Revolting Women
Sylvia Pankhurst campaigns for women’s suffrage alongside working women in London’s East End. Her encounter with Lettie carries their struggle toward Parliament through friendship, political argument and satire.
Plays
8284 shows
Clear filtersRheology
Bulbul opens with a lecture and demonstrations about how sand moves, until she coughs and her son Misha interrupts to restage her apparent death. Their ensuing exchange shifts among mother and son, performer and director, and teacher and student as they explore grief, scientific inquiry, and the fear of losing one another.
Rhesus
During the Trojan War, Hector sends Dolon to spy on the Greek camp. Odysseus and Diomedes kill Dolon, then Athena directs them to the sleeping Rhesus; Diomedes kills the Thracian king and Odysseus takes his horses. Rhesus's mother, a Muse, blames the attackers and announces his eventual resurrection and immortality.
Rhinestone Rex and Miss Monica
A romance develops between two middle-aged people.
Rhinoceros
In a small French town, residents begin transforming into rhinoceroses. As colleagues and friends justify or accept the change, Bérenger resists the growing conformity and ultimately remains alone, determined not to capitulate.
Rhinoceros in Love
Ma Lu, a rhinoceros feeder, pursues Ming Ming's love despite her rejection. His futile effort to win her over becomes a struggle against stereotypical expectations and commercialization as he searches for an individual identity.
Rhoda in Potatoland
The play consists of a single act. It starts with Rhoda having visions. The visions are sexual and bizarre; they include potatoes, dances and nightmares. Rhoda meets friends, strangers and a lover in these dreams. The play starts as a regular conversation between Rhoda and her friend Sophia, and Max who becomes Rhoda's lover enters sitting on a throne, and that is when Rhoda's dreams begin, going through salons, bathrooms and woods. It all ends with her being punished for dreaming.
Rich Girl
In this contemporary reworking of Washington Square, insecure Claudine is courted by Henry, an indebted avant-garde theatre director, while her wealthy mother Eve grooms her to lead a philanthropic foundation. Eve threatens to disinherit Claudine if she marries Henry; after he leaves, Claudine is heartbroken but more self-confident.
Rich Relations
The play depicts the wealthy WASP Orr family and the damage that passes from parent to child, with religious overtones.
Rich and Famous
Bing Ringling is an old "promising" playwright, finally about to have a play produced—play number 844.
Richard III
Cibber reworks Shakespeare’s history of Richard III for a five-act Williamite audience, adding a new opening that shows Henry VI’s murder and making Richard’s rise and fall more violent on stage. Richard courts Lady Anne, imprisons and kills the princes, plots against his rivals, and is haunted by his victims before the Battle of Bosworth, where Richmond defeats and kills him and becomes Henry VII.
Richard of Bordeaux
A romanticized portrait of Richard II emphasizes his relationship with Anne of Bohemia and presents him as a gentle, refined figure seeking peace within a brutal militaristic culture, in contrast to Shakespeare's self-dramatizing king.
Richardus Tertius
A Latin-language play about King Richard III of England.
Richelieu; Or the Conspiracy
A five-act historical drama portraying the life of 17th-century French statesman Cardinal Richelieu, framed as a conspiracy. It includes the scene in which Richelieu declares that the pen is mightier than the sword.
Riders to the Sea
On Inishmaan, grieving widow Maurya fears her son Bartley will also be lost to the sea after it has taken her husband and five sons. Her daughters identify the body of Michael, and Bartley later drowns after leaving to sell a horse. The play presents the sea as both livelihood and relentless threat.
Rienzi
Rienzi is an 1828 historical tragedy by the British writer Mary Russell Mitford. It is based on the fourteenth century Italian political leader Cola di Rienzo. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 9 October 1828. The original cast included Charles Mayne Young as Cola di Rienzi, John Cooper as Angelo Colonna, George Yarnold as Paolo, and Harriet Faucit as Lady Colonna. It was Mitford's most successful play and for 34 nights from October to December 1828, and then appeared frequently in the United States.
Right You Are (if you think so)
After an earthquake, provincial townspeople investigate the guarded Ponza family: Mrs. Frola says her daughter is alive and married to Ponza, while Ponza insists his mother-in-law is deluded and that his current wife is a second woman. Their contradictory explanations fuel the town’s demand for proof, but the veiled woman at the end claims to be both—and neither—of the identities they seek.
Rikki and Me
A stage show celebrating comic actor Rikki Fulton, with Gerard Kelly and Tony Roper portraying Fulton and his comedy partner Jack Milroy.
Rinaldo and Armida
Rinaldo and Armida is a 1698 tragedy by the English writer John Dennis. A semi-opera it featured music composed by John Eccles. It is inspired by the 1560 epic poem Jerusalem Delivered by the Italian writer Torquato Tasso, particularly the characters of Rinaldo and Armida. It was performed at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London by Thomas Betterton's company. The original cast included Betterton as Rinaldo, John Thurmond as Ubaldo, Elizabeth Barry as Armida, Elizabeth Bowman as Urania and Elinor Leigh as Phenissa.
Ring Round the Moon
Hugo tries to save his shy twin Frederic from an unhappy marriage by bringing a beautiful dancer to a lavish ball. Her arrival disrupts the wealthy guests’ romantic schemes and entangles her own feelings.
Rise
In a pastor's Los Angeles office, Henry Donner is visited by Alexandra Riverton, his former lover from New York. An old song they shared prompts a tense pursuit of the truth about their separation.
Ritter Blaubart
Herbert Eulenberg’s five-act play about Knight Bluebeard was performed at Berlin’s Lessing Theater in 1906, where it was unsuccessful. Eulenberg later revised the text with Reznicek for the three-act opera.
Ritzy
Ritzy is a 1930 comedy play by Sidney Toler and Viva Tattersall. It ran for 32 performances at the Longacre Theatre on Broadway with a cast that included Miriam Hopkins and Ernest Truex. A financially struggling couple living in a cheap hotel believe they have inherited a huge sum of money, until the discovery of closer relatives means they will not receive the fortune.
Road
On a busy night in a deprived Lancashire working-class neighbourhood under Thatcher, the audience encounters residents inside their homes and sees their lives marked by unemployment, desperation and humour. The play is often staged as a promenade, with narrator Scullery leading audiences along the street.
Road House
Road House is a British play by Walter Hackett. It ran for 341 performances at the Whitehall Theatre between 6 October 1932 and 5 August 1933. The original cast included Gordon Harker, Ronald Shiner, Godfrey Tearle, Marion Lorne and Jeanne Stuart, who was later replaced in her role by Sunday Wilshin.
Rob Roy
Rob Roy (Rob Roy, the Gregarach) is an 1818 play by English playwright George Soane, based on the 1817 novel Rob Roy by Walter Scott. The play was first performed 25 March 1818 at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Another popular stage version of Rob Roy, by Isaac Pocock, performed with traditional Scottish songs, was also premiered in 1818 and frequently revived thereafter.
Robbery Under Arms
Dampier and Walch's stage version changes the novel so Dick Marston and Captain Starlight survive and can be pardoned. The villain Dan Moran holds Sir Ferdinand captive at Terrible Hollow; Starlight rescues him, and Moran later attempts to stab Dick, but Kate Morrison is killed saving him. The adaptation also gives Inspector Goring a more villainous role in harassing Aileen.
Robert and Bertram
A comedy depicting the adventures of two wandering vagrants.
Robin Hood and ye Curtall Friar
An outdoor pageant play based on a traditional ballad about Robin Hood’s encounter with a cleric at a stream near Fountains Abbey, designed with little dialogue and much singing.
Rock 'n' Roll
Across Prague and Cambridge from 1968 to 1990, a Czech student and a British Marxist professor hold sharply different views of Communism. Rock music, underground Czech musicians, and the memory of Syd Barrett frame the changing political landscape through the Velvet Revolution.
Rock Scissors Paper
A teenager tells of her drug-dealing brother, an ill-fated family vacation, and her mother’s refusal to face the facts.
Rockaby
An isolated woman sits in a rocking chair and listens to a recorded voice recounting her own life and her dead mother’s. Across four sections she searches for another living soul, withdraws from the outside world, and finally stops the rocking as the voice and her life fade.
Rocket to the Moon
In 1938 New York, dentist Ben Stark’s business and marriage are deteriorating as he begins a love affair with young dental assistant Cleo Singer.
Rodney King
Roger Guenveur Smith performs a range of voices for and against Rodney King's plight, turning King's story and the 1992 Los Angeles riots into a solo theatrical monologue.
Rodogune
At the Seleucian court, Queen Cleopatra’s twin sons Antiochus and Seleucus both love the captive Parthian princess Rodogune, whose marriage is bound to the succession and the royal family’s struggle for power.
Rogers v. Rogers
Edward Rogers fights for control of his family's telecommunications business as the company pursues a takeover of Shaw Communications. The dispute draws in his relatives, corporate leaders and Canada's competition regulator.
Rokumeikan
On the Emperor’s birthday in 1886, a ball is planned at Tokyo’s Rokumeikan hall with foreign dignitaries among the guests. Anti-government extremists plan to break into the event.
RolePlay
During an engagement party, Julie-Ann's parents, Justin's drunken mother, and an escaped dancer with her minder collide in Justin's flat. As the guests' prejudices and secrets unravel, Julie-Ann's relationship with Justin breaks down; he leaves with the dancer to escape his own life.
Roll for It!
Nick and Tyler face the final session of their Dungeons & Dragons campaign before Nick moves away. When the other players fail to arrive, Tyler’s younger sister joins them, and audience choices help determine how their shared adventure ends.
Rollo's Wild Oat
Rollo's Wild Oat is a 1920 comedic play by Clare Kummer.
Rollo, Duke of Normandy
Rollo struggles with his brother Otto for power and murders him, then commits further violence before Edith and Hamond plot against him. After Rollo and Hamond die, Aubrey takes the dukedom and punishes the conspirators.
Roman Tragedies
This six-hour stage adaptation condenses Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleopatra to examine how political leaders make decisions and mistakes. Set in modern dress, it uses live video, audience seating onstage, surtitles and a news ticker to connect Roman politics with contemporary political life.
Romance
In a courtroom, a drowsy then manic judge presides over a volatile trial involving the prosecutor and his boyfriend, a defense attorney and his client, and a defendant who proposes a solution to the problems in the Middle East.
Romance (Sheldon play)
In his library in Washington Square, New York, Bishop Armstrong learns with disquiet that his grandson Harry is engaged to be married to Lucille Anderson, an actress. Harry says that the bishop has never felt the way he does; in response, the bishop finds a box of mementos (a handkerchief and dried violets) from an affair of long ago, and starts to tell Harry a story. The following scenes are a representation of the story. About 1867, there is an evening reception at the house of Cornelius van Tuyl, a wealthy banker. The guests include Madame Margherita Cavallini, an Italian opera star. Tom, the rector of St Giles (the bishop in younger days) is a friend of van Tuyl, who supports his church work. Van Tuyl expects Tom to say he wants to marry his niece Susan; instead, Tom says he disapproves of his association with Mme Cavallini, who has a bad reputation. When Mme Cavallini (Rita) enters with her admirers, she and Tom immediately notice each other. Tom awkwardly introduces himself to her, and she is interested in him. She says their moment together is like her bouquet of violets, to enjoy before they die. He wants to see her again, and she asks him to come to her hotel apartment. All this time he does not know who she is; as she leaves, she asks van Tuyl to tell him. The scene is the study of St Giles' rectory, on the afternoon of New Year's Eve, a few weeks later. Miss Armstrong, Tom's aunt, is anxious about Tom's affair with Rita, and asks van Tuyl to "save him from that dreadful woman". When Rita arrives, van Tuyl tells her she is amusing herself at Tom's expense. Tom arrives and the others go to tea; he talks to Rita. He says that love is finding the woman you want to live with all your life; she says it is like a little light in all the darkness. He asks her to marry him, but she says there is a reason she cannot. He tells her it will be all right if she repents of her sinful past. He is alarmed when he learns she had a relationship with van Tuyl, but she says it was not serious. Tom announces to van Tuyl that they are engaged, and he congratulates them. But Rita says she was van Tuyl's mistress until she met Tom. Tom is appalled, and Rita leaves. In her apartment later that evening, Rita is triumphant after her performance, and speaks from her balcony to the crowd below. Van Tuyl congratulates her. He tries to get her to eat the meal that has been prepared, but she is not hungry. She is going away the next day; he suggests that he goes away with her. She has a pistol, saying she will kill herself: that in the last weeks she has found something good in the world, but now cannot change. Van Tuyl leaves by a back way as Tom arrives. Tom, seeing van Tuyl's card and two glasses, thinks they have had a passionate meeting. Tom passionately says he wants to save Rita from her sinful life, but then declares his love. Rita says she will kill herself if he touches her. Finally he hears the chimes of midnight and the church procession which he has organized; his manner changes and he leaves to join them. The scene is as for the prologue; the bishop has finished his story. Harry, misunderstanding that the bishop's purpose was to sympathize with youthful impetuousness rather than encourage it, says he has been an ass to hesitate, and will marry Lucille. Harry's sister Suzette comes in; she sees in the paper an obituary of Mme Cavallini, and unaware of the connection with her grandfather, she reads it out; the opera singer never married.
Romanoff and Juliet
Romanoff and Juliet is a play by Peter Ustinov. A comic spoof of the Cold War, it is set in the small mythical mid-European country of Concordia, whose leader is wooed by the United States and the Soviet Union, each one wanting him as an ally. Russia's ambassador, a member of the Romanoff family, has a son Igor who falls in love with Juliet, the daughter of the US diplomat. The two opposing families, one communist, the other capitalist, represent the warring Capulets and Montagues of Romeo and Juliet. The play premiered in Manchester, England on 2 April 1956. The Broadway production, produced by David Merrick and directed by George S. Kaufman, opened on 10 October 1957 at the Plymouth Theatre and ran for 389 performances. The opening night cast included Peter Ustinov as the General, Gerald Sarracini as Igor, and Elizabeth Allen as Juliet, with Fred Clark, Natalie Schafer, and Jack Gilford in supporting roles. Ustinov was nominated for Tony Awards for Best Play and Best Actor in Play. In 1961 Ustinov directed and starred in the film adaptation Romanoff and Juliet of the play.
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Comedy is a play by Bernard Slade, author of Same Time, Next Year.
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love despite their families' feud and secretly marry. After a fatal street fight and Romeo's banishment, a failed message causes each to believe the other dead; their suicides bring the families' reconciliation.
Romulus
When a basket containing an abandoned baby appears at astronomer Célestus's home, he and his philosopher friend Wolf debate what to do. A town mayor's accusations and the child's true parentage unsettle their household and lead the friends toward an unexpected family bond.
Romulus the Great
As the Western Roman Empire collapses in 476, Emperor Romulus refuses to resist the Germanic invasion, preferring his chickens. Courtiers plot against him, but when Odoacer arrives, the two rulers discover they share exhaustion with conquest and negotiate a strange settlement.
Ron Kamonohashi: Deranged Detective
Struggling police detective Totomaru Isshiki teams up with Ron Kamonohashi, a brilliant sleuth barred from detective work after a past incident. As they solve a series of murders, Totomaru must also curb Ron’s dangerous condition, while members of the Moriarty family pursue their own interest in him.
Rookery Nook
Newlyweds Gerald and Clara Popkiss stay at Rookery Nook, a country house. When Rhoda Marley flees her bullying stepfather and arrives barefoot in pyjamas, Gerald shelters her. A series of family members and neighbors arrive, mistaken suspicions spread, and efforts to get Rhoda out of the house create escalating farcical confusion before Gerald and Clara reconcile and Clive pairs off with Rhoda.
Room
Ma, kidnapped as a teenager and held captive for seven years, longs to escape with her five-year-old son Jack, who has never known the world outside their room.
Room Service
A quick-witted theatre producer and several actors live on credit in a Broadway hotel while the producer searches for a $15,000 backer. The action is set in producer Gordon Miller’s room at the White Way Hotel.
RoosevElvis
Ann, a meat-packing worker from South Dakota, imagines herself as Elvis Presley and her date Brenda, a taxidermist from North Dakota, as Theodore Roosevelt. After their awkward weekend together, Ann’s imagined Elvis and Teddy personas accompany her on a road trip toward Graceland, as the play examines loneliness, queer desire, and competing ideas of masculinity.
Roots
Beatie Bryant returns to her Norfolk home and visits her family, hoping to share the thoughts of her unseen liberal boyfriend Ronnie. As she begins to express herself and the struggles of her community, Ronnie's letter announces he is leaving her.
Rope
Two university students murder a fellow student and conceal his body in a chest, then serve food from it at a party for the victim's friends and family. A former professor grows suspicious and returns to open the chest, confronting the murderers' claimed amorality.
Rosamunde, Fürstin von Zypern
Raised incognito as a shepherdess, Rosamunde seeks to reclaim Cyprus's throne. Governor Fulgentius tries to block her claim through intrigue, a marriage proposal and attempted poisoning, but her claim is supported by the Cypriots and Prince Alfonso; Fulgentius dies by his own poison and Rosamunde becomes queen.
Rose
In Wasaychigan Hill, a fictional reserve on Manitoulin Island, characters from the earlier Rez Cycle plays and newcomers prepare to open what they call the world’s biggest casino.
Rose Bernd
Rose Bernd speaks to a friend, Flamm, with whom she is now uncomfortable. He flirts with her: "Rosie, give me your dear, good, faithful little paw. By heaven, Rosie! Look here, I'm a deucedly queer fellow! I'm damned fond of my dear old woman; that's as true as..." Rose hides her face in her arm and says: "You make me want to die o' shame." Flamm complains of his wife: "Nine solid years she's been bedridden; at most she creeps around in a wheel chair.- Confound it all, what good is that sort o' thing to me?" Later, Streckman greets her, and insinuates he knows of her doings under a field-crucifix with Squire Flamm from Diessdorf. Father Bernd, a deacon, wishes Rose to marry August Keil, a bookbinder, whose health is weak. Rose intimates it would be better to delay the wedding, already the case for 3 years! Keil takes the matter in good stride: "I'm made for misfortune! An' that's what I've always told you, Father Bernd, in spite of it all I've taken thought an' I've worked an' God has given his blessin' so that I've not fallen by the wayside. But I can weep; these things aren't for me!" Father Bernd and Keil leave, disappointed. Mrs Flamm seeks to find out the reason behind Rose's delays, and guesses that she is pregnant. Having lost a son, Mrs Flamm, alone, exclaims: "Ah, lass, 'tis a good fortune that you have, not an evil! There's none that's greater for a woman! Hold it fast!" Finally, Rose decides to marry Keil, with Flamm's baby inside her belly. Rose admits loving Flamm, and he loves her, but, he being married, the situation is hopeless. Streckmann returns, and Rose accuses him: "I ran to you in the awful terror o' my heart! An' I begged you for the love o' God not to put nothin' between me an' August. I crept on my knees before you- an' you say, you, I ran after you! What was it truly? You committed a crime- a crime against me! An' that's worse'n a scoundrel's trick! 'Twas a crime- doubly and trebly! An' the Lord'll bring it home to you!" Streckmann jealously says: "I'm as good as Flamm. An' I don't want no more goin's on between you an' him!" Rose answers: "I'll jump into his bed, scoundrel! An' it wouldn't concern you that much!" She continues her accusations: "You pounced on me like a wild beast! I know! I tried to get out by the door! An' you took hold an' you rent my bodice an' my skirt! I bled! I might ha' gotten out by the door!" Bernd and Keil hear part of Rose's accusations. Baited, Streckmann strikes back, hitting Keil and calling Rose "a wench that's common to anybody as wants her...." Keil loses an eye. In their home, Mr and Mrs Flamm discuss his adultery. Later, Mrs Flamm attempts to hear Rose about the court proceedings, Father Bernd taking Streckmann to court for slandering his daughter. Rose failed to contradict Strackmann, for which Mrs. Flamm accuses her: "An' didn't you tell the truth, girl? You lied when you were under oath, maybe?- Haven't you any idea what that means an' what you've done? How did you happen to do that? How could you think o' such a thing?, whereupon Rose cries out brokenly: "I was so ashamed!" In Bernd's cottage, Keil tells him: "Father, you'll have to withdraw your suit." He refuses. Keil retorts: "Our Rose habeen but a weak human bein' like others." Bernd is stunned and answers confusedly : "No. I don't understand you rightly!" Rose arrives. Bernd is bitter against her, but Keil will stand by her, though worried about her perjury. Rose cries out: "O Jesus, Jesus, what did I do? Why did I go an' creep home? Why didn't I stay with my little baby?" Stunned that she had given birth, Keil asks: "With whom?" When a constable arrives to sign papers related to the court proceedings, Rose confesses to the murder of her baby.
Rose Briar
The play was never published; this synopsis is compiled from contemporaneous newspaper and magazine reviews. Act I (Interior of Restaurant Pompadeur Caberet, at night.) This is a high class establishment with socially prominent customers. The set shows a small orchestra and "stage on a stage", which consists of risers leading to a series of open archways with curtain screens. Patrons, waiters, and entertainers swirl about the floor between numbers. The Valentines are there, along with Paradee. He is attentive to Mrs. Valentine, who misunderstands his sympathetic manner for romantice interest. She ignores her husband, who displays nervous behavior indicating emotional upset. Miss Nicely performs an interesting solo dance to music. Both men are momentarily diverted, Valentine to the music and Paradee to the girl. Later, Rose Briar appears on the risers in ornate Court of Versailles costume, singing Give Me That Rose (Madame Pompadour), and Valentine perks up. She returns in a simpler outfit to sing Love and the Moon, and Valentine is noticeably affected. Mrs. Valentine gets an idea; she summons her lawyer Mr. Little, and he, with the caberet managers, tell Rose she must go to Mrs. Valentine's country home that weekend if she wants to keep her job. (Curtain) Act II (Drawing room of Mrs. Valentine's home, the next weekend afternoon.) Rose now learns from Mr. Little what is expected of her: to lure Mr. Valentine into a compromising situation, so Mrs. Valentine can obtain a divorce. The reporter Miss Sheppard and Crecelous are present to testify to any unseemly behavior. At first Rose goes along with it; Valentine means nothing to her and she needs her job. But with time she conceives a dislike for Mrs. Valentine. She also realizes that Paradee isn't really interested in Mrs. Valentine, while Mr. Valentine's neurotic behavior is all due to Mrs. Valentine's coldness to him. Rose decides to compete with Mrs. Valentine for Paradee. (Curtain) Act III (Same as Act II, that evening.) Paradee now becomes the target of two battling women. Rose makes fun of Mrs. Valentine's proclivity for baby talk and incessant claims of persecution, but also helps clear up her mistaken impression of Mr. Valentine's infidelity. Eventually Paradee falls for his former love Rose, and Mrs. Valentine reconciles with her husband. (Curtain)
Rose and the Rime
In Radio Falls, a Michigan town trapped in perpetual winter by the Rime Witch’s curse, the last remaining child, Rose, sets out to end the blizzard, confronting the danger of the witch’s magic coin and the costs of power.
Rose's Dilemma
Blocked novelist Rose Steiner needs money and plans a new bestseller. She imagines advice from her dead lover, celebrated writer Walsh McLaren, and decides to finish his unfinished novel with help from a young neighbor. Rose’s daughter and assistant Arlene becomes romantically involved with the young writer, Gavin Clancy.
Rosemary
When an accident interrupts Dorothy Cruickshank and William Westwood’s elopement, Sir Jasper Thorndyke hosts them and Dorothy’s parents, then persuades her father to accept the match. Sir Jasper falls in love with Dorothy but gives way; decades later, he is an old bachelor remembering what he lost.
Rosemary, That's for Remembrance
Louis Parker revised this play in 1924, the only published version available. This synopsis favors the version produced on stage in 1896 and reported by contemporaneous drama critics. Act I: Sir Jasper Makes a Mistake (The High Road, just outside Sir Jasper's estate, evening.) Dorothy and William, eloping in a post-chaise, find themselves spilled out onto the ground when it overturns on a dark country road. The postboy George has also fallen and is unsure of their location. Fortunately, Sir Jasper and his servant Abraham arrive with a lamp. He quickly grasps the couple's situation, and invites them to spend the night at his manor house. No sooner are they settled, when another lost couple appears. Sir Jasper realizes these are the girl's parents, the Cruikshanks. Thinking that a shared misfortune might lead to reconcilement, he invites them also to lodge the night at Ingle Hall. (Quick Curtain) Act II: Sir Jasper Makes Amends (Dining-room at Ingle Hall, morning.) Sir Jasper is contemplating his little surprise for the two couples, when Dorothy surprises him with an armful of flowers from the garden. He is startled at his own awakening interest in the girl, who shows gratitude for his hospitality. The morning brings discord when William and Capt. Cruikshank encounter each other at breakfast. Sir Jasper eventually placates William by getting Capt. Cruikshank to talk about his experiences with Nelson. Jogram perplexes Priscilla with his highbrow manner of speaking, while he is baffled by her West Country solecisms. Having secured the parents' acquiescence to the nuptials, Sir Jasper suggests they all return to London to view the coronation celebrations. (Curtain) Act III: Sir Jasper Forgets (Mrs. Minifie's Coffee House, London.) Both couples, with Sir Jasper and Jogram, have arrived at Mrs. Minifie's Coffee House, where from an upper floor dining room they expect to view the coronation procession. Sir Jasper, aware he cuts a better figure than the callow and jealous William, now starts to imagine a life with Dorothy. However, he is brought up short by Jogram, who recalls him to honorable conduct, and assures that in time he will forget his love for Dorothy. She has given Sir Jasper some rosemary flowers, which he put carefully into his wallet, and some pages from her diary in which she wrote flatteringly of him. These he slips into a crack in the panelling of the dining room, as the company watches the procession below. (Curtain) Act IV: Sir Jasper Remembers (Same as Act III, fifty years later.) Sir Jasper, now aged 90, has returned as he does every year on this anniversary of the Queen's accession. The derelict coffee house has been owned by him for many years. He cherishes it for the memory of Dorothy, who like every other character in the play is long gone. He chuckles to himself over Prof. Jogram wanting to marry his housekeeper Priscilla as he grew childish in old age. Behind a decayed section of panelling he finds the remains of Rosemary's diary pages. Looking at them, he suddenly pulls some dried bits of flowers from his wallet. "Rosemary" he says, "that's for remembrance". (Curtain)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
Two minor courtiers from Hamlet try to understand events unfolding around them, but their limited knowledge and the larger tragedy's plot leave them powerless. Their confused philosophical games, encounters with a troupe of players, and doomed voyage lead to the deaths foretold by Shakespeare's play.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, A Tragic Episode, in Three Tabloids
Gilbert's burlesque of Hamlet has Claudius reveal that he once wrote a disastrous tragedy whose mention is punishable by death. Rosencrantz and Ophelia, who love one another, persuade Hamlet to stage it, hoping to rid themselves of his long soliloquies and unwanted engagement; Hamlet is banished and the pair marry.
Rosmersholm
After his wife Beata’s suicide, former clergyman Johannes Rosmer and his companion Rebecca West face political conflict, guilt and their mutual love. Rebecca admits she helped drive Beata to despair; unable to escape their guilt or trust each other, she and Rosmer jump into the mill-race together.
Ross
The play is structured with a framing device set in 1922, when Lawrence was hiding under an assumed name as "Aircraftman Ross" in the Royal Air Force, and is being disciplined by his Flight Lieutenant for alleged misconduct. No one seems to have become aware of his true identity, except for a man named Dickinson, who had seen Lawrence at the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 and quickly attempts to blackmail him to keep his identity secret. Lawrence, however, refuses, and Dickinson decides to reveal his identity to the Daily Mirror. After Lawrence has a dream sequence, flashing back to the various figures in his life, the play flashes back to mid-1916. Lawrence is being given an unofficial assignment as a liaison officer to the forces of the Arab Revolt, under Prince Feisal (who, although he is frequently mentioned, never appears as a character). Sir Ronald Storrs, the head of the Arab Bureau, tries to talk him out of the mission, as does Colonel Barrington, a bull-headed intelligence officer. Along with two Arab servants, Hamed and Rashid (similar to Lawrence's real-life companions Farraj and Daud), Lawrence enters the desert, revealing that he feels that the supreme being of the world is "the will", and he believes that he can achieve anything if he puts his mind to it. Lawrence later meets Auda ibu Tayi, leader of the Howeitat tribe of Bedouin, using flattery to convert him to the Arab cause (he has been paid off by the Turks to support them). Auda and Lawrence soon plan an expedition through the Nefud Desert to capture the Turkish-held port of Aqaba, which is weakly defended from the landward side. Along the way to Aqaba, however, he is forced to execute an Arab for murdering another in a feud. Meanwhile, the Turkish military governor of Deraa and his subordinate, a captain, watch with growing unease Lawrence's campaign against the Hejaz Railway, though they fail to ascertain the target of his campaign. The General decides to place a reward of £20,000 on Lawrence for his capture, and these leads to a comic scene where the Captain arrives in Auda's camp to offer him the reward, and Lawrence is present. Unable to act despite recognising Lawrence, the Captain is forced to leave the camp. At the end of Act I, Lawrence arrives at an army outpost in the Sinai Peninsula and uses a telephone station (despite the protests of a British naval officer) to report the Arab capture of Aqaba. Act II begins in the office of the new commander of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, General Edmund Allenby, who is present with Storrs and Barrington. Allenby asks their opinions of Lawrence before Lawrence himself arrives. Storrs praises Lawrence, while Barrington finds him repugnant and undeserving of a position of responsibility. Allenby engages Lawrence in a brief discussion, which includes chat about archaeology, literature, and furniture, alternating with a serious discussion about the progress of the war. While Allenby wants Lawrence to be the permanent commander of the Arab liaison forces, Lawrence expresses the view that he is not up to the task, and admits to a conflict of conscience over aiding the Arabs while being aware of the Sykes-Picot Agreement to divide up the Ottoman Empire – although Allenby convinces him otherwise. On a reconnaissance mission in Deraa, Lawrence speaks with Hamed, with whom he has grown close, as Rasheed, the other servant, died on the march to Aqaba. Hamed has tried to bribe more Arabs into joining the cause, but they have been frightened into refusing by the Turks. Lawrence is arrested by a Turkish army sergeant, believing him to be a Circassian army deserter. He is taken back to Turkish HQ, where on the orders of the General, he is beaten and then raped. This is a deliberate action by the General, who feels that Lawrence is too extraordinary an enemy to simply kill; he must destroy his will and his personality through such an act, thus revealing his weakness. At the beginning of Act III, Allenby has just received word of the fall of Jerusalem and is posing for photographs for a journalist named Franks (a stand-in for Lowell Thomas), who requests an interview with Lawrence. During this scene Barrington (now a Brigadier General on Allenby's staff) asks Lawrence to deny that his men execute prisoners, although he is disgusted when Lawrence admits that they have. Allenby interrupts the conversation, and discusses Lawrence's request to be transferred from Arabia – a request Allenby turns down. Lawrence feels that he has learned "the truth" about himself, refusing to discuss his rape with Allenby. At this point, Storrs enters, informing Allenby that the British government wants him to enter Jerusalem in a triumph – and Allenby all but forces Lawrence to take part in the parade. The last sequence occurs in September 1918, the last days of the war, after the Battle of Megiddo has smashed the Turkish armies and the road to Damascus is all but open. Speaking with an RAF officer, Flight Lieutenant Higgins, Lawrence recounts his own force's hand in the operation, including the massacre of 4,000 Turks outside Tafas, in retaliation for their sack of the village. However, Higgins is more disturbed about Lawrence's execution of a wounded colleague – later revealed to be Hamed, Lawrence's servant. Lawrence then meets with Auda, recounting the death of Hamed. Lawrence inadvertently reveals the British treachery towards the Arabs to Auda, although he then promises Auda that he will fight for the Arabs "to the limits of my strength". At this point Barrington arrives, and Auda expresses his admiration for Lawrence to him before exiting. After Auda's departure, Barrington complains that the Arab forces occupying Deraa have committed atrocities against Turkish soldiers captured there and refuses to allow the Arabs to garrison the city. He also discusses the Tafas massacre with Lawrence, referring to him as a "callous, soulless, sadistic little brute", while Lawrence concedes that he is "lost to all human feeling". The play ends in 1922, with the RAF officers trying to smuggle Lawrence away from the barracks before the press, newly alerted to the identity of "Ross", can descend on them.
Rotterdam
A contemporary play dealing with transgender relationships, gender, and human sexuality.
Rough Crossing
Aboard a 1930s transatlantic liner, playwrights Sandor Turai and Alex Gal discover that actress Natasha seems to reciprocate actor Ivor Fish’s declaration of love, devastating her younger composer-lover Adam. Turai fabricates a rehearsal explanation by writing a new ending from their overheard words. A storm and lifeboat drill interrupt the rehearsal; Adam falls overboard but is rescued, reconciles with Natasha, and the company replaces its failing musical with a new play.
Rough for Theatre II
Two bureaucrats investigate a man poised to jump from an apartment window, reviewing his life and ultimately leaving the outcome unresolved.
Round Heads and Pointed Heads
In the fictitious country of Yahoo, rulers preserve power by setting round-headed people against pointed-headed people, redirecting class conflict into racial antagonism. The epic parable unfolds in eleven scenes with songs.
Round and Round the Garden
The garden view of the Norman Conquests weekend follows the same six characters as family members gather at Annie's house to care for their mother, while Annie hopes for a private meeting with her brother-in-law Norman.
Royal Mail
A sequence of tableaux observes life in a Murchison gold-mining centre, with humorous character and scene details.
Rubabikia
An aspiring writer buys a manuscript from a second-hand dealer and claims it as his own. Publicity turns the supposed author into a literary success, until the manuscript’s real creator arrives and threatens to expose the deception.
Rudens
After a storm wrecks the ship of pimp Labrax, two enslaved women escape to shore and seek refuge at a temple. Their friend Trachalio protects them while Labrax tries to reclaim them; a chest recovered from the sea ultimately reveals that Palaestra is the long-lost daughter of Daemones, who reunites her with her family and arranges her marriage.
Rugantino
Rugantino is an 1805 melodrama by the British writer Matthew Lewis. An afterpiece, it was originally staged at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 18 October 1805. It was inspired by the 1801 French play L'Homme à Trois Visages by René-Charles Guilbert de Pixérécourt. The original cast included Charles Murray as Andreas, Duke of Venice, John Liston as Meme, William Abbot as Poole, Henry Erskine Johnston as Rugantino and Isabella Mattocks as Camilla. It premiered in Ireland at Dublin's Crow Street Theatre on 26 January 1807. It was revived at Drury Lane in 1820 with a cast featuring James William Wallack as Rugantino, Thomas Cooke as Contarino, William Oxberry as Memme, John Pritt Harley as Stephane, Walter Maddocks as Harald, Sarah Sparks as Camilla and Charlotte Tidswell as Bettina.
Ruined
In a Congolese mining town during civil war, Mama Nadi runs a bar serving miners and soldiers from opposing factions while trying to remain neutral. The play examines women's lives amid the conflict and sexual violence, with Mama's establishment caught in the factions' disruption.
Rule a Wife and Have a Wife
Two couples marry under false pretenses: wealthy heiress Margarita and soldier Leon negotiate a marriage complicated by her lovers, while maid Estifania disguises her poverty to wed Captain Perez; deceptions eventually lead to mutual accommodation.
Rules for Living
During a family’s Christmas lunch, each person follows a rule that turns a habit into a visible action, such as sitting to lie or standing to tell a joke. The rules expose strained marriages, rivalry and pressure to conform, escalating into an explosive family argument.
Rumors
Friends arriving for a deputy mayor's anniversary party find his wife missing and the host apparently shot. They conceal the chaotic situation from later guests and police, with misunderstandings, injuries, rumors and impersonations escalating until a fabricated explanation is accepted and the missing wife calls from the basement.
Run for Your Wife
London cab driver John Smith has two wives and carefully schedules his double life. After a mugging sends him to hospital, both addresses come to light and police investigate, leaving him entangled in explanations to his wives and two officers.
Rupert
In a theatrical near-cabaret, Rupert Murdoch presents his own legacy and ideological convictions to the audience. David Williamson frames the media magnate’s pursuit of influence through Murdoch’s self-justifying voice and parallels to Shakespeare’s Richard III.
Rustom O Sohrab
An Urdu tragedy based on the Rostam and Sohrab story in Ferdowsi’s Shahnameh, with Rostam, Sohrab and Tahmineh among its named characters.
Rusty Bugles
Advertised as an “army comedy documentary,” the play presents wartime Australian camp life in the Northern Territory through soldiers’ interactions and patois, emphasizing the everyday drama of their exchanges rather than a conventional plot.
Rutherford and Son
Rutherford, "a bull-headed capitalist who crushes his own children beneath the wheels of industry" has built a glassmaking business which he has always intended to pass onto his son, John. He sent John to Harrow School to have him educated as a gentleman, but to his disgust John turned his back on the business and went to London, where he married a working-class girl, Mary. When John and Mary had a child, Tony, they could not afford to feed and look after the baby properly, and they have come back to live in Rutherford's house. Rutherford dominates the household, consisting of Ann, his sister, and his children John, Richard and Janet; he barely acknowledges Mary's existence. John, trained in chemistry, has developed a metal which he believes can save the business a great deal of money; but rather than giving it to his father to benefit the business, he regards it as his to sell to make his fortune. He tries to sell it to his father, who turns him down as he believes that John owes him it both in return for bringing him up and to benefit the business which will ultimately come to John. To support his estimation of the value of his invention, John says that he has shared it with his father's right-hand man Martin, whose opinion of it was favourable. Martin is seen sharing a passionate kiss with Rutherford's daughter Janet, and they arrange a further meeting in secret. Rutherford's other son Richard (Dick), who is a curate, comes to ask his father's permission to leave the house and take a position in Blackpool. He also asks his father to see Mrs Henderson, the mother of a lad Rutherford has sacked. During the course of an acrimonious discussion she tells him that Janet and Martin are carrying on. After Dick has gone, Rutherford summons Martin from the mill, and persuades him to betray John's trust and give him the recipe. He argues that this is needed to save the business, which he tells him has been losing money for seven years. When Martin has left, Janet comes in and Rutherford asks her how long it has been going on. She does not attempt to deny the affair, and tells her father what she has long wanted to say to him about her life and how he bullies her and her brothers. Rutherford tells her that she may stay the night, but when he comes home tomorrow she is to be gone and will never be mentioned in the house again. In the morning Janet is euphoric about her coming freedom and new life with Martin. Martin comes in dazed: after he delivered the recipe, Rutherford dismissed him. He does not respond to Janet's euphoria at all; but he says he will make an honest woman of her, and tries to give her some money. She eventually realises that her dream is not to be, and leaves the house alone. Martin has come not to see Janet, but to tell John that he has betrayed him. John is furious and despairs, thinking that his one hope of a life of his own has vanished. He steals all the money he finds in his father's desk, against his wife's begging him not to: he is convinced that by right it is his. He is talking of their going to Canada to make a new life; but Mary persuades him that it is better for him to go alone, and send for her and Tony when he is established. With all three children gone, Mary speaks up to Rutherford, and offers him a bargain: if he will keep and clothe her and her son for ten years, she will then hand the boy over to him entirely to be trained to take over the business. Rutherford accepts, and tells her "I'm known as a hard man. But I don't know that I could have stood there and spoken as you have".
Ruy Blas
Valet and poet Ruy Blas secretly loves the Queen of Spain. Her enemy Don Salluste disguises him as a nobleman and brings him to court, where Blas rises to become prime minister and wins the Queen's love. Salluste returns and humiliates the pair by exposing the disguise. Blas kills Salluste, then takes poison; the Queen forgives him and declares her love as he dies.
Ryecote Entertainment
A court entertainment welcomes Elizabeth I at Rycote with speeches and symbolic gifts delivered by an old soldier and messengers. Irish, Flemish and French messengers bring jeweled objects bearing declarations of service; a French page also delivers a comic misdirected letter.
Révolte dans les Asturies
A collective theatrical account of the 1934 workers' uprising in Asturias and the army's violent repression.
SAGA
In rural Iceland, farmer Gunnar’s debts threaten his home and marriage after he borrows heavily to build a tourism business. As the financial crisis deepens, his wife and son leave for Norway; facing eviction, Gunnar sets fire to the house and crashes his jeep.
SHIFT
Three waitresses share a terrace house in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Gabby confronts her attraction to a friend and later tells her flatmate's mother, Victoria, about her sexuality.
SLUT: The Play
16-year-old Joanna "Joey" Del Marco is a high school student who is in a dance group that call themselves “the slut-squad”. On a night out with three trusted friends, she is assaulted by them. Once she comes forward about her assault, many friends, classmates, and even parents turn against her. They begin to blame and slut-shame her. The play highlights the damaging impact of rape culture on the lives of young women.
STEW
The plot centers on the Tucker family, three generations of women grappling with their personal choices. Characters include Mama, the family matriarch, Nelly, a 17-year-old who lives with Mama, Mama's 30-something daughter Lillian, who is visiting with her preteen daughter Li'l Mama and her son Junior, who does not appear in the play. It takes place in Mama's kitchen. Mama is making a stew for a church event later in the day that is very important to her, and the rest of the family is helping or keeping her company in the kitchen. The women are all stressed for various reasons—Mama because of the event and her health issues, Lillian because she is having marital issues, and Nelly because she is pregnant—and they bicker, sometimes comically. A loud bang is heard outside the house while all but Mama are sleeping, and Lillian, Nelly, and Li'l Mama run outside, concerned about Junior, while Mama, still inside stirring her pot, resigns herself to the worst. The play ends with the audience believing he has been shot.
Saber Came to Tea
A young groom visits his new wife's family in a rural Hadhrami village, where men and women are separated by a curtain during family gatherings. As the couple's real experiences inform a theatrical challenge to household roles, tradition, gender expectations and the Yemeni conflict shape their encounter.
Sabrina Fair
Sabrina Fairchild is the daughter of a chauffeur to the wealthy Larrabee family, who live in a mansion on the North Shore of Long Island. Returning from a stay in Paris after working as the private secretary to the "Assistant Economic Commissioner Office of Special Representative for Europe Economic Cooperation Administration", she presents herself as a young woman of beauty, charm, incredible sophistication and zest for living, so different from the domestic's daughter the family had largely ignored. She proclaims her desire "to do everything and see everything, sense everything; to know that life is an enormous experience and must be used. To be in the world, and of the world, and never stand aside and watch." Although she once had a crush on David Larrabee, the young playboy of the family, and returns to America with a wealthy French suitor in tow, she finds herself drawn to Linus Larrabee, whose intelligence, lack of sentimentality, and knowledge of the world stimulate her. He, of all the Larabees, is the one she is attracted by. When it is revealed that Sabrina's father has amassed a fortune on the stock market over the past decades, she wants to return to Paris, which she feels is her home. As her financial, as well as intellectual, equal, she falls in love with Linus. The title cites John Milton's song from his masque Comus (1634), which is quoted in the play: With its patrician setting, witty dialogue, and development of a romantic plot between two clever and committed idealists across class lines, Sabrina Fair has much in common with Philip Barry's 1928 comedy Holiday.
Sacco and Vanzetti
A chronicle play about the Sacco and Vanzetti case.
Sadie Love
Sadie Love, a young widow, marries an Italian prince. When the prince's previous girlfriend, the Comtesse de Mirabole, tries to lure him back, Sadie realizes the prince still has romantic feelings for the comtesse. Sadie wants a divorce, but to avoid public embarrassment, she insists that they go on their honeymoon first. The comtesse wants to go along to prevent the newlyweds from consummating their marriage. Sadie agrees, but only if she can bring her own ex-boyfriend, Jim Wakeley. Jim is followed by his wife, Lilian, who brings her own romantic interest, Mumford Crewe. The six travel first to the home of Sadie's aunt, Mrs. Warrington, who disapproves of the group's romantic complications, then to the cruise ship the prince has booked for the honeymoon.
Safed Khoon
King Khaqaan and his daughter Zara survive in this comic reworking of King Lear. Their story alternates with a farcical subplot in which servants trick their masters and a mistaken identity leads to a beating.
Sag Harbor
In a Sag Harbor boatyard community, Ben and Frank Turner love the same young woman, Martha, while their uncle Dan courts shy Elizabeth Ann. After Martha marries Ben, Frank's return at sea tests their relationships; a night of quarrels and reflection brings the brothers and Martha to a fragile reconciliation.
Sagittarius Ponderosa
Archer, a transgender man, returns home to help care for his ill father. Seeking respite from family tensions, he meets forestry student Owen by a pine tree; the family faces the father’s terminal illness and death, after which he returns as a ghost.
Saif al-Arab
The satire depicts ordinary Kuwaiti life during Iraq’s 1990 invasion and occupation. Abdulhussain Abdulredha portrays Saddam Hussein in a four-hour theatrical performance created to entertain Kuwaiti audiences during the Gulf War.
Sailor Beware!
Able Seaman Albert Tufnell loves Shirley Hornett but fears marrying into her family, dominated by her tyrannical mother Emma. On his wedding morning, he pretends to jilt Shirley, prompting relatives, neighbors and the vicar to tell Emma how badly she treats them.
Saint Carmen of the Main
A nightclub singer returns to Montreal determined to sing about the lives of her audience. Her new songs offer dignity to people on society’s margins while threatening those who depend on their silence.
Saint Joan
Shaw characterised Saint Joan as "A Chronicle Play in 6 Scenes and an Epilogue ". Joan, a simple peasant girl, claims to experience visions of Saint Margaret, Saint Catherine, and the archangel Michael, which she says were sent by God to guide her conduct. Scene 1 (23 February 1429): Robert de Baudricourt complains about the inability of the hens on his farm to produce eggs. Joan claims that her voices are telling her to lift the siege of Orléans, and to allow her several of his men for this purpose. Joan also says that she will crown the Dauphin in Reims Cathedral. Baudricourt ridicules Joan, but his Steward feels inspired by her words. Baudricourt eventually begins to feel the same sense of inspiration, and gives his consent to Joan. The Steward enters at the end of the scene to exclaim that the hens have begun to lay eggs again. Baudricourt interprets this as a sign from God of Joan's divine inspiration. Scene 2 (8 March 1429): Joan talks her way into being received at the court of the weak and vain Dauphin. There, she tells him that her voices have commanded her to help him become a true king by rallying his troops to drive out the English occupiers and restore France to greatness. Joan succeeds in doing this through her excellent powers of flattery, negotiation, leadership, and skill on the battlefield. Scene 3 (29 April 1429): Dunois and his page are waiting for the wind to turn so that he and his forces can lift the Siege of Orléans. Joan and Dunois commiserate, and Dunois attempts to explain to her more pragmatic realities of an attack, without the wind at their back. Her replies eventually inspire Dunois to rally the forces, and at the scene's end, the wind turns in their favour. Scene 4 (June 1429): Warwick and Stogumber discuss Joan's stunning series of victories. Joined by the Bishop of Beauvais, they are at a loss to explain her success. Stogumber decides Joan is a witch. Beauvais sees Joan as a threat to the Church, as she claims to receive instructions from God directly. He fears she wants to instil national pride in the people, which would undermine the Church's universal rule. Warwick thinks she wants to create a system in which the king is responsible to God only, ultimately stripping him and other feudal lords of their power. All agree that she must die. Scene 5 (17 July 1429): the Dauphin is crowned Charles VII at Reims Cathedral. A perplexed Joan asks Dunois why she is so unpopular at court. He explains that she has exposed very important people as incompetent and irrelevant. She talks to Dunois, Bluebeard, and La Hire about returning home. Charles, who complains about the weight of his coronation robes and smell of the holy oil, is pleased to hear this. She then says to Dunois "Before I go home, let's take Paris", an idea which horrifies Charles, who wants to negotiate a peace immediately. The Archbishop berates her for her "sin of pride". Dunois warns her that if she is captured on a campaign he deems foolhardy, no one will ransom or rescue her. Now realising that she is "alone on earth", Joan declares that she will gain the strength to do what she must from the people and from God. She leaves, leaving the men dumbfounded. Scene 6 (30 May 1431): deals with her trial. Stogumber is adamant that she be executed at once. The Inquisitor, the Bishop of Beauvais, and the Church officials on both sides of the trial have a long discussion on the nature of her heresy. Joan is brought to the court, and continues to assert that her voices speak to her directly from God and that she has no need of the Church's officials. This outrages Stogumber. She does not acquiesce to the pressure of torture, but is finally convinced her visions have betrayed her once the court tells her they are ready to execute her at a moment's notice. She agrees to sign a confession relinquishing the truth behind her voices. When she learns she will be imprisoned for life without hope of parole, she renounces her confession: Joan accepts death at the stake as preferable to such an imprisoned existence. Stogumber vehemently demands that Joan then be taken to the stake for immediate execution. The Inquisitor and the Bishop of Beauvais excommunicate her and deliver her into the hands of the English. The Inquisitor asserts that Joan was fundamentally innocent, in the sense that she was sincere and had no understanding of the church and the law. Stogumber re-enters, screaming and severely shaken emotionally after seeing Joan die in the flames, the first time that he has witnessed such a death, and realising that he has not understood what it means to burn a person until he has actually seen it happen. A soldier had given Joan two sticks tied together in a cross before the moment of her death. Bishop Martin Ladvenu also reports that when he approached with a crucifix to let her see it before she died, and he approached too close to the flames, she warned him of the danger from the stake, which convinced him that she could not have been under the inspiration of the devil. Epilogue: 25 years after Joan's execution, a retrial has cleared her of heresy. Brother Martin brings the news to Charles VII. Charles then has a dream in which Joan appears to him. She begins conversing cheerfully not only with Charles, but with her old enemies, who also materialise in the King's bedroom. The visitors include the English soldier who gave her a cross. Because of this act, he receives a day off from Hell on the anniversary of Joan's death. An emissary from the present day (the 1920s) brings news that the Catholic Church is to canonise her. Joan says that saints can work miracles, and asks if she can be resurrected. At this, all the characters desert her one by one, asserting that the world is not prepared to receive a saint such as her. The last to leave is the English soldier, who is about to engage in a conversation with Joan before he is summoned back to Hell at the end of his 24-hour respite. The play ends with Joan ultimately despairing that mankind will never accept its saints:
Saint Joan of the Stockyards
In 20th-century Chicago, idealistic Joan Dark of the Black Straw Hats mission tries to relieve hungry workers’ suffering. Meatpacking magnate Pierpont Mauler manipulates the stock market and the workers’ livelihoods; Joan confronts his cruelty, loses faith in her mission, and dies as a bitter martyr among capitalists, strike-breakers and the poor.
Saint Olav Drama
The outdoor play commemorates the 1030 Battle of Stiklestad and explores Norway's transition from pagan customs to Christianity after King Olaf's death.
Saint Patrick for Ireland
Druids and soldiers prepare to resist St. Patrick after a prophecy foretells his success in converting Ireland. Patrick arrives peacefully with priests and his guardian angel Victor. King Leogarius’s attempts to poison and destroy him fail through miracles: Patrick revives a poisoned servant, exposes speaking pagan statues, and drives poisonous snakes from the island. The king converts, though Patrick doubts his resolve.
Sakharam Binder
Sakharam takes in women discarded by their husbands, offering them shelter as domestic servants and sexual partners while insisting they may leave at any time. He believes his frank rules avoid hypocrisy, but the arrangement’s moral and emotional consequences become devastating.
Salesman in China
In 1983, Arthur Miller travels to Beijing to direct a Mandarin-language production of Death of a Salesman. Working with actor Ying Ruocheng and the Beijing People’s Art Theatre, he and the company navigate differences in language and culture. The play is inspired by Miller’s and Ying’s memoirs.
Sally and Marsha
Sally, a housewife from South Dakota, moves into an apartment in New York City. She is an unsophisticated young mother with two small children, whose husband travels. She meets her neighbor, Marsha, whose husband is a resident in orthopedics. Marsha is a cynical and neurotic native New Yorker. Throughout the course of the time they spend together, the women discuss their respective views on life. Although outwardly different, they come to be supportive of each other.
Salmacida Spolia
In this court masque, Charles I appears as Philogenes, a well-intentioned but misunderstood ruler who endures a tempest associated with Discord before Concord and the Good Genius of Great Britain herald a prosperous calm. An anti-masque of disruptive figures is dispelled, and the performance concludes with an idealized London and celestial spectacle.
Salome
Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Judea Jokanaan, the Prophet The young Syrian, Captain of the guard Tigellinus, a young Roman A Cappadocian A Nubian First soldier Second soldier The page of Herodias Jews, Nazarenes, etc. A slave Naaman, the Executioner Herodias, Wife of the Tetrarch Salome, daughter of Herodias The slaves of Salomé Jokanaan (John the Baptist, Iokanaan in the original French text) has been imprisoned by Herod Antipas in a cistern below the terrace of Herod's palace, for his hostile comments about Herodias, Herod's second wife. A young captain of the guard admires the beautiful princess Salome, Herod's stepdaughter. A page warns the captain that something terrible may happen if he continues to stare at the princess. Salome is fascinated by Jokanaan's voice. She persuades the captain to open the cistern so that the prophet can emerge, and she can see him and touch him. Jokanaan appears, denouncing Herodias and her husband. At first frightened by the sight of the holy man, Salome becomes fascinated by him, begging him to let her touch his hair, his skin and kiss his mouth. When she tells him she is Herodias's daughter, he calls her a "daughter of Sodom" and bids her keep away from him. All Salome's attempts to attract him fail, and he swears she will never kiss his mouth, cursing her as the daughter of an adulteress and advising her to seek the Lord. He returns to his underground confinement. The young captain of the guard, unable to bear Salome's desire for another man, fatally stabs himself. Herod appears from the palace, looking for the princess and commenting on the strange look of the moon. When he slips in the captain's blood, he suddenly panics. Herodias dismisses his fears and asks him to go back inside with her, but Herod's attention has turned libidinously towards Salome, who rejects his advances. From the cistern, Jokanaan resumes his denunciation of Herodias; she demands that Herod hand the prophet over to the Jews. Herod refuses, maintaining that Jokanaan is a holy man and has seen God. His words spark an argument among the Jews concerning the true nature of God, and two Nazarenes talk about the miracles of Jesus. As Jokanaan continues to accuse her, Herodias demands that he is silenced. Herod asks Salome to dance for him. She refuses, but when he promises to give her anything she wants, she agrees. Ignoring her mother's pleas – "Ne dansez pas, ma fille" – "Do not dance, my daughter" – Salome performs the dance of the seven veils. Delighted, Herod asks what reward she would like, and she asks for the head of Jokanaan on a silver platter. Horrified, Herod refuses, while Herodias rejoices at Salome's choice. Herod offers other rewards, but Salome insists and reminds Herod of his promise. He finally yields. The executioner descends into the cistern, and Salome impatiently awaits her reward. When the prophet's head is brought to her, she passionately addresses Jokanaan as if he were still alive and finally kisses his lips: Herod, frightened and appalled at Salome's behaviour, orders the soldiers, "Tuez cette femme!" – "Kill that woman!", and they crush her to death under their shields.
Salomy Jane
In 1855 Calaveras County, Salomy Jane encounters a stranger who has killed the man who betrayed his sister. When the stranger is captured alongside stagecoach robber Red Pete and faces vigilante hanging, Salomy Jane kisses him and later disguises and helps him escape. Their flight brings them into a feud between her father and Phil Larrabee, ending with a confrontation at the family corral.
Salomé
At a fortress above the Sea of Death, a holy man demanding freedom for his people is imprisoned underground. A woman known to history as Salomé performs an act that changes history, in a retelling that examines women’s voices, bodily power and political uprising.
Saloon Bar
Regulars at a London pub try to prove that a man is about to be wrongly hanged for murder.
Salt-Water Moon
In 1926, Jacob returns to Coley's Point and discovers Mary, whom he had dated before moving to Toronto, is engaged to another man; he tries to win her back.
Salutations
Three men endlessly exchange greetings after one asks how the others are, each answering with a different adverb and returning the question. Spectators onstage comment on their repetitive civilities.
Sam'l of Posen; or, The Commercial Drummer
Samuel Plastrick, a Jewish immigrant from Posen who works as a traveling salesman, became the play’s comic central character. The work invited audiences to laugh with him rather than at him, presenting an unusual positive portrayal for its period while using humor shaped by Jewish music-hall traditions.
Same Time, Next Year
New Jersey accountant George Peters and Oakland housewife Doris meet at a Northern California inn in February 1951. They have an affair, and agree to meet once a year, despite the fact both are married to others and have six children between them. There are six scenes over the course of the next 24 years which develop an emotional intimacy deeper than what one would expect to find between two people meeting for a clandestine relationship just once a year. During the time they spend with each other, they discuss the births, deaths, and marital problems each is experiencing at home, while they adapt themselves to the social changes affecting their lives. Between the six scenes are tapes (speeches, songs, sports broadcasts) of that time period that have impacted the characters.
Samia
Demeas’s mistress Chrysis takes in the infant daughter of his adopted son Moschion and Plangon after her own baby dies. Misunderstandings lead Demeas to accuse Chrysis of seducing Moschion and evict her; after the truth emerges, Nikeratos is calmed and Moschion’s marriage to Plangon proceeds.
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