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Clear filtersIrène is a lesbian tortured by her love for Madame d'Aiguines, but pretending engagement to Jacques. Though Irène attempts to leave Mme. d'Aiguines and marry Jacques, she returns to the relationship, saying that it is "a prison to which I must return captive, despite myself". Mme. d'Aiguines is not seen in the play, but leaves behind nosegays of violets for Irène, as a symbol of her love.
The Captives is a 1724 tragedy by the British writer John Gay. The action takes place in the ancient Median Empire, following the fashion in many tragedies of the era to have oriental settings. It concerns a plot against the King, which involves his wife and two royal Persian captives. It was staged at the Drury Lane Theatre and starred the leading actors Robert Wilks as Phraortes, Anne Oldfield as Captive, Barton Booth as Sophernes, John Mills as Hydarnes, Mary Porter as Astarbe, Charles Williams as Araxes and Roger Bridgewater as Orbasius. It enjoyed a solid run of seven performances, but the rival Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre put on a series of popular hits such as The Recruiting Officer, The Drummer and The Double Dealer against it. George, Prince of Wales and his wife Princess Caroline attended a performance of the play.
The Duchess seeks to marry Alvarez despite a political match arranged by the Cardinal. After Columbo kills Alvarez, Hernando pursues revenge and ultimately exposes the Cardinal's attempted assault on the Duchess, ending in a fatal confrontation.
The Cardinal is a 1901 historical play by the British writer Louis N. Parker. It is set in Renaissance Italy at the height of the power of the Medici Dynasty. It originally premiered at the Theatre Royal, Montreal before transferring to the Garden Theatre on Broadway. It then enjoyed a run of 106 performances at St James' Theatre in London's West End between 31 August and 5 December 1903. The original London cast included E.S. Willard, Frederick Volpe, Harry Lonsdale, Alice Lonnon, Joseph Farjeon and Helen Ferrers.
During supper in the Vatican, three cardinals—Portuguese, French, and Spanish—reminisce in monologues about their first loves.
The Carless Husband is a comedy play by the English writer Colley Cibber. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 7 December 1704. The original cast featured Cibber as Lord Foppington, George Powell as Lord Morelove, Robert Wilks as Sir Charles Easy, Anne Oldfield as Lady Betty Modish, Frances Maria Knight as Lady Easy, Henrietta Moore as Lady Graveairs and Jane Lucas as Mrs Edging. It has been described as Cibber's most successful play, and provided a vehicle for his popular foppish Lord Foppington personae.
The Careless Lovers follows the tyrannical London Alderman Mr. Muchworth, who is determined to block his daughter Jacinta from marrying her true love, Lovell. Instead, he plans to force her into a highly profitable arranged marriage with Lord De Boastado, an insufferably pompous and easily fooled nobleman. Muchworth is also tasked with managing his cynical, fiercely independent niece, Hillaria. Rather than helping her cousin, Hillaria is locked in a savage, rapid-fire war of wits with a fellow libertine named Careless; both loudly despise the traditional concept of marriage and spend their time trading insults. To stop the forced wedding, Jacinta, Lovell, and their highly proactive servants launch a series of chaotic, retaliatory scams to utterly ruin Lord De Boastado’s reputation. In the play's most famous farcical highlight, they hire two heavily pregnant tavern wenches to ambush De Boastado in public. The women scream and aggressively claim that the fop is the father of their unborn children, thoroughly embarrassing him in front of the Alderman. Meanwhile, the clever maidservant Beatrice decides to look out for her own financial future; she puts on an elaborate aristocratic disguise, seduces the clueless De Boastado, and successfully tricks him into legally marrying her instead of Jacinta. With De Boastado accidentally married to a maid and his social ambitions completely shattered, Muchworth has no choice but to capitulate and allow Jacinta and Lovell to wed. The final comedic victory belongs to the sub-plot: realizing they are intellectual and rakish equals, Careless and Hillaria finally agree to marry. However, they do so with a radically subversive twist, explicitly vowing that they will completely disregard traditional marital fidelity and remain "careless lovers" who are free to sleep with other people
A pastoral tragicomedy in which a threatened duel between shepherds is averted when the shepherdesses threaten to fight it themselves; a banished shepherd turned outlaw leads satyrs in carrying off the characters.
Aston invites homeless Davies to stay in his cluttered West London flat and offers him the caretaker job. Davies complains, evades questions about his identity and tries to play Aston and his brother Mick against each other. After Aston recounts his damaging institutional treatment, he orders Davies to leave; Mick backs his brother, and Davies's final plea fails.
The Carmelite is a 1784 tragedy by the British writer Richard Cumberland. It was first staged at the Drury Lane Theatre on 2 December 1784. The play's hero Saint-Valori disguises himself as a Carmelite. The original cast included Sarah Siddons as Matilda, William Smith as Saint Valori, John Palmer as Lord Hildebrand, John Philip Kemble as Montgomeri, James Aickin as Lord De Courci, John Hayman Packer as Gyfford, John Phillimore as Fitzallan and John Fawcett as Raymond. The play enjoyed some success, and was later staged at a theatre in Belfast where Wolfe Tone saw it in 1791.
In a Spanish romantic comedy, Don Ferdinando falls for Elvira, his friend Alvaredo’s beloved, despite being betrothed to Beatrice. He leaves to resolve his feelings, but Beatrice follows disguised as a man; Ferdinando ultimately returns to his betrothed, and Elvira and Alvaredo marry.
This comedy combines two plots adapted from Plautus: Count Ferneze’s persecuted slave is revealed as his long-lost son, while the miser Jaques’ supposed daughter Rachel is at the center of a second intrigue. Their stories form an Elizabethan mixture of romance and comedy of humours.
When former music-hall star Lady Camber dies in mysterious circumstances, her young nurse Esther Yorke is suspected of killing her so she can marry Lord Camber.
Dorothy Simple feels trapped in a prim, proper Massachusetts shop. A tall man from LIFE Inc. visits after trampling her petunias and offers her poetry and seeds that help her break from her dreary life.
The Castle Spectre is a 1797 dramatic romance in five acts by Matthew "Monk" Lewis. It is a Gothic drama set in medieval Conwy, Wales.
The Castle of Montval is a tragedy by the British writer Thomas Sedgwick Whalley. It was first published in 1781, but was not staged in London's West End until 23 April 1799 when it appeared at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane where it succeeded The East Indian by Matthew Lewis. The Drury Lane cast included Sarah Siddons as Countess of Montval, John Philip Kemble as the Old Count, James Aickin as Count of Colmar, Charles Holland as Count of Montval, Charles Kemble as Marquis of Vaublane, William Barrymore as Lapont, John Hayman Packer as Blaise, Jane Powell as Matilda and Elizabeth Heard as Teresa. It was part of the tend of Gothic plays popular during the era.
The morality play follows Mankind from birth to death as he turns from virtue to sin, repents and is protected in a castle by the virtues. World, Flesh and the Devil attack; Death strikes Mankind, and God ultimately pardons his soul.
After seven years in the Crusades, Stucley returns to find a matriarchal society in England. He tries to restore patriarchy and Christianity, commissioning a castle and a new sect, while conflict grows between the men and women of the land.
The Castro Complex is a 1970 play written by Mel Arrighi. It opened on Broadway on November 18, 1970, and closed on November 22, 1970.
The story concerns the death and inheritance of old Cyrus West, a rich eccentric. He decrees that his will be read 20 years after his death, at which point his relatives converge at his old family home, now a spooky old haunted mansion. The will reads that his most distant relative still bearing the name of West be sole heir, provided they are legally sane. The rest of the night spent in the house calls into question the sanity of Annabelle West, a fragile young woman who is legally Cyrus West's heir.
On a rainy afternoon, the Cat in his red-and-white-striped hat visits Sally and her brother. The children join his mischievous games and tricks, turning the quiet day into an adventure before their mother returns to see what has happened.
In a postwar frame story, two communes dispute who should control abandoned farmland. A singer presents a parable about Grusha, a peasant girl who rescues and raises a governor’s abandoned child; a judge later uses a chalk-circle test to decide who should keep him.
Across three acts set in the same cave—from the Neolithic period through medieval times to a near future—a family encounters a young girl who challenges its beliefs. The play connects persecution of dissenters with the role of imagination and art, as a boy who becomes an artist and a brother drawn to invention respond differently to authority and social conformity.
The Cave Dwellers is a dramatic stage play written by American playwright William Saroyan. The play premiered on Broadway at the Bijou Theatre in 1957. The play follows a group of people who are homeless residing inside an abandoned theatre, until a demolition crew shows up.
In this verse drama, Ishmael and Isaac arrange to bury Abraham, exploring the intertwined origins of Arab and Jewish peoples, humanity's relationship with God, and faith.
In Rome, Beatrice Cenci and her family endure the tyrannical Count Francesco Cenci. After he abuses Beatrice and blocks appeals for help, she joins a plot to kill him; the conspirators are tried and sentenced, and Beatrice walks to her execution.
Artaud's adaptation of Shelley's tragedy foregrounds cruelty, violence, incest, revenge, and familial murder. It replaces extended reflection with abrupt transitions and sensory action, using sound and stage effects to make the Cenci family's violence palpable.
Edward Bond’s trilogy comprises Have I None, The Under Room, and Chair, dramatizing a dystopian, totalitarian society.
An elderly couple summon guests to hear the Old Man's message for humanity, but the guests are invisible. As they fill the stage with chairs and address the absent audience, the Old Man and Old Woman leap to their deaths; the Orator arrives but can only make unintelligible sounds and leave a garbled message.
Claire Conceison’s play reworks the original Yuan Chalk Circle drama and Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle alongside the custody case of Anna Mae He.
Imperious Mrs St Maugham cares for her troubled granddaughter Laurel, who has been setting fires. She hires Miss Madrigal, an enigmatic governess and expert gardener with no references; the Judge's visit reveals that Madrigal was imprisoned for murder, while her past is gradually uncovered.
Young prince Ahmed is drawn into an epic quest against his childhood friend Murganah, who has sold her soul to the devil-like Schaibar.
In Bologna, Don John takes in a mysterious baby and Don Frederick shelters Costantia, who is fleeing danger. When the child's parentage and the lovers' precontract emerge, misunderstandings among the two friends, the Duke and Costantia's brother lead to suspicion and confusion before the parties reunite.
In Alicante, Beatrice-Joanna recruits De Flores to murder her unwanted fiancé so that she can marry Alsemero; the crime entangles them in a tragic cycle of coercion and deceit. A parallel comic plot follows impostors and inmates in a madhouse.
At the play's core is a semi-pro Northern England rugby league team. During the week, its members are peaceable men toiling away at mindless, working class jobs. On Saturday, they prepare for gory combat on the playing field. The changing room is where they perform their pre-game initiation rites, strip down, loosen muscles, and get into their uniforms. After the match they return, often broken, muddy, and bloody, regretting their loss or giddy with victory in the communal shower. There is little in the way of plot, but Storey engages his audience with his ability to dissect his characters' hurts, hopes, desires, and fighting instincts.
In a courtly world threatened by jealousy and murder, a monstrous cat protects Otaki, a maid who once saved it, and later avenges her death by attacking those responsible. Its rampage spreads through the Arima clan until warriors climb a watchtower and kill it.
An Expressionist, picaresque portrait of Sally Banner, moving from schoolgirl to poet as she searches for love and freedom while confronting authority figures and unsatisfactory lovers. A chorus, songs, poems, rapid shifts of scene and recurring figures dramatize her successive roles across the 1940s to 1970s.
On May Day, Pan leaves a magical chaplet in Prince Ugolino’s garden. Its influence renews love and revelry among the mortals who wear it, while the bored prince sets schemes against the people who irritate him.
The Chapter of Accidents is a 1780 comedy play by Sophia Lee. It was inspired by the play by Le Père de famille by Denis Diderot. The prologue was written by George Colman the Elder. It premiered at the Haymarket in London on 5 August 1780. The original cast included John Palmer as Woodville, Robert Bensley as Lord Glenmore, Richard Wilson as Governor Harcourt, Charles Bannister as Captain Harcourt, Francis Aickin as Grey, John Edwin as Jacob, Sarah Maria Wilson as Bridget and Elizabeth Farren as Cecelia.
Unhappily married Kirrie seeks help from Pyee, a travelling dealer in charms. A herb reverses the couple’s roles and makes Jem experience Kirrie’s unreasonable demands; a second charm restores their affection.
The Cheats of Scapin is a 1676 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Otway. It is an adaptation of the French play Scapin the Schemer by Molière. It premiered at the Dorset Garden Theatre performed by the Duke's Company as an afterpiece to Otway's new tragedy Titus and Berenice. The original cast included Anthony Leigh as Scapin, Samuel Sandford as Thrifty, James Nokes as Gripe, Henry Norris as Octavian, Thomas Percival as Leander, John Richards as Shift, Elizabeth Barry as Lucia and Anne Shadwell as Clara.
Indebted landowner Lyubov Ranevskaya returns to her family estate, where Lopakhin proposes cutting down the celebrated cherry orchard and developing the land to pay the mortgage. Ranevskaya and her brother Gayev fail to act, and Lopakhin buys the estate at auction. As the family departs, the elderly servant Firs is accidentally left behind in the empty house while axes are heard cutting the orchard.
A political history of economic change in the Scottish Highlands, from the Highland Clearances through the contemporary North Sea oil boom. The touring company combines narration, songs, sketches, filmed reconstructions and interviews to connect land evictions, sheep farming, emigration and oil-industry exploitation.
Chinese American filmmaker Tam Lum travels to Pittsburgh to make a documentary about Black boxer Ovaltine and visit the boxer’s supposed father. Staying with his Japanese American childhood friend Kenji, Tam encounters a family crisis and reassesses the stories and heroes that shaped his identity. Fantasy sequences include Tam meeting the Lone Ranger.
Set in 1976 in his Three Rivers Stadium office, Art Rooney speaks to the audience while preparing for dinner and reminisces about his youth and founding the Steelers; the play ends with footage of the Immaculate Reception.
A mother and her son flee oppression and search for refuge in a world of violence and indifference. Their journey becomes a four-part theatrical fable about death, compassion and the need for safety.
Evchen, a young bourgeois woman, is raped and impregnated by an aristocratic officer who abandons her after falsely promising marriage. Ashamed and desperate, she kills her newborn child; Wagner's social tragedy condemns the class and gender conditions surrounding her situation.
The Child of Nature is a 1788 comedy play by the English writer Elizabeth Inchbald, adapted from a French work by the Countess de Genlis. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 28 November 1788. The original cast included Thomas Ryder as Duke Murcia, William Farren as Marquis Almanza, William Thomas Lewis as Count Valantia, James Fearon as Seville, William Macready the Elder as Granada, Francis Aickin as Peasant, Isabella Mattocks as Marchioness Mérida and Ann Brunton Merry as Amanthis. The Dublin premiere took place at the Crow Street Theatre on 13 February 1789.
The Children is a play written by Lucy Kirkwood which premiered in London in 2016 and then on Broadway in 2017.
The Children in the Wood is a 1793 two-act musical play with a libretto by English playwright Thomas Morton and music by Samuel Arnold. It was derived from the children's story Babes in the Wood, and was very popular into the early 19th century. The play debuted at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on October 1, 1793. The Universal Magazine of Knowledge and Pleasure called it "one of the most interesting trifles that has been lately exhibited." "The subject is the old legendary tale of the Babes of the Wood; and though the author has necessarily departed from the anecdote in the ballad, by saving the infants, he has imparted much tenderness and simplicity to the fable, and in the gayer scenes thrown much cheerfulness into his characters." The review also praised the performance of actor John Bannister.
At a girls' boarding school, student Mary Tilford invents a story that headmistresses Karen Wright and Martha Dobie are lovers to avoid returning to school. The accusation drives away students and parents, ruins the women's school and court case, and strains their relationships. After the lie is exposed, Martha's feelings for Karen and the community's damage culminate in tragedy.
Set during the 1945 general election, Tony, son of the Earl of Lister, loses his family’s long-held seat to Labour candidate Cleghorn. When Cleghorn enters the Lords, Tony’s American fiancée secretly backs the family butler Beecham as Conservative candidate; amid changing party loyalties and broken engagements, Beecham wins the seat and later returns to service after applying for the Chiltern Hundreds.
The Chimera is a 1721 comedy play by the British writer Thomas Odell. The original Lincoln's Inn Fields cast included Anthony Boheme as Lord Gracebubble, William Bullock as Selfroth, Christopher Bullock as Ninnyhammer, George Pack as Teartext and Anna Maria Seymour as Lady Meanwell.
The Chinese Bungalow is a 1925 play by Marion Osmond and James Corbet, based on Osmond's 1923 novel; it is a three-act melodrama set in the Far East. It was adapted for film in 1926, in 1930, and again in 1940.
Brought to the United States in 1834, Afong Moy is exhibited to paying audiences as a curiosity. Across decades, her changing perspective exposes the limits of the role others have assigned her.
In 1870s California, the Blaine family argues with Chinese workers over wages and labor. Their son Frank disguises himself to trick a Chinese businessman who has acquired a wife, in a farce that uses racial caricature to dramatize anti-Chinese politics.
In a poor family’s home, Liza worries that debt will force her husband to evict Aunt Nancy, a ‘chip woman’ who keeps savings hidden for her son. When Jim returns from jail and gives part of Nancy’s savings to the family, he helps Silas repay his debts and reunites with his mother.
In a prison cell, two seasoned inmates explain the code of honour and eye-for-an-eye justice to a new first offender. When an infraction brings one of the men before an inmate tribunal, the play exposes the violence and rigid hierarchy sustained by prison life.
The Choleric Man is a 1774 comedy play by the British author Richard Cumberland. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 10 December 1774. The original cast included Thomas King as Andrew Nightshade, James Aickin as Manlove, John Hayman Packer as Stapleton, Samuel Reddish as Charles Manlove, Thomas Weston as Jack Nightshade, Robert Baddeley as Dibble, John Moody as Gregory, Francis Godolphin Waldron as Frampton. Roger Wright as Frederick, Elizabeth Hopkins as Mrs Stapleton, Frances Abington as Laetitia and Jane Pope as Lucy. The play's Irish premiere took place at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 14 April 1777. It also appeared later at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden.
The 1898 version follows Anglican priest John Storm and music-hall singer Glory Quayle, whom he urges to leave her career. In a Soho slum parish, Storm resists corrupt efforts to buy the church; scandal and mob violence threaten him, but Glory clears his name and joins his work among the poor.
A one-man drama about a teacher at a Christian Brothers school, drawing on Ron Blair's own experience as a student at the Lewisham school in Sydney.
The Christian Hero is a 1735 tragedy by the British writer George Lillo. It is based on the life of Skanderbeg who led a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in the fifteenth century. Two years earlier William Havard had written Scanderbeg, another work based on his life. The original Drury Lane cast included William Milward as Scanderbeg, James Quin as Amurath, William Mills as Mahomet, Edward Berry as Osmyn, Sarah Thurmond as Hellena, John Mills as Aranthes, Richard Winstone as Paulinus and Theophilus Cibber as Amasie.
Three Caribbean migrant workers experience their first Canadian winter. Working through the holiday season, they seek friendship, comfort, and a sense of belonging far from home.
Jeronimus, a grumpy old man, refuses to host a Christmas party because he considers the custom tasteless and inappropriate. His sister cannot persuade him, but a master shoemaker's appeal to natural law eventually changes his mind.
In a modern fairy tale blending European and Japanese folklore, a spoiled princess disguises herself as a maid to escape an arranged Christmas wedding. A witch sends her to find three magical gifts, while a bumbling prince mistakes the maid for the princess and the court jester struggles to make the king laugh.
A historical drama based on the real Christmas truce during the First World War.
In a loosely autobiographical satire, Dr. Bardamu moves through colonial Africa, New York’s entertainment industry, the League of Nations headquarters in Geneva, and a small clinic outside Paris; the play criticizes colonialism and the League.
In a dystopian England under authoritarian rule, inmates of an internment camp named for Winston Churchill stage a play in which soldiers guard Churchill’s catafalque before he rises from the dead.
A young married woman considers leaving her husband for another man and seeks advice from an older couple who eloped thirty years earlier. Their romantic history proves less idealized than she imagined, while the older generation becomes entangled in the younger couple's decision.
Philpot, a wealthy skinflint, has bargained with Sir Jasper Wilding, a fox hunter, for his son Young Philpot, a buck and wastrel, to marry Maria Wilding, and for his daughter Sally to marry Wilding's son, for settlements and twenty thousand pounds paid to Sir Jasper. Young Philpot has lost a fortune, but borrows money from his father and embarks on an insurance fraud involving shipwrecked goods. Maria plans to marry Beaufort, who loves her. As Young Philpot tries to propose, she convinces him she is half-witted, and he spurns her. In the second act, Philpot senior is visiting Corinna, a lady of loose virtue, but hides under the table when his son calls upon her. He overhears as Young Philpot tells her how he has cajoled the money out of his father. Maria's brother surprises them, and old Philpot is also discovered, to their mutual shame. In the final scene Sir Jasper with a lawyer obtains Philpot's signature to the agreements, but meanwhile Maria, an educated girl, shows her strong character to Young Philpot and he again refuses to propose. Having signed away his rights old Philpot offers to marry her, but the lawyer reveals himself as Beaufort, and explains that he has swapped the deeds, so that Philpot has unwittingly signed his agreement for Maria to marry Beaufort.
The story centers on Mr. Jorden, a prosperous but deeply naive London draper who is utterly obsessed with shedding his middle-class roots to become an aristocratic gentleman. To achieve this, he foolishly hires a small army of expensive, bickering tutors in music, dance, fencing, and philosophy. They happily drain his bank account while privately mocking his complete lack of rhythm, coordination, and intellect. Jorden’s desperate vanity makes him an easy target for a bankrupt courtier named Dorant, who extravagantly flatters the merchant to borrow massive sums of money. Dorant promises to use the cash to woo a wealthy widow on Jorden's behalf, but secretly pockets the money and courts the lady for himself. The plot takes a farcical turn when Jorden’s daughter, Lucia, wants to marry Cleverwit, a witty young man of humble status. Because Jorden refuses to let his daughter marry anyone below the rank of nobility, Cleverwit and his servant launch a wild, low-budget hoax. Cleverwit disguises himself as the wealthy son of the Grand Signior of Turkey. He dazzles the starstruck Jorden by "ennobling" him in an absurd, entirely fake, grand backyard ceremony, complete with a chorus of chanting, fake Turkish paladins, bestowing upon the ecstatic merchant the completely fictional, nonsensical title of "Mamamouchi". Totally blinded by his ridiculous new "aristocratic" status, Jorden eagerly grants the fake Turkish prince his daughter’s hand in marriage, completely unaware that he has been swindled by his own family.
The City Bride; Or, The Merry Cuckold is a 1696 comedy play by the English writer Joseph Harris. It premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, staged by Thomas Betterton's company. The plot was inspired by John Fletcher's A Cure for a Cuckold. The original Lincoln's Inn Fields cast included John Bowman as Bonvile, John Thurmond as Friendly, George Bright as Justice Merryman, Samuel Bailey as Mr Spruce, John Freeman as Compasse, Elizabeth Bowman as Arabella, Elizabeth Boutell as Clara and Abigail Lawson as Nurse.
A modern description of the New York production describes the plot as focusing on the confusion caused when Chicago detective John Smith (played by Charles Reed) travels to New York to arrest a crook, also named John Smith. A bunch of other "John Smiths" get into the act as they travel around Manhattan. Not atypical of farces of the period, the content of the show and musical numbers were subject to updating over time. On its 100th performance in New York, the show was advertised as being "rejuvenated" with new parts and music.
The City Lady; Or, Folly Reclaim'd is a 1696 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Dilke. It was staged by Thomas Betterton's Company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre with a cast that included George Bright as Grumble, Cave Underhill as Bevis, John Bowman as Bellardin, John Hodgson as Lovebright, Joseph Harris as Pedanty, John Freeman as Burgersditius, William Bowen as Jasper, Elizabeth Barry as Lady Grumble, Elizabeth Bowman as Lucinda, Elinor Leigh as Secreta and Abigail Lawson as Fidget.
Merchant Sir John Frugal's wife and daughters disdain his impoverished brother Luke, who secretly schemes to gain control of the family fortune. Disguises and reversals eventually expose the household's greed and vanity, while Sir John restores order and sends Luke to Virginia to atone.
Jealous Lorenzo tests his faithful wife Abstemia by asking his friend Philippo to seduce her; when the plot backfires, false testimony separates them and a sequence of disguises, mistaken identities and confessions eventually reunites them. In a comic subplot, the trusting Lodovico discovers that his wife Dorothea has been unfaithful and pregnant by their servant.
The City Ramble is a 1711 comedy play by the British writer Elkanah Settle. It should not be confused with the 1715 play A City Ramble. The original Drury Lane cast included Barton Booth as Rinaldo, Henry Norris as Count, John Mills as Carlo, William Bullock as Don Garcia, Benjamin Johnson as Common Councilman, Christopher Bullock as Chevalier, Thomas Elrington as Valerio, George Pack as Antonio, Lacy Ryan as Young Gentleman, Lucretia Bradshaw as Viola, Jane Rogers as Lucia, Elizabeth Willis as Old Woman and Frances Maria Knight as Common Councilman's wife.
London merchant Master Crasy, facing bankruptcy and betrayal by debtors, feigns departure while remaining in the city in disguise. He joins forces with confidence tricksters to recover his money, manipulate suitors pursuing his wife, and restore his fortune and reputation through a tangle of deceptions.
Tory rake Tom Wilding schemes against his Whig uncle, Sir Timothy Treat-all, while both pursue London heiress Charlot. Through disguises, a staged offer of the Polish throne, and a contrived burglary exposing Treat-all's treason, Wilding wins Charlot and is restored to his inheritance; a subplot concerns Lady Galliard and a drunken suitor.
After her husband's death leaves her impoverished, Mrs Clancy borrows from neighbours to keep the family farm and protect its name. Her son returns, confesses that he has killed a man, and says he will surrender; after she tries to stop him, he dies saving a child.
Merchant Mr Sterling seeks to marry his elder daughter to Sir John Melvil, who loves her younger sister Fanny. Fanny is secretly married to the clerk Lovewell, and her efforts to avoid Melvil lead to her being proposed to his uncle Lord Ogleby; when the truth emerges, she and Lovewell are forgiven.
Brazilian cleaning woman Matilde would rather tell jokes than clean. When her employer Lane's husband leaves for cancer patient Ana, Matilde, Ana, Lane and Lane's sister Virginia form an unusual household shaped by love, illness, humor and loss.
Journalist Terri Adams takes a high-paying news-anchor job and begins neglecting her home and newlywed husband. To keep both her marriage and career, she hires a cleaning service recommended by a coworker, but the “Clean Up Woman” may bring more than cleaning into the household. The play blends domestic comedy, gospel music and a spiritual turn.
An episodic one-woman play built from monologues and original songs in the voices of people affected by climate change or working to address it. The pieces explore subjects including health, mountaintop removal, energy, fossil-fuel transport and activism, with recurring emphasis on individual action.
The Climbers is an American play in four acts by Clyde Fitch. The play premiered on Broadway at the Bijou Theatre on January 21, 1901. It ran for 163 performances, closing on June 1, 1901. Produced by Amelia Bingham, the production was directed by the playwright. It used scenic designs by Ernest Albert and Joseph A. Physioc. The production starred Bingham as Mrs. Sterling, Frank Worthing as Richard Sterling, Harry Wright as Richard Sterling, Jr., Clara Bloodgood as Miss Godesby, George C. Boniface as Dr. Steinart, Madge Carr Cook as Mrs. Hunter, Minnie Dupree as Clara Hunter, Maude Monroe as Jessica Hunter, Robert Edeson as Edward Warden, Ferdinand Gottschalk as Johnny Trotter, Henry Woodruff as Edward Warden, Thomas F. Fallon as Godesby, and John Flood as Frederick Mason. The Climbers was revived by Bingham on Broadway at the Princess Theatre in 1904. The play was adapted into a film three times, The Climbers (1915 film), directed by Barry O'Neil; The Climbers (1919 film), directed by Tom Terriss; and The Climbers (1927 film), directed by Paul L. Stein. The play was parodied in the 1901 Broadway musical The King's Carnival.
To escape household debts, farmer Strepsiades enrolls in Socrates's Thinkery to learn persuasive argument, then sends his son Pheidippides when he proves unable to learn. After Pheidippides returns transformed and beats his father, Strepsiades attacks the school.
An Australian rules football club struggles through a season as a high-priced recruit disappoints, a coach faces dismissal, and board members maneuver for control. The satire was inspired by the Victorian Football League's Collingwood Football Club.
A political and social drama set in Newcastle that depicts conflict between labor and capital.
The Coast of Utopia is a 2002 trilogy of plays: Voyage, Shipwreck, and Salvage, written by Tom Stoppard with focus on the philosophical debates in pre-revolution Russia between 1833 and 1866. Having won the 2007 Tony Award for Best Play, it ended up becoming the most Tony-winning play of all time in this ceremony, a record it holds to this day. The title comes from a chapter in Avrahm Yarmolinsky's book Road to Revolution: A Century of Russian Radicalism (1959). The trilogy, nine hours in total, premiered with Voyage on 22 June 2002 at the National Theatre's Olivier auditorium in repertory, directed by Trevor Nunn. The openings of Shipwreck and Salvage followed on 8 July, and 19 July, completing its run on 23 November 2002. In 2006, directed by Jack O'Brien, the plays debuted on Broadway at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center, New York City, where it closed on 13 May 2007 after a combined total of 124 performances. The trilogy has also been performed in Russia; it opened at Moscow's Russian Academic Youth Theatre in October 2007, directed by Alexey Borodin. The trilogy received its Japanese premiere at Theater Cocoon, Bunkamura in Tokyo on 12 September 2009 and completed its run (including 10 one-day marathon performances) on 4 October 2009. The production was directed by Yukio Ninagawa.
A short farce built around the Induction’s practical joke, omitting the Petruchio and Katherina story. Johnson renames the tinker Kit Sly.
The Cobbler of Preston (first published as The Cobler of Preston) is a 1716 comedy play by Christopher Bullock, although a separate play of the same title was written by Charles Johnson the same year. A one-act afterpiece is the origin of the phrase "Tis impossible to be sure of anything but Death and Taxes". In the preface to the published version Bullock suggested that he had begun writing the play just four days before its premiere. It takes inspiration from The Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare and is set in Preston, Lancashire. The town had recently been scene of fighting during the 1715 Jacobite Rebellion at the Battle of Preston. Bullock's play does not overtly reference the rebellion, but has undertones supportive of the Hanoverian Dynasty. It first appeared at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre as the afterpiece to a revival of The Confederacy by John Vanbrugh. The cast included John Ogden as Sir Jasper Manly, James Spiller as Toby Guzzle, Christopher Bullock as Snuffle and William Bullock as Grist and Benjamin Griffin as Dorcas Guzzle.
Topias and Martta try to marry their underage son Esko to a wealthy heiress before an inheritance is claimed, while the orphan Jaana loves the blacksmith Kristo; Esko's chaotic journey, a disguised father mistaken for a highwayman, and mistaken wedding plans ultimately reunite Jaana with her father and lover.
In a 1970s upper-class home, Bradley and Ann share cocktails with their adult children John and Nina. Their son John has written an unflattering play about the family, prompting arguments over the work and the family life it exposes.
After Lavinia leaves her husband Edward just before their cocktail party, a mysterious guest brings her back. The guest, psychiatrist Sir Henry Harcourt-Reilly, urges the couple to accept their superficial but companionable life together. Their friend Celia chooses a path to sainthood and is martyred abroad; two years later, Edward and Lavinia host another party and learn of her fate.
The Coffee House is a 1738 comedy play by the British writer James Miller, written as an afterpiece. After being performed at Drury Lane, it was published later that year with some alterations to the play's original text. The original Drury Lane cast included Benjamin Griffin as Harpie, Charles Macklin as Bays, John Harper as Booswell, William Havard as Hartly, Richard Winstone as Gaylove, Theophilus Cibber as Cibber, a Comedian and Kitty Clive as Miss Kitty. The role of the poet played by Macklin was apparently intended as a caricature of Richard Savage.
The Cold Wind And The Warm is a dramatic stage play written by American playwright S. N. Behrman. The play premiered on Broadway at the Morosco Theatre in 1958. The play is semi-autobiographical and based on Behrman's memoirs originally published in The New Yorker and his book The Worcester Account that was published in 1954.
In the antimasque, the house’s buttery spirit Bob and Puck lament declining hospitality and housekeeping as ostentation consumes the estate. Favonius praises masculine chivalry, then Iris leads six female masquers in a display of virtues; six male masquers join them in a concluding dance.
In 1984 New York, Andy Warhol’s career is declining as he and emerging artist Jean-Michel Basquiat agree to collaborate on a new exhibition.
James confronts Bill after his wife Stella says she had a one-night affair with Bill. Bill first denies it, then gives shifting accounts, while Harry claims Stella invented the story. James returns home and asks Stella whether the final version is true, but she never answers, leaving the affair unresolved.
Hardress Cregan secretly marries Eily O'Connor but is pressured to marry heiress Anne Chute to save his family's estate. A mistaken order leads servant Danny Mann to try to kill Eily; Myles na Coppaleen rescues her, the plot is exposed, and Eily and Hardress stay together while Anne marries Kyrle Daly.
The play is a cheerful and lightweight comedy. Set at fictional Atwater College, Jane Witherspoon (played by Dorothy Tennant) is the daughter of the college president, and she works to prevent star football player Billy Bolton (Frederick Truesdell) from attending rival Bingham College.
Two aesthetic impostors try to control a family fortune by converting a man's wife and mother-in-law to aestheticism. An unhappy husband seeks escape with a widow, but his American colonel friend intervenes to restore domestic harmony and marries the widow.
In eleven satirical sketches presented as museum exhibits, the play examines prominent themes and identities in African American culture, including history, stereotypes, racial identity, and theatrical conventions.
The play centres around the lives of four people with varying types of illness, and their interactions with those around them. It also focuses on the conversations with healthcare professionals, in particular those who work in palliative care. The actors on stage in this verbatim play, voice the actual transcripts of interviews held with patients and doctors in South Wales in two sites: Velindre Cancer Hospital in Cardiff and Ty Olwen Hospice in Swansea. The play opens on a South Wales beach. We meet Jill and Joe in their home in South Wales. Jill, 60, has had a cancer scare, but the lumps in her breast turned out to be benign; Joe's prostate cancer is inoperable. Jill is cheerful, still thinking of future days, fussing over her vinyl collection, while Joe is anxious, but also resigned to what lies ahead. The play engaged a gender-blind casting approach, and Ché Francis plays Jill, his eyes perfectly matching the mischief in the voice he hears in his ears, whilst Joe is played by Morfydd Clark, who communicates the fear of a 65-year-old man entering the very last days of his life. Erica, played by Claire-Marie Hall, is a single woman, cheerful to the last, regaling with stories of her past as a teacher. We also meet Ray, played by Mark Knightley, who is dying from motor neurone disease, but copes using gallows humour and candour. Joe, Erica and Ray meet and become friends at a hospice, which provides activities such as meditation, painting and Tai Chi. A clinician appears throughout the play, voiced by several of the actors and giving information about the diagnoses and on what palliative care can offer.
Set between 1954 and 1968, American journalist Joseph Alsop finds his relevance fading as attention shifts from the Cold War to the Vietnam War.
The Combined Maze is a 1927 British play by Frank Vosper It is based on the 1913 novel of the same title by May Sinclair. It ran for 40 performances at the Royalty Theatre in London's West End between 30 May and 2 July 1927. The cast included Edward Chapman, Gordon Harker, Richard Bird, Anthony Ireland, Clare Greet and Jean Forbes-Robertson.
The Comeback is a comedy play by Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen (also known as the comedy double-act The Pin).
The year is 1958. Convict Mitch Ruscitti, currently imprisoned at the British Columbia Penitentiary, hatches an escape plan with Neil Cooper, one of the guards, with the intent of traveling to Minneapolis to steal a diamond worth half a million dollars. Unfortunately, due to Cooper's big mouth, word gets out about the plan, and the whole prison wants to join the heist. Mitch and Cooper are able to escape, however, and they drive down to the Twin Cities to find the diamond. Meanwhile, at the Minneapolis City Bank, manager Robin Freeboys oversees preparations to ensure the bank is secure enough to store the diamond in question, owned by Prince Ludwig of Hungary. This proves tough, as the bank is victim to more crimes than any other bank in the state (in fact, Mr. Freeboys' car and furniture are stolen by robbers who were mistaken as bank staff). Luckily, Ruth Monaghan, a teller at the bank (who always says "everyone in this town's a crook"), persuades bureau officer Randall Shuck to allow the bank to store the diamond, much to his superiors' anger. Over the next few days, Caprice Freeboys, Mr. Freeboys' daughter and Mitch's ex, starts dating Sam Monaghan, Ruth's son and a pickpocket, in the hopes of sweet-talking some money out of him (the money she currently gets from her father and other three suitors will barely cover her rent). While at her apartment, however, Mitch and Cooper arrive with the tools needed to pull off the bank heist (including ventilation blueprints and an electric drill), along with the codes for the diamond case. The two crooks rope Sam and Caprice into joining them, mainly because the former can pose as Mr. Freeboys, and the latter as Prince Ludwig's attaché. Before they leave for the night, however, Mitch privately tells Caprice that he's not cutting Sam in, noting "as soon as we got the diamond, Sam's dead." The next several days pass with the bank finishing preparations, Ruth and Randall dating, the heist team going over their plan, and Sam asking Ruth for relationship advice. On the night of the heist, things don't go according to plan (Cooper initially sedates Sam instead of Mr. Freeboys, for one), but the team is able to shut down the AC and access the air ducts. As they crawl past the back office, they're forced to knock out and bring along intern Warren Slax as he attempts to check the vents. Eventually, Mitch and Cooper get separated from the rest of the team, and find themselves directly over the vault. Unfortunately, the vent below Cooper buckles, and Mitch, having no further use for Cooper, shoves him into the still-running fan below, killing him. Once Sam and Caprice arrive, Mitch convinces them that he tried to save Cooper, and they continue with the heist. Once inside the vault, the team is able to access the casing containing the diamond, but Mr. Freeboys (who was planning on stealing the diamond himself to cause a stir in the newspapers) walks in on them, forcing Mitch to shoot him and Prince Ludwig (who was hoping to resolve the situation). With the diamond in hand, Mitch tells Caprice to shoot Sam, but she refuses out of love for Sam; Mitch responds by shooting Caprice, but Sam dives in front of her and takes the bullet in his shoulder. Before Mitch can kill either of them, however, Warren falls out of the vent and lands on Mitch, allowing Sam and Caprice to escape. The two of them make it to Caprice's apartment, where she attempts to patch up Sam's shoulder. Before she can get started, though, Mitch catches up to them and attempts to shoot Caprice, but Randall shoots him first. At Ruth's persuasion, he misdirects the police, patches up Sam's wound, and gives him and Caprice his car to cross over into Ontario and lie low (it's a good thing Caprice knows someone there). Once they leave, Ruth takes the diamond from the dead Mitch, handcuffs Randall to Caprice's bed, and spills a trail of liquor onto the ground. She then warns Randall to be careful who he trusts, before holding up a lighter and giving one last remark: "It's like I always say; everyone in this town's a crook." (This ending was changed about a month into the run of the show as it was seen as quite a dark ending to a funny show. Ruth takes the diamond from the dead Mitch and handcuffs Randall to Caprice's bed. She then warns Randall to be careful who he trusts, giving one last remark: "It's like I always say; everyone in this town's a crook." She leaves and does not set fire to the apartment.)
After the existence of a new top-secret weapon, codenamed Project Midnight, is leaked to the Russians, MI6 prepare to have the plans transferred to a safehouse. However, a bomb explodes and the plans are stolen, with the agents unsuccessfully chasing the rogue agent across London. KGB Agents Sergei Ivanov and Elena Popov are dispatched to retrieve the files at a handover in the Piccadilly hotel. They masquerade as a married English couple - Tim and Annabel Plank - with Elena becoming frustrated with Sergei's cheerful demeanour, complicated fake backstories, and his attempts to befriend her. CIA Agent Lance Buchanan is also instructed to go there and find the turncoat MI6 agent. His mother, the retired CIA Agent Janet Buchanan, also shows up unannounced to assist him. Also present at the hotel is the struggling actor Douglas Woodbead, who mistakenly believes the Buchanans are Hollywood producers for the new James Bond movies. Banker Rosemary Wilson checks into the hotel for a work conference, and is in turn surprised when her boyfriend, hapless baker Bernard Wright, shows up to join her. The two pairs of spies attempt to identify the informant and the other spies through a series of manoeuvres. Bernard, meanwhile, prepares to propose to Rosemary, who in turn wants to break up with him and seems to be having an affair with her tennis instructor Marco. The hotel manager, Mr Tipton, attempts to help Bernard and placate the increasingly annoyed guests, as well as preparing for a secret shopper that is staying at their hotel. Sergei and Elena mistakenly believe Bernard is a CIA agent, and repeatedly break into his room impersonating hotel employees. Lance and Janet initially believe the same thing, before then believing Douglas is the informant. The confusion culminates in Sergei, Elena, and Lance bursting into the same room whilst Janet comforts a heartbroken Bernard. The three quickly identify each other as the real spies, and retreat back to their rooms. Lance and Janet, with their covers blown, decide to recruit a fearful Bernard. Bernard attempts to learn the real location of the handover from Sergei and Elena, but they deduce that the Buchanans sent him. They in turn send him back with false information, which the Buchanans quickly realise as well. The two sets of spies repeatedly use Bernard as a go-between until he becomes frustrated and flees to find Rosemary. Sergei and Elena head to the lobby to meet with their informant, whilst Lance and Janet search every spot that Bernard told them. Due to a mishap with the laundry, Douglas is wearing a green jacket that the KGB agents were told to spot, and they make plans to meet him on the roof to handoff the file. Bernard witnesses this and warns the Buchanans, although they do not believe him. At the meeting, Sergei and Elena realise the truth and flee, running into the CIA agents as they do so. The quartet fight through the hotel whilst Bernard poorly attempts to confront Douglas. Bernard and Douglas run into Rosemary, who is heading to her meeting. She puts on a green jacket, revealing herself to be the informant, and Bernard confronts her. Lance and Janet intercede and try to kill Rosemary, who flees to the lobby. Bernard reaches her first by scaling the lift shaft, and Rosemary reveals she is an MI6 agent and Marco is actually her handler. The KGB and CIA agents all arrive in the lobby, and pursue Rosemary and Bernard. The chase spills through the streets of London and eventually to the docks along the Thames, where Rosemary meets with Sergei and Elena. Bernard steals the case, but Rosemary convinces him to hand it back, upon which she gives it to the Russians. Lance and Janet arrive, where the former attempts to shoot Sergei, but Elena jumps in front. However, just as they seem to best the KGB duo, Janet reveals herself to be a double agent, who had been sabotaging Lance's career as a spy, and shoots him in the side. Sergei and the wounded Elena escape with the case on a submarine. Mr Tipton arrives, and is revealed to be Marco, who recorded Janet's confession. Rosemary admits to being a triple agent, who only pretended to steal the plans to force a CIA mole - Janet - to reveal themself. Marco then betrays Rosemary and is revealed to be working with Janet, who attempts to shoot Rosemary. However, Bernard had removed the bullets in her gun, allowing Rosemary to disarm and kill Marco. Lance shoots Janet to save them, and sadly walks away. Rosemary states she does love Bernard, but fears they cannot be together due to her work. She decides to resign so they can get married, but Bernard, having enjoyed himself, encourages her to do both. Rosemary then reveals the briefcase actually contains explosives set to go off at midnight. In the submarine, Sergei and Elena decide to throw the plans for Project Midnight into the river so that neither side can use it. However, when they open the briefcase, they instead find Douglas Woodbead's belongings, as Rosemary accidentally switched their cases earlier. Douglas can then be heard finally arriving at the audition for James Bond before his briefcase explodes.
In Ephesus, two pairs of identical twin brothers, separated in infancy, arrive without knowing their twins are nearby. Mistaken identities lead to beatings, marital accusations, arrest, and apparent madness; the confusion resolves when both sets of twins reunite and their parents are found.
The Comeuppance is a dramatic stage play written by American playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. The play tells the story of five friends reuniting for their high school reunion in a suburb outside Washington D.C., set in the present day. The friends deal with the passage of time, aging, and the discussion of death being sooner than later as they approach middle age.
The Comical Gallant is a 1701 comedy play by the English writer John Dennis. Also known by the longer title The Comical Gallant: Or the Amours of Sir John Falstaffe, it is a reworking of Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Windsor. The epilogue was written by William Burnaby.
A three-part Restoration comedy dramatization of Cervantes's Don Quixote, with numerous songs. The three parts are described as separate plays and together take more than seven hours to perform.
The Comical Revenge; Or, Love In A Tub is a 1664 comedy play by the English writer George Etherege. First staged by the Duke's Company, it premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. It is one of the earliest Restoration Comedies. The play holds importance for the literary historian for Etherege's employment of two separate language styles. The style employed in the verbal sparring between Sir Frederick and the Widow would set the standard for the language of the Restoration comedy. The subtitle refers to the comical subplot which deals with the locking up of Dufoy, servant of Sir Frederick, in a tub by the chambermaids Betty and Lettice. The original cast included Thomas Betterton as Lord Beauford, Henry Harris as Sir Frederick Frollick, William Smith as Colonel Bruce, Henry Norris as Lovis, James Nokes as Sir Nicholas Cully, Cave Underhill as Palmer, Samuel Sandford as Wheadle, Mary Betterton as Graciana, Moll Davis as Aurelia and Jane Long as Widow.
A socially awkward, loudly left-wing student comes to share a Melbourne flat with three university friends, with disastrous results.
Paul Green's outdoor historical drama follows Virginia and the colonies from Jamestown's founding through the American Revolution and independence, emphasizing both Jefferson's role and the contribution of ordinary people. It was written for a large local cast and included original music.
The characters of The Common Pursuit first meet in Stuart Thorne's rooms in Cambridge, at the first meeting of a literary magazine Stuart is starting called The Common Pursuit. He and Marigold are very much in love, Nick is determined to become a theatre critic, Humphry wants to be a philosophy professor, Martin is set on a career in publishing and Peter only seems interested in chasing women. The play then follows their various lives and careers over the next 20 years, and their struggles to remain faithful to their ambitions and the things they love.
In a two-act comedy, Mary Rhodes has an affair with Clive Root, a bookseller friend of her husband Victor; the action moves between the Rhodes home and an Amsterdam guesthouse.
Three performers parody Shakespeare's plays in compressed and merged form: they race through the comedies and histories, stage several tragedies as comic routines, then devote the second act to Hamlet, repeating it faster and backwards with audience participation.
The Composite Man is a 1935 comedy play by the British writer Ronald Jeans. The lead character is a successful athlete who is assumed to be a genius in everything else, which is far from the case. It premiered at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre before transferring to Daly's Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 70 performances between 8 September and 7 November 1936. The original London cast included Richard Bird, James Hayter, Max Adrian, Anthony Holles, Michael Dyne, Hayley Bell, Elspeth Duxbury and Diana Churchill.
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