8284 shows
Clear filtersThe aging personification of Summer summons the officers of his realm to account before making his will. Personified seasons and figures from pastoral and court life frame a morality-play allegory with satire, song and spectacle, bridging the interlude and masque traditions.
Summer, 1976 is a Broadway play written by David Auburn. The story follows two women living in Ohio who become unlikely friends over playdates with their respective young daughters during the summer of 1976, the American Bicentennial. It began previews at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on April 4, 2023, with an opening date set for April 25.
A portrait of Russia’s bourgeois summer residents, the play depicts a society at leisure while social changes gather around it. Its ensemble of characters inhabits a world reminiscent of Chekhov’s.
Summertime is a comedy play by the British writer Louis N. Parker. It ran for 52 performances at the Royalty Theatre in London's West End between 30 October and 13 December 1919. The original cast included Fay Compton, C. Aubrey Smith, Cyril Raymond, Arthur Pusey, Mary Brough and Madge Stuart. Compton plays an Australian woman visiting Devon who manages to arrange four different marriages. One review criticised the "stagey and artificial" Devon depicted in the play, comparing it unfavourably to the portrayals of the county in the works of Eden Phillpotts.
A play for voices follows people of varied ethnic and social backgrounds in a South London community as their lives intersect and sometimes come into conflict. Inspired by Under Milk Wood and by de Bernières’s years living above a shop in Earlsfield.
A young woman from Albany visits her brother in New York, determined to protect her virtue. After an encounter on a crowded bus, a small lie about her new friend grows into a tangle involving her fiancé, brother and friend.
In a Florida island saloon beside a hospital for convalescent air-force crews, battle-stressed fliers and the women connected to them face psychiatric treatment and troubled relationships. The two-act drama unfolds through intersecting vignettes about the effects of war and the men's lives before service.
In Shanghai, Chen Bailu—a student who became a courtesan—lives in a luxury hotel supported by a wealthy banker. People from bankers and clerks to students, workers, prostitutes and underworld figures revolve around her. When her benefactor faces bankruptcy, Chen takes her own life; the play depicts a society marked by exploitation and suffering.
The play starred Ralph Bellamy as Roosevelt. Others in the cast included Henry Jones as Louis Howe, Mary Fickett as Eleanor Roosevelt; Anne Seymour as Sara Delano Roosevelt and, in his Broadway debut, James Earl Jones. Bellamy repeated his role in the film version of the play. Campobello Island was Roosevelt's summer home in New Brunswick, Canada. Early scenes in the play's actions take place there, where we see Roosevelt afflicted with paralysis of his legs, before the play's story shifts to Roosevelt's home in New York City, where he struggles to overcome the paralysis. The play ends with the 1924 Democratic National Convention speech, which catapulted him back into politics after an absence of several years. The Scenic and Lighting Design were by Ralph Alswang; the costumes by Virginia Volland.
In Odessa’s Jewish quarter, mob boss Benya Krik confronts his philandering father Mendel, whose affair and threat to disinherit his family provoke his sons to violence. The family arranges a dowry for Dvoira and an abortion for Mendel’s pregnant mistress, then celebrates her engagement as if order has been restored.
A grotesque black comedy about Pope Celestine V’s brief reign, revisiting motifs from Peter Barnes’s earlier plays.
A kabuki adaptation of One Piece’s Paramount War saga follows Luffy’s attempt to rescue his sworn brother Ace from execution, joining Whitebeard’s battle against the Navy at Marineford.
The play focuses on the relationship between despondent Arthur Przybyszewski, a former 1960s radical who owns a rundown donut shop in Chicago's Uptown, and Franco, his energetic but troubled young African American assistant, who wants to update the establishment with lively music and healthy menu options. Dialogue scenes are separated by soliloquies in which Arthur discusses his past and reminisces about the city as it was in his younger years.
After twenty years together, Sam and Tusker take a road trip following Tusker’s diagnosis of early-onset dementia. They revisit loved ones and shared memories while confronting the changes ahead in their relationship.
A satirical drama about Captain James Cook's visit to Tahiti.
In a café, Bill and Betty's conversation repeatedly restarts whenever one responds negatively and a bell rings. Through successive attempts, they revise their views and become compatible companions.
Three members of the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry travel from Cornwall’s mines to the fields of Flanders, where South African troops teach them to surf.
A tragedy loosely based on the life of the Parthian general Surena, who defeated the Romans at Carrhae.
Suspect is a 1937 mystery thriller play by the British authors Edward Percy and Reginald Denham, written under the pen name Rex Judd. It ran at the St Martin's Theatre in London's West End for 84 performances between 16 February and 1 May 1937. The West End cast included Peter Murray-Hill, Campbell Gullan, David Horne, Mary Morris, Jean Cadell and Doris Lytton. It is a murder mystery set at a country house in Cornwall. It first appeared on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre in 1940. It was adapted several times for television. In 1939 it was adapted by the BBC for a television film of the same title and featuring a number of the original cast. Further BBC television films followed in 1946 and 1958. In addition a 1952 episode of the American show Broadway Television Theatre was based on the play.
Suspense is a 1930 play by the Irish writer Patrick MacGill. Set during the First World War it focuses on a small group of soldiers who are aware that the Germans are building a mine under their trench and have to sit waiting for the enemy to detonate it. It ran for 64 performances at the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End. The cast included Robert Douglas, Roland Culver and Gordon Harker. It was produced by Reginald Denham. The same year it was adapted into a film Suspense directed by Walter Summers and starring Cyril McLaglen, Jack Raine and Hay Petrie.
In the surviving first-act scenes, poet Falk asks the young Svanhild to serve as his muse for a summer of eroticism and poetry; she refuses his increasingly disturbing advances. The unfinished comedy explores love as an inspiration for poetry and marriage as an end to creativity.
Two sisters, the dominant Constance and frail Amy, live in a derelict house in the Australian bush; Amy's son Christian returns after disappearing as a teenager. Seymour conceived the nightmare drama amid fears that radioactivity could produce mutations, as a warning about science creating monsters that destroy themselves.
A short drama about an elderly actor, extending Chekhov’s interest in theatrical life.
The play portrays a meeting between a parole officer and two ex-convicts, and three women who were childhood friends and had worked in the same factory. in Reading, Pennsylvania. There are a group of friends that work for the steel factory, named Tracey, Cynthia and Jessie. Tracey is a middle-aged white woman. She loves to hang out at the bar with her friends and she has a gruff kind of humor. She cannot stand the way Reading has been changing over the years. Her friend Cynthia is a black woman who also loves to hang out with her friends at the bar and is a hardworking woman in the factory. She is on and off with her husband, Brucie, who is addicted to drugs. During the play, Cynthia applies and is hired for a managing job at the plant which causes tension. Jessie, another worker at the factory, is not so happy with how her life has turned out and has a problem with alcohol abuse. This is shown in many of the bar scenes. Stan, the bartender, used to work at the plant, but he was injured in a factory accident. Oscar, the busboy at the bar, is Colombian and is not acknowledged often by the patrons. Some characters use xenophobic slurs towards Latinos and show him that he isn't welcome in the Olstead factory. Jason is a white man who is Tracey's son. His best friend is Chris, Cynthia’s son. They both work at the factory and worry that they will be laid off. They both are arrested for assault and are released eight years later. Nottage shifts in time, switching scenes and showing events of eight years earlier. Variety quotes the bartender, Stan, as warning the other characters that "You could wake up tomorrow and all your jobs are in Mexico", to which the characters respond with lethargy and disbelief. Variety described Nottage as going into "the heart of working-class America". Reviews of the play have described the characters as representing blue-collar workers who voted in Donald Trump as president. The play also examines the disintegration of a friendship, after two of the women – one white, one black – apply for the same management job. The latter character gets the position, but soon the company moves jobs to Mexico. The trade union goes on strike, and company management locks out the workers. The management/worker division begins to separate the friends, and racial tensions separate them further.
The play is set in Gotland during the reign of Gustavus Adolphus, where Swedish Colonel Walstein leads a patriotic uprising against Danish forces.
An unfinished verse drama in two scenes, set in Doris’s London flat. Its characters include prostitutes, a former soldier, businessmen and Sweeney, who becomes the central speaker in the second scene; Eliot conceived it as rhythmic drama of modern furnished-flat life.
Chance Wayne, a failed actor who has become a gigolo, returns to his Southern hometown escorting faded film star Alexandra del Lago, whom he hopes will help him launch a movie career. He also seeks to reunite with Heavenly Finley, but her family holds him responsible for the disease that left her unable to have children. Alexandra learns that her comeback film has succeeded and declines to advance Chance's career; Chance stays in town to face the punishment her family intends for him.
A disturbed young man kidnaps a stranger and confines her at his country home, explaining his fantasies and ruminating on love while trying to force her submission.
In Georgian Bath, Kitty Bellairs helps Lady Standish provoke her indifferent husband into jealousy. A misdirected love letter and an impending duel entangle Kitty in the scheme, and her attempt to protect her friend threatens her own reputation.
The play is set in the Chambers of Mr Phenyl and Mr Hale, No 3, Brain Court, Temple. Springtime. The present day. Act 1 – Morning – "Nobody's business" Act 2 – Evening of the next day – "Somebody's business" Act 3 – A Week afterwards – "Everybody's business" Ruth Rolt, a housekeeper, has a daughter, Lavender, who is in love with Clement Hale, who is studying for the bar under a disreputable but lovable barrister, Dick Phenyl. Clement is the adopted son of Geoffrey Wedderburn, a banker, who wants him to marry his niece, Minnie. Minnie has another suitor, Horace, an American. Mrs. Rolt discovers that Wedderburn is not only Clement's adoptive father but also Lavender's real father. She is very angry and breaks off the relationship between Clement and Lavender. Wedderburn's bank is threatened with failure; he takes ill and learns humility. Mrs. Rolt forgives and nurses him, while Lavender flies back into Clement's arms to console him after the financial ruin. Phenyl unexpectedly offers his own fortune to save the bank and Wedderburn's reputation, and all ends happily.
Sweet Madness is a 1952 comedy play written by the British actor Peter Jones. It premiered at the Q Theatre in Kew Bridge before transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End where it ran for 125 performances between 21 May and 6 September 1952. The cast featured Richard Attenborough, Laurence Naismith, Robin Bailey, Martin Miller, Sheila Burrell and Geraldine McEwan. It was originally known as The Song of the Centipede before being renamed for its West End transfer.
Deaf teacher Laura and her hearing husband Dan struggle to decide whether their deaf son Adam should receive a cochlear implant. Their family conflict examines deaf pride, language, communication and the preservation of deaf culture; dialogue blends spoken English and American Sign Language.
When pet dog Phoebe goes missing, her minders Helen and Frazer search the city streets and encounter unexpected events that irrevocably change them.
Sweet Sue is a play by A. R. Gurney. It premiered at the Williamstown Theatre Festival and later enjoyed a Broadway production at the Music Box Theatre during the 1986-87 season.
Pauline, raised by the thief Carlos under a false identity, becomes entangled in a family’s deception, a murder accusation, prison escape, and a search for her mother. After years of separation and disguise, she and Earle uncover their histories and reconcile.
Before leaving for India in 1844, Henry's childhood friend Jane rebuffs his marriage proposal while concealing her love. Thirty years later, they meet again, and Jane remembers their farewell in detail while Henry has largely forgotten it; their exchange exposes contrasting ideas of romance between the sexes.
In Sicily, Princess Leonida and Prince Lisandro are condemned after defying the king’s orders, while the misogynist Swetnam is brought before a women’s court and forced to recant. A romantic court intrigue and a debate over the moral character of men and women culminate in a staged masque that prompts the king’s repentance.
The place is New York City, the time is the 1990s. Middle-aged, upper-middle-class Greg finds Sylvia, a dog (played by a human), in the park and takes a liking to her. He brings her back to the empty nest he shares with Kate. When Kate gets home, she reacts very negatively to Sylvia and wants her gone. They eventually decide that Sylvia will stay for a few days before they decide whether she can stay longer, but Greg and Sylvia have already bonded. Over the next few days, Greg spends more and more time with Sylvia and less time at his job. Greg and Sylvia go on long walks; they discuss life and astronomy. Already dissatisfied with his job, Greg now has another reason to avoid work. Tension increases between Greg and Kate, who still does not like Sylvia, nicknaming her Saliva. Eventually, Greg becomes completely obsessed with Sylvia, and Kate fears their marriage is falling apart. Kate and Sylvia are at odds with each other, each committed to seeing the other defeated. Greg meets a strange character at the dog run, who gives Greg tips on how to manage Sylvia and his predicament involving Kate. Greg has Sylvia spayed. Sylvia is angry and in pain, but she still loves him completely. Kate's friend pays a visit and is repulsed by Greg and Sylvia. Greg, Kate, and Sylvia sing "Every Time We Say Goodbye". Greg and Kate visit a therapist, Leslie, who is ambiguously male and female depending on her patients' state of mind. After a session with Greg, Leslie tells Kate to get a gun and shoot Sylvia: "I hope you get her right between the eyes." Kate is asked to teach abroad, in London, and tells Greg that the English have a six-month quarantine for any dogs coming into the country. Greg is unwilling, but eventually, he succumbs and gives the news to Sylvia, that he must give her away, to a family who have a farm in Westchester County. Greg and Sylvia have a heated and tender moment. Kate and Sylvia say goodbye; but, before Greg and Sylvia leave for Westchester, Sylvia returns the annotated and slightly chewed version of "Alls Well That Ends Well" that Kate has been looking for, and Kate has a change of heart. The last scene is directed toward the audience. Sylvia has died, and Greg and Kate still hold her memory in all fondness.
After poisoning her husband Ninus, Queen Sémiramis rules Babylon while haunted by his ghost. She plans to marry Assur, but falls for Arsace, who is revealed as Ninus’s son Ninias. When Ninias learns his mother’s guilt, he tries to spare her; in a struggle at the mausoleum he fatally wounds her, unknowingly avenging his father.
The dining-room 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.
At the Beauregard Private Hotel, Major Pollock tries to hide a newspaper report of his sexual harassment of women. A repressed young woman takes his side and falls in love with him, while hotel manager Miss Cooper encourages the guests to face their feelings honestly.
At the Beauregard Private Hotel, a disgraced politician, Martin, dines with his ex-wife, who seeks reconciliation after divorcing a second husband. Miss Cooper, Martin's mistress and the hotel manager, helps the former couple cautiously reunite.
A supernatural curse tied to mixed ancestry leaves a young Louisiana child unable to speak, in a fantasy that brings together African religious rites and the antebellum South.
Set inside a human body, the stage work personifies the cells that transport oxygen and defend the body against bacteria, viruses and foreign substances. Its theatrical conception makes the auditorium part of the body, drawing the audience into the cells' encounters with invading threats and bodily disturbances.
A Shinto priest asks an elderly couple about the paired pines of Takasago and Suminoe. They reveal themselves as the trees’ spirits, reunite with him at Sumiyoshi, and the local deity dances in a celebration of peace and imperial longevity.
Much of the play is set in the locker room of a professional baseball team, and as such has an all-male cast that explores themes of homophobia, racism, class, and masculinity in sports. Darren Lemming, a star mixed-race center fielder for the fictional Empires Major League Baseball team, comes out as gay. His friend and teammate Kippy Sunderstrom warns Darren that the team will feel uncomfortable about his sexual orientation, but is brushed off by Darren. As Kippy wonders why Darren chose that particular moment in time to come out, a flashback to a week earlier shows Darren having drinks with his best friend Davey Battle, a religious player on a rival team. Davey tells Darren that he should want his true nature known to the world. Later, Darren meets with his new accountant Mason Marzac, a gay man uninterested in baseball until Darren's coming out. The Empires fall into a slump, prompting relief pitcher Shane Mungitt to be brought up from the minor leagues. Shane tells the team that as a child, he was raised in orphanages after his father killed his mother and then himself in a murder-suicide. The team begins winning games again, but in a television interview, Mungitt expresses his discomfort with "colored people" on the team, and that he has to shower every night with a "faggot." Shane is suspended due to the interview, causing the team to fall back into its slump. He writes an apology letter that is leaked to the public, which combined with the details about his tragic childhood, causes public sympathy to shift in his favor. Shane returns to the team, despite Darren's threat to retire in protest. In the locker room showers, Darren derides Shane for his racism and homophobia, and mockingly kisses him. In the game, Shane is sent to pitch against Davey Battle; the ball hits Davey's head, killing him. In a flashback to Darren and Davey's final encounter, Davey angrily accuses Darren of using his straight-and-narrow public reputation to conceal his sexuality. Shane is permanently suspended from major league baseball, and arrested for questioning after players say they heard him muttering about wanting to "kill someone" before the game. He refuses to speak to the police, stating that he will only talk to Kippy. Kippy is joined by Darren, and as Kippy attempts to determine whether the pitch that killed Davey was intentional, Shane discloses that the apology letter was written by Kippy on Shane's behalf. In narration, Kippy states to the audience that the Empires went on to win the World Series, and no charges were ever filed against Shane. Kippy expresses to Darren his desire to again be friends, and Darren invites Mason to the end-of-season party.
Take a Chance is a comedy play by the British-American writer Walter Hackett, with a plot revolving around gambling on a horseracing. It was performed at the Whitehall Theatre, running for 93 performances between 28 July and 17 October 1931. It followed closely on the heels of another of Hackett's plays at the theatre Good Losers. The original cast of Take a Chance included Ian Hunter, Ronald Shiner, Charles Quatermaine, Anthony Holles, Francis Lister, Hugh Wakefield, Barbara Hoffe and Marion Lorne.
The play follows lawyer Hans Litten, known for cross-examining Hitler in court in 1931, and his mother Irmgard’s efforts to secure his release after the Nazis arrest him in 1933.
In a postwar denazification investigation, German conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler faces charges that he served the Nazi regime; the play draws in part on his diary of interrogation sessions and ends with his clearance by the tribunal.
In a reputedly haunted, dilapidated house, Elizabeth tries to leave her husband Roland while her brother Mark and his fiancée Kitty struggle with their relationship and house plans. The farce uses a single-level stage arrangement to represent all three floors, so characters can appear side by side while occupying different levels.
Set in twelfth-century Kalyan, the play depicts Basavanna’s reform movement opposing idolatry and caste and advocating gender equality, and the bloodshed that follows a Brahmin girl’s marriage to a cobbler’s son.
Julie enters a talent contest at a run-down nightclub, with her awkward friend Maureen supporting her. Julie’s hopes of show-business glamour collide with domestic expectations and an encounter with the former boyfriend who abandoned her when she became pregnant; an oily compere exploits both women. The stage play combines dialogue and songs.
Negina, a popular but poor provincial actress, receives lessons from her fiancé Meluzov while resisting a wealthy prince's attempt to exploit her financial need. After her benefit performance succeeds, the theatre entrepreneur refuses to renew her contract. Negina leaves the honest but dull Meluzov for rich Velikatov, choosing the chance to keep working on stage, her true passion.
Narrated by Ödön von Horváth, the play portrays German literary refugees in Hollywood from 1938 to 1950. It follows von Horváth's relationship with Jewish writer Helen Schwartz and introduces historical figures including Brecht and the Mann brothers.
In late-1920s Austria, Marianne breaks her engagement to the conventional butcher Oskar for the charming but indifferent Alfred. Her choice leads to poverty and hardship, while the play exposes the cruelty and hypocrisy beneath Viennese bourgeois coziness.
Peter, a bachelor in his mid-thirties, tries to win back his girlfriend Jana with help from his equally lonely friend Midge. Their effort unfolds amid Peter's eccentric parents and a neighbor-composer fighting for royalties from elevator music performances.
A panel discussion in a museum of Greek antiquities investigates the enigmatic identity of novelist and experimental filmmaker Archer Aymes. Conflicting accounts from people who claim to have known him turn the debate into an exploration of art, race, memory and power.
The story follows Barry Champlain, a Cleveland-area shock jock, on the eve of his radio show's national syndication.
An unnamed man and woman are bound together in an endless cycle by hopeless poverty. The small-scale, bare-room play gives both characters monologues, with the woman’s substantially longer.
Talking Heads is a stage adaptation of the BBC series of the same title created by Alan Bennett. It consists of six monologues presented in alternating programmes of three each.
Eleven ten-minute monologues present different women speaking about their lives, spanning subjects from an aging rodeo star to an aspiring actress and combining comedy with personal hardship.
In verbatim-theatre form, interview-derived dialogues bring together former members of armed groups, people affected by terrorism, political figures and a British ambassador. The play presents negotiation and listening as alternatives to violence.
Talley & Son is a play by Lanford Wilson, the third in his trilogy focusing on the Talley family of Lebanon, Missouri. It is set on July 4, 1944, the same day as Talley's Folly and thirty-three years prior to the events in Fifth of July.
Talley's Folly depicts one night in the lives of two unlikely sweethearts, Matt Friedman and Sally Talley. The one-act play takes place in a boathouse on the Talley farm in Missouri on the Fourth of July, 1944. The play opens with Matt directly addressing the audience, telling them that the play will take ninety-seven minutes and he hopes to relay his story properly in that time. Taking the time to point out some staging elements, he tells the audience that the gazebo-like structure next to him is a Victorian boathouse, which has fallen into disrepair. While on vacation in Lebanon, Missouri the previous summer, Matt met Sally and has sent her a letter every day since. Though the single reply from Sally gave him no hope for romantic encouragement, he has returned to ask her to marry him. Sally arrives at the boathouse and is in disbelief that Matt has shown up uninvited, even though he had written her that he planned to come for the holiday. Matt's arrival has created a stir in Sally's conservative Protestant household, where a Jewish man is not welcomed, especially when his intentions are to court their daughter, who is eleven years younger than he. Matt's interest in Sally had never waned. He once drove from his home in St. Louis to the hospital where she worked and waited hours for her, even after being informed that she was not available. The conversation turns to the boathouse structure. Sally tells him it was constructed by her uncle, who built follies all over town. Her uncle did only what he wanted to do, and Sally considers him the healthiest member of the family for his courage. Eventually, the couple begins to reminisce about the night they met and the time they spent together the previous summer. Matt takes it as a positive sign that she has changed into a nice dress before coming to see him tonight. Sally's protests do not match her behavior and he pushes forward. She is the most intriguing woman he has ever met, and he is determined to make her his wife. Admitting that he has called Sally's aunt every two weeks during the past year, Matt reveals that he knows Sally was fired from a Sunday school teaching job. Apparently, she had been encouraging the students to read Thortstein Veblen's The Theory of the Leisure Class in addition to the Methodist reader. The rise of labor unions was affecting the families of the children in her class and she felt obligated to help educate them. Her unorthodox methods earned her the consternation of the church elders as well as her own family, who own the garment factory on which the labor issue centered. Sally then tries to glean some information about Matt's background, a subject about which he is very guarded. He finally admits to Sally that he was probably born in Kaunas, Lithuania. His father had been an engineer. In 1911, his father was overheard in a French cafe discussing his work with nitrogen, a reference to the Haber process developed in 1909 by a Jewish-German chemist, Fritz Haber, to extract nitrogen from the air, which made the manufacture of gunpowder and fertilizer inexpensive. The family was later detained as they were attempting to cross the border. Matt's father and older sister were tortured until the French realized that the father had no information of any value to them. In the meantime, the sister had fallen into a coma from which she never awoke. They later went to the German authorities and were again detained. Matt escaped to America through the help of some relatives. Haunted by his childhood grief, Matt vowed never to bring another child into the world. He was content with his life until he met Sally. He now feels forever changed and hopeful for the first time in his life. Having risked the vulnerability of revealing his background, Matt presses Sally to share why she, a beautiful 31-year-old woman, has never married. She diverts the conversation to economics, which frustrates Matt. Sally finally reveals her disappointment in love many years ago, which makes her reluctant to fall in love again. Her family had partnered her with Harley Campbell, whose family was also wealthy. The match was supposedly made in heaven, especially for the business interests of the two families. Sally had been a cheerleader and Harley had been a basketball star. Unfortunately, the families' fortunes waned during the Depression. In addition, Sally was struck with tuberculosis and sequestered for a long time. A pelvic infection left her infertile, and Harley's family no longer condoned their marriage. Matt comments on the irony of their situation, that he'd been lamenting over the fact that he was in love with a woman but could never have children and now this woman presents him with the same situation. He believes that an angel has guided his path to her. Sally agrees to marry him and move to St. Louis, and they vow to return to the boathouse every year so they don't forget where they fell in love.
Set in Gabriele d'Annunzio's Italian villa, the play reimagines his historical meeting with painter Tamara de Lempicka, who hopes he will commission her portrait. Ten actors perform simultaneous scenes across many rooms of a large house; spectators choose which characters and sequences to follow, creating distinct experiences of the story.
In two parts, Tamburlaine rises from Scythian shepherd to conqueror, defeats rival rulers, and pursues further dominion as his sons inherit his ambition.
Tamerlane is a 1701 history play by the English writer Nicholas Rowe. A tragedy, it portrays the life of the Timur, the fourteenth century conqueror and founder of the Timurid Empire. Rowe, a staunch Whig, used the historical story as an allegory for the life of William III who resembles his portrayal of Tamerlane while his opponent the Ottoman leader Bayezid I was equivalent to William's longstanding opponent Louis XIV of France. An earlier version of the story Tamburlaine was written by Christopher Marlowe during the Elizabethan era with a very different focus in the context of the English Renaissance. It was first performed in December 1701 at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London, one of the two patent theatres of the era, and was published the following year by Jacob Tonson. The original cast included Thomas Betterton as Tamerlane, John Verbruggen as Bajazet, Barton Booth as Axalla, William Powell as Moneses, George Pack as Stratocles, William Fieldhouse as Prince of Tanais, John Freeman as Omar, John Corey as Mirvan, Benjamin Husband as Zama, Elizabeth Barry as Arpasia and Anne Bracegirdle as Selima. Betterton spoke the prologue and the play was dedicated to the Whig politician Lord Hartington, the future Duke of Devonshire. Rowe's play was partly framed as a riposte to the Tory-supporting work about Timur The Generous Conqueror by Bevil Higgons, which endorsed direct hereditary monarchy. It was first performed following the death of the deposed James II and the succession of his French-backed young son James as the Jacobite claimant to the throne, and in this context Rowe arguably used it to suggest that the coming war with France was "an obligation, not a choice". In addition the character of the Italian Prince Axalla was modelled on Prince Eugene of Savoy, an Austrian commander who had come to fame in the Great Turkish War and would subsequently become a popular figure in Britain fighting alongside the Duke of Marlborough.
King Tancred’s widowed daughter Gismund falls in love with his courtier Guiszard. Tancred has Guiszard killed and sends Gismund his heart in a golden cup; she drinks poison, and her grief-stricken father kills himself.
Tancred and Sigismunda is a 1745 tragedy by the British writer James Thomson. It is inspired by one of the story's from Giovanni Boccaccio's The Decameron. The original cast included David Garrick as Tancred, Thomas Sheridan as Siffredi, Dennis Delane as Osmond, William Havard as Rodolpho and Susannah Arne as Sigismunda.
In Norman-ruled Syracuse, Aménaïde loves Tancrède but is betrothed to Orbassan. When a letter to Tancrède is falsely said to be meant for Saracen Solamir, she is imprisoned; Tancrède, believing her faithless, attacks and kills Solamir. As he dies, Aménaïde proclaims her innocence and love, then dies beside him.
In a disordered household without rules or shared values, student Artur tries to restore order and tradition, including through a conventional wedding. His plans fail amid his parents' hypocrisy, his fiancée's affair with Edek, and his grandmother's death. Edek kills Artur, then takes control of the home; the final tango signals the triumph of force and conformity.
A tragedy on a mythological subject, written in the dramatic structure of Aeschylean tragedy and in obscure, archaic language.
In a motel room during a film festival, Vince records a conversation in which he pressures his old friend Jon to confess to raping their former classmate Amy. When Amy arrives, her account complicates the men’s versions of the past and the recording’s purpose.
In a mythological love story, Tara, wife of the teacher Brihaspati, seduces his student Sasank and bears a child. The teacher and student dispute the child's paternity before the gods, leaving Tara to identify the father.
Orgon trusts the pious-seeming Tartuffe so completely that he plans to marry him to his daughter and gives him the family’s property. With help from the maid Dorine, Orgon’s family exposes Tartuffe’s attempted seduction of Elmire and fraud; the King ultimately arrests Tartuffe and restores the family’s home.
At a church wedding for Olenina and Sabinin, a woman known as the Lady in Black creates hysteria after the crowd mistakes her for Tatiana Repina, an actress associated with a fatal poisoning.
Pamela and Cesareo discover that their spouses are having an affair and meet through that betrayal. The initially prim Englishwoman is drawn to the lively Italian, but his exuberance is rooted in alcohol; Pamela also becomes dependent on it, and their lives decline.
In a London sanitary-engineering business, self-made businessman Disson hires a secretary, marries a young woman and brings her brother into the company in one day. As ordinary events take on a sinister cast, Disson becomes suspicious of his eyes and of a possible conspiracy around him.
Tea and Sympathy is a 1953 stage play in three acts by Robert Anderson about a male private school student, Tom Lee, who faces accusations of homosexuality. A woman, Laura, who is married to an instructor, opposes the students' shaming of Lee and romantically pursues him so he can prove that he has a masculine character. The title refers to what someone in Laura's position was supposed to offer a boy such as Tom. Writing in 2013, Everett Evans of the Houston Chronicle called it "one of the first plays to tackle the then-taboo topic of sexual orientation and related prejudice." Evans stated that the play's final line, "Years from now, when you speak of this, and you will, be kind", is "one of the most quoted curtain lines in stage history".
In a monologue at her Connecticut home, Katharine Hepburn reflects on two moments in her life: in 1938, after being labeled box-office poison, she recalls her childhood and early career; in 1983, recovering from a car accident, she considers her career and romance with Spencer Tracy.
Across the final years of the Qing dynasty, the warlord period, and the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Beijing Yutai Teahouse and its owner Wang Lifa mirror social upheaval and the changing lives of its patrons.
In an allegorical courtship among personified arts and sciences, Astronomia is pursued by Poeta, Geographicus and Geometres while other figures form competing couples. Magus and Astrologia oppose the emerging scientific order, but are banished after attacking Astronomia; marriages restore order among the disciplines.
Three students stage an account of their time at Whitewall High School, playing many roles in a spare theatrical setup. They depict how idealistic drama teacher Mr. Nixon inspires their interest in theatre and equal treatment, then confront his departure as they near the end of school.
The play is set around the performances of a failing rock band fronted by lead singer Maggie Frisby at the May Ball on the night of 9 June 1969 at Jesus College, Cambridge.
A biographical play about record producer Joe Meek.
At the Vale of Tempe, the sorceress Circe pursues a fugitive lover through comic animal and barbarian anti-masques. Harmony replaces her in the serious portion, where mythological figures appear and Queen Henrietta Maria descends in a chariot as Divine Beauty.
A drama about the 2011 United Kingdom anti-austerity protests.
At a science institute campaigning against black magic, Dr. Foustka secretly studies the occult and summons Fistula, a Mephistophelean figure who offers help in exchange for public credit. Foustka tries to use the arrangement for his own advantage while denying it to the institute and Fistula; both sides expose his duplicity, and the institute’s final costume party ends with Foustka engulfed in flames.
Ten Minute Alibi is a 1933 crime thriller play by the British author Anthony Armstrong. It premiered at the Embassy Theatre in Swiss Cottage on 2 January 1933, before transferring to London's West End. It ran for 857 performances between 8 February 1933 and 26 January 1935, initially at the Haymarket Theatre before switching to the Phoenix Theatre. The London cast included Anthony Ireland, Robert Douglas, Bernard Lee, George Merritt, Charles Hickman, Celia Johnson, Jessica Tandy, Gillian Maude and Aileen Marson. It was directed by Sinclair Hill. A Broadway version at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre ran for 89 performances.
Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, sometimes given as Ten Nights in a Barroom, is a temperance play in three acts by William W. Pratt. It was adapted from Timothy Shay Arthur's 1854 novel Ten Nights in a Bar-Room and What I Saw There. It was first performed in 1858 in a touring production by Bidwell and Marston's Company. Newspapers report that the BMC company performed the play at Hampden Hall in Springfield, Massachusetts in July 1858 with Yankee Locke leading the cast as Sample Twichell and Pratt taking on the role of Mr. Romaine. The tour included a stop on Broadway at Purdy's National Theatre; opening there on August 23, 1858 and running for just 7 performances. The cast was led by Yankee Locke as Sample Swichel and Mrs. J. J. Prior as Mrs. Morgan. It played at the National Theatre in Boston after the close of the New York run. While the play only lasted a week in New York, it had a tremendously successful life as a road show with multiple different companies touring in the play simultaneously for decades. The play had a significant impact in engendering support for the temperance movement in America and was credited with inspiring the creation and passage of temperance laws in multiple states in the United States. The play was revived on Broadway in 1932. The play has been adapted into multiple films; including at least five different short films made between 1897 and 1911. Multiple feature length films have also been made.
A widowed Englishman opposes the love between his son Norman and ward Mildred, sending Norman to India. His former mistress Eleanor arrives with Claude, who is secretly Sir Frederick's illegitimate son. After complications, Norman and Mildred reunite, Claude learns his parentage, and Eleanor refuses Sir Frederick's marriage offer.
A Man and Woman speak in poetic, volatile dialogue, imagining improbable adventures while expressing desire and violence toward one another. The play shifts between fantasy and reality as it explores a couple's intense relationship.
In the reconstructed tragedy, Tereus rapes and mutilates Philomela, his wife Procne's sister. Philomela reveals the crime through a woven message; Procne takes revenge by killing their son Itys and serving him to Tereus. The sisters and Tereus are transformed into birds. The surviving play is lost, and this account is reconstructed from an ancient hypothesis and fragments.
After a plague annihilates civilization, a Texan woman, a sex worker and a teenage schoolboy shelter in a ramshackle New York bar, accompanied only by an unseen radio announcer.
The Terminator 2 story is recreated as a theatrical assemblage using Shakespeare’s dialogue verbatim, with changes limited to names, pronouns and corresponding verb tenses.
A rhymed monologue play following three characters over one night in Dublin: a former schoolteacher, her lonely estranged daughter, and a serial killer who has sold his soul to the Devil.
Aurora and her daughter Emma speak daily about their troubles as their lives change: Aurora finds new love and becomes a reluctant grandmother, while Emma struggles in a troubled marriage. Their strained bond is tested when they need each other most.
Marta, the poor lover of landowner Sebastià, is married off by him to the unsuspecting shepherd Manelic so Sebastià can marry a socially prominent woman without losing Marta. When Manelic learns the truth, he forgives Marta and turns against Sebastià.
It deals with a fictional encounter between the 1995 Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh and a character similar to author Gore Vidal in the days prior to the former's 2001 execution inside a prison complex in Terre Haute, Indiana.
Jean Battlo’s historical drama follows police chief Sid Hatfield in the aftermath of the Matewan Massacre, drawing on the Coal Wars and the mining labor conflicts of West Virginia.
In 1997, American doctoral student Daisy Archer travels to Belgrade to research Nikola Tesla’s letters. The museum director offers access in exchange for a dangerous trip to Tesla’s birthplace in war-scarred Smiljan; Daisy’s encounters across Serbia and Croatia force her to confront nationalism and the region’s renewed violence.
In the Tyrol, the Sanger children rehearse for their father’s birthday under family friend Lewis, whom Tessa loves. After their father dies, Lewis marries Florence and the children are sent to school in England. Lewis and Tessa later confess their love and flee to a modest Belgian boarding house, where Tessa dies young.
At Prince Henry's investiture as Prince of Wales, Anne of Denmark appears as sea goddess Tethys in a court masque set at Milford Haven. Allegorical sea figures and river nymphs present the royal family with symbolic gifts, including a sword representing Henry's inheritance and rule.
Thamos, believed to be Ramesses’s son, loves Sais, who is actually Tharsis, daughter of the rightful king Menes. When Menes reveals his identity, the treacherous general Pheron is struck by lightning and the high priestess Mirza kills herself. Menes gives the crown to Thamos and Tharsis, and all ends happily.
Thank You, Mr. Pepys! is a historical play by the British writer W.P. Lipscomb. It was inspired by the three-volume biography of Samuel Pepys by historian Arthur Bryant, focusing in particular on his administration of the Royal Navy, and takes place in London and Oxford during the seventeenth century. It premiered at the Hippodrome, Golders Green on 18 October 1937, under the title Ninety Sail. After altering its title it ran for 126 performances in London's West End between and 30 November 1937 and 26 March 1938, initially at the Shaftesbury Theatre before transferring to the Savoy. The West End cast included Edmund Gwenn as Pepys, Barry K. Barnes as Charles II, Henry Oscar as Lord Shaftesbury, Hugh Latimer as Sir Edmund Godfrey, Stella Bonheur as Marry Skinner and Marjorie Mars as Nell Gwynn. It was produced by Miles Malleson while the costumes were designed by Elizabeth Haffenden.
A Sri Lankan stage drama based on the story of twin brothers in Bangkok. The production uses music by Gunadasa Kapuge and includes eleven songs.
Sir Hector Benbow's nephew Ronny and their household are drawn to a country house called Thark, which its buyer believes is haunted. As family members and guests investigate, romantic misunderstandings, an investigative journalist, nocturnal noises, and a falling tree leave the occupants convinced they have encountered a ghost.
The setting is 1972 at the Coach's home in Scranton, Pennsylvania. On the 20th anniversary of their victory in the Pennsylvania state championship game, four members of the starting lineup of a Catholic high school basketball team have gathered to celebrate. This reunion may be their last chance to reminisce with each other due to their Coach's illness. The fifth member of the starting lineup, Martin (who made the game-winning shot), has refused to attend the reunion. He bears a grudge against the Coach for reasons that do not become clear until late in the play. George Sitkowski has become Scranton's mayor, but he has proven inept and unpopular, and he is likely to lose his re-election bid. The fact that his challenger is Jewish is particularly irritating to him. Phil Romano has become a millionaire in the strip mining business, using his close ties to Sitkowski to obtain mining permits. Though Romano helps George financially, he is carrying on an affair with George's wife. James Daley is a local junior high school principal. His brother Tom is an unsuccessful, embittered, cynical alcoholic and good-for-nothing writer. None of the men's lives have turned out as they had hoped. On some level, all still look to the Coach for guidance. The Coach has always been the embodiment of old-school Catholicism (Senator Joseph McCarthy and Father Charles Coughlin are heroes of his). He was also the one person in their lives who was sure of everything, and his absolute certainty and confidence gave them a sense of security. While the Coach thought he was teaching his players how to be men, they instead became emotional adolescents who still needed him to tell them how to live their lives. The Coach's pep talks, which had always inspired them, were beginning to sound hollow. Only now do they realize that the Coach was a bigot, a bully, and a fraud.
Mia is at boarding school and has access to her mother's drugs. She gets into trouble for drugging a fellow student and this causes her father to be brought back to England from Hong Kong. Henry, her brother, has dropped out of school and has to stay at home and look after his alcoholic mother. Martha, their fading glamorous mother, controls their lives whilst her own sick mind and world crumble around her.
Terminally ill screenwriter Ralph, in his seventies, wants to reconcile with Michael, the son he abandoned, and secretly arrange a painless death so he will not burden Anna, his devoted younger wife. Michael arrives at their Tuscan villa with his girlfriend Debbie, but Ralph ruins the reunion by provoking a fight. Alone with the hired Visitor, Ralph is forced to consider the life that remains to him.
During World War II, wounded soldier Danny returns from Italy to find his wife Delia and their baby struggling on his army allotment as prices soar. Their argument over her accepting food and possible work broadens into a call for women to resist profiteering and demand effective price controls.
A silent old man is confronted by three recorded voices recalling episodes from youth, maturity, and old age. Their fragmented memories circle his self-imposed isolation and blur the boundary between lived events and imagined stories.
A fast-moving comedy revue of social satire, impressions, parodies, and songs. Its sketches range from a condensed Moby-Dick and a Waiting for Godot spoof to scenes about drug culture, religion, romantic relationships, and professional sports.
The "Mind the Paint" Girl is a four-act play by Arthur Pinero, first published in 1912. The play has a large cast of twenty eight named characters. The play was written to incorporate a song written by Jerome Kern. It premiered at the Duke of York's Theatre, London, in February 1912. A film based on the play was made by director Wilfrid North in 1919, but it is considered lost.
Four actors retell the spy story of Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps, with one actor playing Richard Hannay, one playing his three romantic counterparts, and two clowns rapidly portraying the remaining characters—often several in the same scene.
Four actors recreate the serious spy story of Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps as a fast comic parody, doubling more than a hundred roles; two clowns switch among characters, sometimes within a scene, while one actor remains Richard Hannay and an actress plays his three romantic counterparts.
Ahead of the 2024 United States presidential election, Donald Trump picks his daughter, Ivanka, as his personal heir, and is introduced to her assistant and driver, Rosie Takahashi. Ted Cruz asks for Trump's endorsement in the Republican primaries, as Trump is no longer running for president. Later, at the funeral of Jimmy Carter, Joe Biden tells Kamala Harris that he is still uncertain over whether to run for election as the Democratic nominee. Trump crashes the funeral and, in secret, reveals to Biden that he knows compromising information about Jill Biden. Ivanka chastises her father for such a display, and is shown to be weary of her father's underestimation of her, which she plans to use for her own gain. Cruz invites Trump to a rally to announce Trump's endorsement of him, but caught up in the crowd's cheers, Trump turns on Cruz and promptly announces that he will be running for president again. Backstage, Rosie encounters her brother, political reporter Charlie Takahashi, and both spar over their differing political views, with Charlie being a liberal Democrat and Rosie a Trump-supporting Republican. Ivanka confirms Trump's announcement to a crowd of skeptical congressmen, and reveals that she will run as his vice president. Later, a day before the first presidential debate, Harris encounters a restless and paranoid Biden late at night, who is revealed to have been in that state since the encounter with Trump at Carter's funeral. Biden is fearful about the threat posed by Trump, but reveals he is no longer in the position to run for president and begs Harris to take his place, and resigns as president on the spot. Harris is promptly sworn in as president and Democratic nominee. A day later, while waiting to attend the debate with Rosie at a Michigan bar filled with Trump supporters, Charlie questions one about an apparent plan to attack an event and reveals his status as a reporter; he is promptly escorted away by them, leaving Rosie to search for him. The debate between Harris and Trump is then interrupted by the Trump supporters storming the venue, as Trump ends the debate and disappears into the crowd. Harris is evacuated as the street descends into chaos and violence. In the Situation Room, Harris observes the mob violence and is persuaded by her staff to arrest Trump to end the chaos and prevent further fatalities. Trump is arrested and imprisoned as Ivanka seizes control of his assets. Harris visits the incarcerated Trump and they exchange words, with her ultimately deciding free Trump out of fear that keeping him in prison will only make him a martyr. While celebrating her father's freedom alongside him, Ivanka is misogynistically chastised by Donald, leaving her to formulate a plan of revenge. Harris is told by her staff that newly-emboldened Trump supporters have now enforced mob rule on the streets, despite the National Guard's best efforts. Charlie, now blinded from his torture at the hands of the mob, is brought before Harris by an aide, as her staff persuades her to orchestrate Trump's death to end the violence, to which she refuses. As Harris leaves, the aide who brought Charlie in is then revealed to be Rosie. A week before the election, Trump leaves for a motorcade across D.C. with Rosie as his driver, as Ivanka sees him off. Shortly afterwards, a severely injured Trump is admitted to the hospital; Harris arrives to meet with him, and it is revealed that Rosie had crashed the car with her and Trump at the cost of her own life. Angered with Harris and with no health insurance due to Ivanka's efforts, Trump tears off his IV tubes to get the nurse's attention, but promptly collapses and dies. Ivanka arrives and discusses her father with Harris, and reveals how both of them have been alleged to be behind Donald's fate. Ivanka then reveals her anticipation for the upcoming election, for which she is now the Republican nominee, as Harris realizes the extent of Ivanka's machinations and displays anxiety over the future.
The 49th Cousin is a play by Florence Lowe and Caroline Francke. The work premiered on Broadway at the Ambassador Theatre on 27 October 1960 and closed after 102 performances on January 21, 1961. The production was directed by Jack Smight and starred Menasha Skulnik as Issac Lowe, Marian Winters as Tracy Lowe, Martha Scott as Fanny Lowe, Evans Evans as Carrie Lowe, Eli Mintz as Simon Lowe, Gerald Hiken as Moishe (Morris) Golub, John Boruff as Rabbi Ansbacher, David Kurlan as Mr. Kronfeld, Alfred Leberfeld as Mr. Miller, and Paul Tripp as Mr. Cronyn.
A collaboratively created revue of vignettes drawn mainly from cast members’ experiences portrays how HIV/AIDS affected the LGBTQ community. Scenes take the perspectives of nurses, mothers, gay men and their friends, romantic partners, older people and those who lost loved ones.
The Absence of War is a play by English playwright David Hare, the final instalment of his trilogy about contemporary Britain. The play premiered in 1993 at the Royal National Theatre, London, England. The play is based on his behind the scenes observations of the Labour Party leadership during their unsuccessful General Election campaign of 1992. The central character, party leader George Jones, is so smothered and constricted by his cautious advisers that eventually none of the great talents that brought him to prominence is visible to the public.
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