tell them that he got the first name of the Pelwittle man wrong – though he originally told them it was Henry Pelwittle, his name was actually Ernest Pelwittle.
Retired bellhop Clancy Hope recalls witnessing an imagined 1947 hotel-room meeting called by Branch Rickey. Rickey seeks Jackie Robinson’s entry into the Brooklyn Dodgers and asks prominent Black figures for support; the invitees question his motives and debate the consequences for Black-owned baseball teams.
An orphaned young woman is about to be married off to the wealthy but unappealing Mr. Sleeman by the aunts who have taken charge of her. The situation is rendered with rueful pessimism.
A meek mailman becomes so attached to a sycamore tree on his delivery route that he believes he can end his troubles by planting himself and becoming a tree.
Mr. Todd's Experiment is a 1920 comedy play by Walter Hackett. It ran for 67 performances at the Queen's Theatre in London's West End. The original cast included Owen Nares, Fred Kerr, Meggie Albanesi, Doris Lloyd, Marion Lorne, E. Holman Clark and Tom Reynolds.
Mr Turbulent; Or, The Melanchollicks is a 1682 comedy play by an anonymous author. It was originally staged by the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London. The original cast included Cave Underhill as Timothy Turbulent, Thomas Jevon as Furnish, Thomas Gillow as Hangby, Henry Norris as Grin Sneak, James Nokes as Finical Cringe, John Bowman as Rabsheka Sly, Anthony Leigh as Abednego Suck Thumb, Joseph Williams as Fairlove, John Wiltshire as Friendly, Thomas Percival as Dr Quibus, John Richards as Pollux, Elizabeth Currer as Lady Medler, Mary Lee as Lucia, Emily Price as Priscilla and Margaret Osborne as Mrs Sly.
Mrs. Percival Perrin and Mrs. Henry F. Dickerson have both remarried after being widowed, unaware that their late husbands were the same man, Mr. Wilkinson. When Major Mallory, a former admirer of Mrs. Dickerson, enters the story, the domestic arrangements unravel and the secret emerges.
A stage mystery featuring Jerry and Pamela North, an ordinary married couple who become amateur detectives.
Four acts each center on an adventure of Irish Australian woman Mrs McSweeney, linked by a love story; she dominates the stage with her homely wit and wisdom.
A two-act modern fairytale satirizes academic suburban life through caricatures of a university English department.
When young widow Mrs. Dane becomes engaged to Lionel, his adoptive father Sir Daniel Carteret investigates rumours that she concealed a scandalous past. A cross-examination reveals that she assumed the identity of her late cousin Felicia Hindermarsh; although her reputation is restored, the marriage is abandoned and she leaves the village.
A comedy centered on Mrs. Gibbons, the mother of three delinquent boys.
Act I (Living room of Maisie Partridge's Washington Square apartment. Morning of an October day.) At curtain rise, Ellen speaks with Philip Partridge who is sketching. Her slight malapropism and his inattention gives the introductory exposition an off-kilter flavor. Ellen has him wake Delight, who had late rehearsals for a vaudeville sketch. Delight is anxious about Sydney Armitage calling, but when the doorbell rings it is Stephen Applegate. He is flustered by a trade paper's announcement that Mrs. Partridge will present hats by Madame La Fleur come the spring, derailing a real estate deal he setup for her. When Maisie arrives, she is amused by Stephen's discomfiture, and pays more attention to Philip's sketches than his complaints. But Maisie grows alarmed at the arrival of Sydney Armitage; her plans for Delight's acting career precludes any romance. Having been married at 17, and widowed a few years later, Maisie is against marriage for Delight. Maisie deliberately calls Sydney by various last names, and finally reveals Delight is an actress, something the girl had kept secret from him. Upset, Sydney decides to go with Delight and Maisie to the afternoon rehearsal. (Curtain) Act II (The same. The following April, an afternoon.) Katy calls on Delight with a message from Sydney. She is their go-between, since Maisie forbade Delight to see him anymore. Sydney is expecting her to meet him, so they can elope. Maisie returns home unexpectedly from her shop. She insists Delight must go audition for a part in a Broadway production. Delight tries to beg off, but Maisie insists. She tells Delight the unhappy story of her own marriage, how she wanted to act and paint but couldn't once she had wed. Stay independent she urges Delight, do not get married. Delight confronts her mother over always standing out, from her name to the custom dresses Maisie designed for her. She wanted to wear Peter Thomsons like other girls. Sydney, growing impatient, comes up to the apartment with Charlie Ludlow. Philip wants to go to Spain with Charlie to work on building a bridge. Maisie is astonished to find Sydney there and tries to throw him out. She quarrels with Delight who in turn quarrels with Sydney. Finally Sydney and Delight both storm out. Maisie begs Stephen to resurrect the real estate deal, but its too late... Madame La Fleur has already set sail for New York and needs the property for her hat shop. Maisie confesses that she invested all her money in the Broadway show to secure the "audition" for Delight; she needs to sell the property to keep operating. Stephen promises to secure a bank loan for her, though she turns down his proposal. But Delight phones... she went to the producer and took the part after all. (Curtain) Act III (The new and as yet unopened hat shop. A week later.) Katy pops into the closed hat shop to annoy Miss Hamilton with her inane chatter. Knowing Katy is wealthy and an easy sales target, Miss Hamilton directs Clementine to steer her back to the dress shop next door. Maisie arrives, worried both by Madame La Fleur's imminent arrival and by Delight's dress rehearsal. Stephen tells her that Madame La Fleur has arrived a day early and will soon be at the shop. Maisie is petulant when Philip tells her he is going to Spain for six months, but will keep up his sketching. She would rather he drop art altogether if he will not work at it fulltime. Worse news is coming; Delight drops by to tell Maisie she is married to Sydney, and quitting the show. She insists the understudy is better than her anyway, and she would rather be a wife and mother. Left alone with Stephen, Maisie laments her double betrayal, while he reminds her they have lives of their own to live. She is disconsolate, yet bucks up when Madame La Fleur comes into the shop, and welcomes her as a fellow professional. (Curtain)
Vivie Warren, a Cambridge graduate, learns that her mother built and still operates a chain of brothels. Mrs Warren explains that poverty and limited work for women drove her into the business, but Vivie rejects her when she discovers it continues by choice rather than necessity, and leaves to work independently.
This synopsis is based on the 1924 revision by Anne Crawford Flexner. Act I (Kitchen of Mrs. Wiggs' cottage, a large open area that doubles as living room and sleeping quarters.) Mrs. Wiggs and her daughters are preparing for Miss Hazy's wedding to Mr. Stubbins, which will occur in the Wiggs' parlor. Miss Lucy stops by to show off her own engagement ring. Billy's horse Cuby is heard outside the window, but its really Chris Hazy imitating him. Deacon Bagby, Mr. Stubbins, and other neighbors come through the kitchen to the parlor. A wagon is heard stopping outside, and Billy ushers Lovey Mary and Tommy inside. He had picked them up as they wandered looking for a place to stay. Mrs. Wiggs serves them food and allots sleeping places. Everyone but Mary goes into the parlor for the ceremony. While Mary sits alone in the kitchen, a man enters. It is Ezra Wiggs, who is unaware his family now lives here. Ezra asks Mary if she's seen a strange girl and baby. She says no, and he departs. The ceremony over, the guests pour out into the kitchen to eat and dance. (Curtain) Act II (Exterior of Mrs. Wiggs' cottage. Miss Hazy's house is next door, and the railroad tracks behind. Sunday afternoon, a week later.) Miss Hazy and Stubbins argue over her cooking. He is unaware that Mrs. Wiggs supplied the food that Miss Hazy gave him before the wedding. He starts into town to visit some GAR friends but encounters Mr. Bob. Stubbins shows him an ad from his newspaper offering a reward for information on Mary and Tommy. Mr. Bob says the ad is legitimate. Mrs. Wiggs returns from taking flowers to the Children's Hospital. Asia and Chris have a spat about her going riding on Billy's wagon with another boy. Mary is surprised when Billy asks her to join them on the ride. Mrs. Wiggs presides over a Sunday School of local children. Mrs. Eichorn and Mrs. Schultz argue with Mary about her singing for the church vaudeville show. Chris and Asia make up and are caught kissing by Miss Lucy. Miss Lucy confesses to Mrs. Wiggs about her own trouble with Mr. Bob. Mr. Stubbins is seen staggering along. He drunkenly berates Miss Hazy and Mrs. Wiggs for deceiving him then passes out. Mr. Wiggs and the Deputy Sheriff come by with a warrant for Mary. But when Ezra Wiggs sees Mrs. Wiggs, he tears up the warrant, and they leave without the refugees. Stubbins has become a liability, so Mrs. Wiggs, Billy, and Mary load him into an empty west-bound freight car, with some of Mrs. Wiggs' pies beside him. (Curtain) Act III (Same as Act II, but with a platform built in front of Miss Hazy's house. It is evening, several days later.) Mrs. Wiggs tells Mary she is worried by Mr. Wiggs going off again for three days. An envelope arrives for Hiram Stubbins at Miss Hazy's house. Mr. Jones comes by looking for the money Stubbins owes him for the marriage, but leaves unpaid. Alone together on the front porch, Billy tells Mary he loves her. Soon neighbors arrive for the church benefit show. Miss Hazy asks Mrs. Wiggs to open the envelope for Stubbins, fearing another unpaid bill, but it contains a letter authorizing his Union Army pension and a check for $800 in arrears. The women are astonished and regret shipping Stubbins off so soon. Mr. Bob and Miss Lucy arrive by auto; they are now Mr. and Mrs. Redding, on their way to Niagara Falls. Next Stubbins appears, having walked back to the Cabbage Patch, propelled by the memory of Mrs. Wiggs' pies. He and Miss Hazy reconcile, while the others prepare to hear Lovey Mary sing. The Deputy Sheriff returns with another warrant. Ezra and Stubbins try to stop him, but the Deputy lays hold of Mary and is soundly beaten and driven off by the Cabbage Patch residents. Ezra apologises to Mrs. Wiggs over his long absence, and admires her for raising the family alone. She tells him that Jim helped her, but three years ago... Feeling ashamed, Ezra won't enter the house until Mrs. Wiggs calls him inside. (Curtain)
Prince Mucedorus disguises himself as a shepherd to pursue Amadine, daughter of the king of Aragon. After rescuing her from a bear, he faces the jealousy of her betrothed Segasto and later disguises himself as a hermit to free her from the wild man Bremo; the lovers are reunited and the king approves their marriage.
In Messina, soldiers Claudio and Benedick fall in love with Hero and Beatrice. Don John deceives Claudio into believing Hero unfaithful, disrupting the wedding, while friends trick the sharp-witted Beatrice and Benedick into recognizing their mutual love. The local Watch exposes the plot, and Hero is reunited with Claudio.
Rakshasa, the loyal minister of a deposed dynasty, plots against Chandragupta Maurya. Chanakya seeks to win him over as the new king’s chief minister so that he can withdraw from politics.
In a political satire, two men impersonate the medieval sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq and his companion Ibn Battuta, claiming to have survived for centuries. The false sultan wins India's election with promises and absurd policies, then uses public credulity to preserve his power when his companion tries to expose their identities.
A direct commentary on the fragile state of Nigerian democracy at the time of its 2000 production.
Act One On the Norwood Plantation in Polk County, Georgia, Colonel Thomas Norwood (described by Hughes as a "plantation owner, a still vigorous man of about sixty") and Cora Lewis ("a brown woman in her forties who has kept the house and been the mistress of Colonel Norwood for some thirty years") have four children together. They are: William, who still lives on the plantation and who has a son of his own; two daughters, Bertha and Sallie, who are light enough to pass for white; and Robert, a.k.a. Bert, who is 18 and who has Norwood's facial features. Robert has been away at an all-Colored school since he was a young boy and is visiting the plantation for the first time in many years. In Act One, we learn through a conversation between Mr. Higgins and Colonel Norwood that Robert, or Bert, has been refusing to follow all the expected behaviors for Mulatto people and has been asserting himself as Norwood's heir, much to the shock of the local townspeople. Norwood is angered by this assertion. The conversation between the two plantation owners also gives insight to the perspective and lifestyle of these characters. Cora, meanwhile, is revealed to have secretly sent her daughters to secretarial school, so that they can move up north and have good jobs, but has been telling the Colonel that they are learning to be cooks. It is also revealed through a conversation between William and Cora that Bert was the Colonel's favorite of all the children he fathered with Cora, until Bert called him "papa" which resulted in Norwood severely beating Bert when he was seven. This led to the decision for Norwood to send Bert off to school. This only emboldened Bert further, as he witnessed the better treatment of Black folks in the Northern states. Act One concludes with Cora expressing concern to Bert over his behavior, when the Colonel enters. Bert rebelliously exits through the front door, which enrages the Colonel. Then the curtain falls. Act Two Scene 1: Cora calls in Robert and leaves him alone to speak with Norwood. Norwood tells Robert he is to leave his property for his behavior, bringing out his pistol as a threat. Norwood tells Robert that his overseer Talbot and the storekeeper are coming to ensure that Robert leaves. Robert and Norwood get into a heated argument that ends with Robert strangling Norwood and taking his gun. Cora comes in and tells Robert to run away as he will most certainly be executed when found. When Talbot and the storekeeper arrive at the house and find Norwood's corpse they call for help and immediately begin a search for Robert. The scene concludes with a monologue from Cora lamenting what transpired between Robert and Norwood. She speaks to Norwood's corpse and scolds him for never acknowledging Bert as his son, and for not being able to protect him now. She curses him and blames him for Robert's life currently being in danger. Scene 2: Sam leads the undertaker into the house to retrieve Colonel Norwood's body, and demands Cora to get him a drink. Cora refuses claiming she only takes orders from Norwood, to the astonishment of Sam. The undertaker's helper (a voice offstage) convinces him to leave the premises and join the mob in search for Robert. After they leave Sam realizes he has an opportunity to escape and seizes it. William decides to leave the property, fearful of getting caught up in the violence of the mob hunting Robert. He asks Cora to go with them but she refuses and stays behind to wait for Robert. Cora is clearly unstable and throughout the scene, she speaks to Norwood as if he were alive and in the room with her. She reflects upon her relationship with the Colonel, from the first time they laid together, to her becoming his pseudo wife. She then speaks about the children she bore with him, focusing on Robert. She tells Colonel Norwood he died the day that he beat Robert for calling him papa. Robert shows up back at the house, the sounds of the lynch mob close behind. He goes upstairs and wishes his mother goodnight. He kills himself with the Colonel's gun as the mob breaks into the house to seize him.
The play begins in Eatonville, Florida, on a Saturday afternoon with Jim and Dave fighting for Daisy's affection. The two men come to blows, and Jim picks up a hock bone from a mule and knocks Dave out. Jim is arrested and held for trial in Joe Clarke's barn. On Monday, the trial begins in the Macedonia Baptist Church. The townspeople are divided along religious lines: Jim's Methodist supporters sit on one side of the church, Dave's Baptist supporters on the other. The issue to be decided at the trial is whether or not Jim has committed a crime. Jim admits he hit Dave but denies it was a crime. Elder Simms argues on Jim's behalf that a weapon is necessary to commit a crime, and nowhere in the Bible does it say a mule bone is a weapon. Elder Childers, representing Dave, says Samson used a donkey's jawbone to kill 3,000 men (citing Judges 18:18), so the hock bone of a mule must be even more powerful. Joe Clarke declares Jim guilty and banishes him from town for two years. Act III takes place some time later, with Daisy encountering Jim outside of town. She tells him she's been worried about him, but he's skeptical. She demonstrates the sincerity of her affection and Dave comes upon the couple. The two men engage in a war of words to try to show which of them loves Daisy more. The contest ends when it becomes clear that Daisy expects her man to work for the white people who employ her. Jim and Dave are reconciled, and neither remains interested in courting Daisy. The two men return to Eatonville.
A family of settlers in the Australian bush is drawn into a scheme promising quick riches. Mum Dawson and her household confront the consequences as their hopes of improving their fortunes collide with the realities of rural life.
Mumsie or Mumsée is a 1920 play by the Anglo-American writer Edward Knoblock.
In a village where deaths have been mistaken for accidents, former police officer Luke Fitzwilliam investigates a suspected serial killer with Bridget Conway's help.
Murder Mistaken is a 1952 thriller play by the British author Janet Green. It first appeared at the Prince of Wales Theatre in Cardiff under the title Teddy Bare's Picnic. It then transferred to London's West End under its new title first at the Ambassadors Theatre and then at the Vaudeville Theatre. It's West End run lasted 156 performances between 4 November 1952 and 28 March 1953. The West End cast included Derek Farr, Anthony Marlowe, Phyllis Morris, Iris Hoey, Brenda de Banzie, Patricia Burke and Rosalie Crutchley. It appeared on Broadway under the alternative title Gently Does It, lasting for thirty seven performances at the Playhouse Theatre. Green wrote a novelisation in 1953 with Leonard Gribble.
Awaiting execution, Jim Tanner learns to read and write with help from prison staff and a chaplain. His growing understanding of life clashes with the death sentence he faces.
A woman and two men become involved in a love triangle and try to murder one another.
A body is found in the vicar’s home; amid numerous suspects and multiple confessions, Miss Marple works to unravel the murder.
Eliot's verse drama follows Thomas Becket's return to Canterbury and his struggle with temptations of safety, power, political resistance, and martyrdom. Becket rejects the knights' demands, is killed in the cathedral, and the knights defend the murder to the audience.
On New Year’s Eve, a car crash strands troubled singer Danny Sierra and his extended family at an isolated cottage in rural England. Strange, ghostly events begin as the lights go out.
A bride is murdered aboard the paddle steamer Lotus, and the passengers must work out who killed her. Christie recasts characters from her novel: Kay and Simon Mostyn are the newlyweds, while Jacqueline de Severac is Kay’s former friend and Simon’s former fiancée; Canon Pennefather combines three characters from the book.
When snow strands the Orient Express, a passenger is found murdered in a locked compartment. Hercule Poirot investigates the travelers aboard the isolated train, where the killer may still be among them.
In a Bloomsbury boarding house, struggling novelist Joseph Reynolds becomes obsessed with writing a murder mystery as real murders begin, blurring the line between his fiction and reality.
Painter Norman Bartholomew draws Sergeant Stenning into a murder-themed game at his Dorset home, using staged scenarios to deflect suspicion while concealing his plan to kill his wife, Elizabeth. When Elizabeth discovers his affair and fantasies, their contest of wits turns dangerous.
At night before a tower, a man and woman confront one another with their followers. After he orders her branded, she stabs him; when he recovers, he kills her and the others, then leaves through fire. The play emphasizes visual action and appearance over dialogue.
A dubious theft-and-kidnapping conviction is examined through police, lawyers, judges, and prison life, exposing injustices in Britain’s legal system. Though an innocent man remains imprisoned, a young barrister and police officer begin working to change the system.
At a widow’s house, a group of guests listen to a new violin concerto. Their wandering thoughts and reveries are theatrically enacted across three acts, each corresponding to a movement of the music.
A tragedy about Şehzade Mustafa, son of Suleiman the Magnificent, whom his father ordered executed.
Mustapha is a 1739 tragedy by the British writer David Mallet. It is based on Mustafa, the son of Ottoman ruler Suleiman the Magnificent. The original cast included James Quin as Solyman, William Milward as Mustapha, Thomas Wright as Zanger, William Mills as Rustan, Richard Winstone as Mufti, William Havard as Achmet, Elizabeth Barry as Roxalana and Anna Marcella Giffard as Emira. The prologue was written by Mallet's friend James Thomson. The play was dedicated to Frederick, Prince of Wales who had become a popular symbol of the Patriot Whigs including Mallet and Thomson.
A totalitarian organization targets ordinary people because their names contain the letter O. As the victims face siege and abuse, their responses range from fear and submission to resistance, exposing the absurd machinery of racial persecution.
In Thatcher-era London, young British Pakistani Omar takes charge of his uncle's run-down laundrette. After he meets his former school-friend Johnny in a confrontation with a racist gang, they work together to rebuild the business and fall in love.
My Big Gay Italian Wedding satirizes the controversies surrounding same-sex marriage as well as gay and Italian stereotypes. Anthony Pinnunziato, a gay Italian-American from a large chaotic family, wishes to marry his boyfriend Andrew Polinski in a traditional Italian ceremony. Anthony's overbearing mother won't give her blessing unless Andrew's estranged mother also gives her blessing and the ceremony is performed by a priest. Matters are further complicated by Andrew's ex-boyfriend, intent on breaking up the couple.
Eight commissioned fiction and nonfiction monologues respond to the 2022 Dobbs ruling and address women’s sexuality, bodily autonomy and freedom of choice, including abortion, miscarriage, abuse and end-of-life decisions.
The play follows Rudyard Kipling’s efforts to secure a military commission for his nearsighted teenage son Jack, and the family’s grief after Jack goes missing and is later confirmed killed in the First World War. Years afterward, Kipling interviews a soldier who recalls Jack’s final moments, while the family confronts the meaning of his death as another war threatens.
After her husband leaves her for another woman, middle-aged Angela mourns the marriage and learns to live on her own after her children have left home. She tries solo holidays and new experiences, eventually beginning a relationship with the doctor she has been visiting.
Mothers tell stories of the effects on their families when their children serve in the military in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The comedy is an ugly duckling tale about an overweight young woman who attracts the attention of a potential suitor. With the help of her friends/roommates, she undergoes a diet and exercise regime to burn the extra pounds she assumes she needs to lose in order to hold the man's attention.
Eight monologues draw on interviews with divorced women, telling stories of marriages to men, work, wealth, faith, and other wrong partners, with sardonic humor and affirming endings.
My First Time is an off-Broadway play that opened on July 12, 2007, at New World Stages and ran until January 22, 2010. The show is based on a website that grew in popularity in 1998. The site "allowed people to anonymously share their own true stories about their First Times" and "features four actors in hysterical and heartbreaking stories about first sexual experiences written by real people... just like you." Experiences submitted by the audience before the performance are featured during the show, and My First Time received press from CNN.com, TMZ and Forbes when it featured a promotion during which virgins could attend the play for free.
Set at the Berlin chancellery in summer 1934, the play depicts Hitler, industrialist Gustav Krupp, Gregor Strasser, and Ernst Röhm as they debate political power, loyalty, and fascism in the lead-up to the Night of the Long Knives.
A playwright, looking for material, invites a harlot to his flat, where she is shot by her protector. The playwright has to dispose of a body.
A one-act comedy about a young boy and his Armenian family.
A father’s indulgent devotion to his son helps ruin the young man, while the play contrasts him with a sturdy shoemaker’s apprentice and the son’s dutiful sister.
A one-woman autobiographical stage show in which Nancy Cartwright shares anecdotes, performs dialogue in her Simpsons characters' voices and uses video clips from the series. The scripted first section is followed by audience questions and sometimes an audience-participation game.
A married serviceman’s rehabilitation unfolds through his relationships with his wife, mother and lover.
Nellie returns to her family’s farm after years away at school, where Jack, Jim, and villainous Ralph all seek her affection. After Ralph kidnaps Nellie, Jim saves her by killing him, then escapes jail and wins a Melbourne horse race that restores the family’s finances.
Across four generations of women from the 1920s to 1987, a family secret shapes relationships between mothers and daughters. When unmarried Jackie becomes pregnant, she gives her baby Rosie to her mother Margaret to raise as her own, and the play follows the consequences of that decision through their family’s changing lives.
Recovering in hospital, Lucy Barton receives an unexpected visit from her estranged mother. Their conversations stir memories of rural poverty, family tensions, and the distance between Lucy’s childhood and her life as a writer.
A verbatim portrait of American activist Rachel Corrie, assembled from her diaries and emails. Her own writings convey her work in Gaza and her responses to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
In 1950s Japan, two girls, Satsuki and Mei, whose mother has been hospitalised with tuberculosis, relocate to a village in the countryside. Their new house, in which they live with their professor father, Tatsuo, is haunted with soot spirits, susuwatari, and they encounter Totoro, a "forest spirit who looks like the result of an experimental breeding programme involving a chinchilla, a barn owl and a bean-bag sofa". Mei is the first to discover him, and he comforts the girls with his presence.
All three scenes are set in the sitting room of Guy's London apartment: during Guy's flatwarming party (Scene 1); after Reg's funeral, some years later (Scene 2); and after Guy's funeral (Scene 3). The group, most of them in their thirties, meet at irregular intervals, often at Guy's place. Guy himself is a lonely man. Ever since their university days, he has had a crush on John, but he has never dared to tell him about it. Rather, he lives a solitary life, which he only spices up with phone sex and an occasional visit to a gay pub – that is where he meets 18-year-old Eric, who then helps him decorate his new flat. On holiday on the island of Lanzarote, he meets a gay man who eventually forces himself on Guy and has unprotected sex with him. At his flatwarming party, he has just come back from his holiday and is still quite shocked about what happened. It is hard for him not to start crying when, as a present, John gives him a cookery book specialising in dishes for one. The most popular of the gay circle is Reg, who is conspicuously absent from the party. Reg has had a long-term relationship with Daniel, but Daniel himself suspects Reg of occasionally being unfaithful to him. In fact Reg seems to be sleeping with every man he can get hold of (as it seems, even with the vicar). In the course of the play, John, Benny and even his seemingly faithful companion Bernie have secret sex with Reg. They all confide in Guy. It hurts Guy most to hear that John – whom he himself fancies – is having an affair with Reg, thus betraying their mutual friend Daniel. After his fling with Reg, Benny panics because he thinks he might have contracted HIV, but he does not confess it to his partner, Bernie. When Reg is dying from AIDS, he is looked after by his partner, Daniel. The next one to die is Guy, the only one who has not had sex with Reg and who seems to have been infected with HIV when he was raped during his holiday in Lanzarote. Guy bequeaths his new flat to the love of his life, John who does not need it at all because he comes from a rich background. It is John who, somewhere in the flat, finds all kinds of memorabilia dating back to their student days. The play serves as a "tip of the hat" to iconic musician Sir Elton John, with the names of all the characters being part of Eltoniana: Reg (Elton's birth name); Daniel, Benny, Guy (all from Elton John hit songs), John (the singer's appropriated surname, his homage to Long John Baldry), and Bernie (the Christian name of Elton's longtime lyricist, Bernie Taupin). Eric may be a reference to Eric Clapton, with whom John toured in 1992. Daniel gives Guy a recipe book by a Gertrude Pinner, a reference to the town in which Elton John grew up.
On a GO Train home from Toronto to Oshawa, Jonathan Wilson performs a monologue about growing up gay and closeted and his flamboyant friend Gordon’s influence on his sense of self. The destination is Gordon’s funeral after his death from AIDS, revealed at the end.
After returning from America for her husband's death anniversary, Sopho learns that her husband Chito is alive, married to her pregnant former friend Shoka, and that they and her son Toko fabricated his death to extort money. She refuses to resume caring for an elderly man she once looked after, forcing the family to care for him; in the final scene, their roles reverse and she and Baxter look after the others.
My Sister Eileen is an American comedy stage production, written by Joseph A. Fields and Jerome Chodorov, based on autobiographical short stories by Ruth McKenney. The stories were originally published in The New Yorker and then collected and published as the book My Sister Eileen in 1938. The plot focuses on Ruth and Eileen Sherwood, sisters from Ohio who relocate to New York City in search of fame and fortune. Witty Ruth aspires to be a published writer, while pretty Eileen dreams of success as an actress. Their financial circumstances force them to rent a dingy basement studio apartment in a Greenwich Village building owned by Mr. Appopoulos, one of many colorful characters who cross their path. The Broadway production, produced by Max Gordon and directed by George S. Kaufman, opened 26 December 1940 at the Biltmore Theatre. It transferred three times during its run of 864 performances: to the Martin Beck Theatre, opening 4 August 1942; to the Ritz Theatre, opening 23 November 1942; and to the Broadway Theatre, opening 13 December 1942. The original cast included Shirley Booth as Ruth Sherwood, Jo Ann Sayers as Eileen Sherwood, Morris Carnovsky as Mr. Appopoulos, and Richard Quine as Frank Lippencott, a drugstore soda jerk with an eye for Eileen. Peggy Knudsen replaced Sayers in June 1942 (when she left to be married), and Quine was replaced by Henry Jones, who in turn was replaced by Max Showalter. Eileen McKenney, an executive assistant to Walt Disney and the inspiration for the play's title character, and her husband, novelist and screenwriter Nathanael West, were killed in an automobile accident in El Centro, California on December 22, 1940, four days before the Broadway opening, while they were driving to the Los Angeles Airport to board a plane for New York to attend the play's premiere. Her sister Ruth consequently did not attend the premiere and never saw the play. Fields and Chodorov adapted their play for the 1942 film that opened while the play was still running on Broadway, as well as the 1953 musical Wonderful Town. It also served as the basis for the 1960–1961 television sitcom of the same title.
Seventeen-year-old Luke finds a mysterious woman emerging from a helicopter crash who calls herself Sadie and resembles his dead sister. A military platoon pursues her because of a missing deadly weapon.
My Son's A Queer (But What Can You Do?) is a one-person biographical play by Rob Madge, with music composed by Pippa Cleary and lyrics by Madge and Cleary. The show revolves around Madge's childhood videos, and the shows they used to put on in their living room for their parents.
Set in French Guiana around the turn of the twentieth century, the comedy follows three prisoners repairing a warden’s house and their interactions with a French colonial family.
My Wife's Family is a comedy play by the British-based American writer Fred Duprez based on an earlier story by Harry B. Linton and Hal Stephens. It premiered at the Princes Theatre, Bradford before transferring to the Garrick Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 118 performances between 3 March and 13 June 1931. The original West End cast included Ernie Lotinga, Arnold Bell, Hugh E. Wright and Joan Ingram. It was revived on a number of occasions and made into several films. A farce, the play's comedy revolves around a newly-married wife who overhears her husband talking about a Baby grand piano and mistakenly believes he has an illegitimate child.
Nine-year-old Winnie, home sick from school, writes an essay about her day while her mother cleans the house of television personality Kevin. Through the adults' conversations and conflicts, Winnie learns about Kevin's affair, the strained relationships around her, and her mother's early labour; the play presents the day's events through what Winnie sees and hears.
Recovering alcoholic and poet Paul Peplow interviews software entrepreneur Victor Quinn, who challenges his beliefs about sobriety and offers him a job. Paul’s attraction to Victor’s wife Elsa draws the three into a struggle over desire, dependency and control.
This two-act liturgical drama recounts the Dormition and Assumption of Mary. In the first act, the Apostles gather around her as her soul is taken to Heaven; the second depicts her burial, Assumption, and Coronation, using aerial stage devices within the Basilica.
Mayakovsky’s revolutionary political satire turns the biblical journey through the Ark, Hell and Paradise into a street-show-like drama of the Clean and Unclean. Combining mass-rally language, farce and poetic digression, it imagines the people’s passage toward a Promised Land and their ultimate victory.
After Jason leaves her for Créuse, Médée poisons his new bride and kills their twin sons. She escapes in a dragon-drawn chariot as Jason dies by suicide.
Éraste loves Mélite, but she falls for his friend Tircis. Jealous Éraste forges letters to make Tircis believe Mélite loves Philandre; the deception separates the lovers and sends Éraste into a delusion before he confesses and seeks pardon.
Pierre Belcroix and Marcel Blanc are violinists and lifelong friends living in Paris in the 1920s. While Marcel has become famous and Pierre has not, both are happy with their lives. Pierre is happily married to Romaine, a stylish young flapper. However, Marcel meets and falls in love with her, which Pierre little suspects. Romaine carries on her affair with Marcel, even as Pierre falls ill, which she may have deliberately exacerbated with her treatment in order to murder him. Soon Marcel goes on a concert tour, and Romaine abandons Pierre for a romantic tryst. When Marcel returns, Romaine reconsiders the affair, and realizes that she loves both Pierre and Marcel. She decides that she does not want to hurt either her husband or her lover, and as no other solution seems possible, she commits suicide. Three years later, Pierre visits Marcel to seek the truth, and Marcel tells him that no illicit affair occurred, thereby honoring her memory.
Merope believes the newcomer Egisthe responsible for her murdered husband's death and their son's disappearance. Egisthe is in fact her long-lost son; he kills the tyrannical usurper Polyphonte who murdered his father and installs Merope as queen.
Three former UCLA students combine theatre, stand-up, hip-hop, slam poetry and personal stories to examine racial slurs, stereotypes and the concept of race. The production opens with the performers chanting stereotypes before tracing the origins and effects of three derogatory terms.
Across fictional meetings from 2019 to 2023, Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez discuss political leadership, privilege, progress, public image, and their responsibilities as representatives while navigating their differing views.
NASSIM is a seventy five minute play by Nassim Soleimanpour that features new actors with no rehearsals performing each day, a format similar to Soleimanpour's prior play, White Rabbit Red Rabbit. When the actor opens the sealed envelope, it reveals the first page of the script, which eventually reunites them with the playwright, the one constant in each performance. Guest actor and playwright must navigate the boundaries, including the Persian language, throughout the performance's duration. The show premiered in London, won the 2017 Fringe First Award at Edinburgh Fringe Festival and was performed in 20 countries in a 200-day span in 2018. It was produced Off-Broadway by Barrow Street Productions at New York City Center from December 12, 2018 – April 20, 2019. Among the actors who took a turn in the role were: Jelani Alladin, Guillermo Diaz, Will Eno, Marin Ireland, Tracy Letts, Alison Fraser, Michael Shannon, Phillipa Soo and Michael Urie.
Set during the 1943 Bengal famine, the drama follows peasant Pradhan Samaddar and his family as they face starvation, malnutrition, disease, and other disasters in the food crisis. Its 1944 IPTA production also supported famine relief in rural Bengal.
Prince Jimutavahana renounces worldly power to save the Naga Shankhachuda from sacrifice to Garuda. He takes the serpent's place and dies, but Garuda's remorse leads him to restore Jimutavahana and the serpent victims to life.
Written during World War II while its author was imprisoned in Hazaribagh, this four-act play imagines a communist village where everyone is equal, wealth distinctions disappear, labor is honored, and the community has the facilities it needs. Batuk is the central character.
A four-part Kathakali drama follows King Nala and Damayanti from their courtship by messenger swan, marriage and exile through separation and hardship to reunion. Nala loses his kingdom in a rigged dice game, leaves Damayanti in the forest, and later disguises himself after a serpent’s bite; a false remarriage announcement brings the couple back together.
A two-act stage portrait traces Albert Namatjira's life from his childhood at Hermannsburg through his artistic partnership with Rex Battarbee, national and international fame, racism and exploitation, imprisonment, and death. Family members and descendants help tell the story through direct address, reenactment, music, and live painting, reclaiming the account of their grandfather and his work.
In a speculative Brazil where the government orders people of African descent deported to Africa, two men stay inside their apartment and debate their lives and the consequences of the decree.
At Yoritomo's residence, a mask-maker arrives to entertain the ailing ruler and displays a series of masks. The visitor is actually the warrior Kagekiyo, who uses the performance to pursue his revenge; the play combines this disguise and mask-changing episode with a larger narrative drawn from the Kagekiyo cycle.
A young woman consents to marry a count across the divide of social class. The comedy questions prejudice and the unequal choices available to a woman caught between marriage and the convent.
Nap Hand is a 1940 comedy play by Vernon Sylvaine and Guy Bolton. The title refers to the sporting term, a nap hand. The farce revolves around quintuplets. After premiering at the Manchester Opera House, it ran for 83 performances at the Aldwych Theatre in London between 2 March and 11 May 1940. The cast included Ralph Lynn, Kay Walsh, William Hartnell, Marjorie Corbett, Francis de Wolff, Frederick Piper and Bertha Belmore. It was produced by Austin Melford.
A satirical political parable set in Edo-period Japan, following the poet Basho amid a changing political landscape over about 35 years and addressing British imperialism.
To restore rain, Princess Taema seduces the Buddhist priest Narukami, who has imprisoned the rain dragon. After she frees the dragon, the rain returns; Narukami discovers the deception and pursues her in anger.
Natalka and Petro plan to marry, but her father rejects him for his poverty. Petro leaves to earn a fortune; after five years without news, Natalka reluctantly accepts a wealthier official’s proposal. Petro returns just before the marriage, and the lovers are reunited amid comic village encounters.
In Crusade-era Jerusalem, the Jewish merchant Nathan, Sultan Saladin, and a Christian Templar become linked through a rescued girl and a family secret. Nathan’s ring parable answers Saladin’s question about the true religion by urging tolerance among the three faiths.
In Chicago's South Side during the 1930's, 20-year-old Bigger Thomas struggles to realize his dreams in a world that has shut him out. After taking a job in a wealthy white man's house, Bigger unwittingly unleashes a series of events that violently seal his fate.
A play about digital natives—young people who grew up in the Information Age—and the ways networked culture shapes their experience.
Showing 3,697–3,816 of 8,284 shows
Load more shows