The Glory of Columbia, Her Yeomanry
Dunlap reworks his tragedy André as a patriotic play centered on the ordinary American people. The action includes the capture of British officer John André by local militiamen during the Revolutionary War.
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Clear filtersThe Glory of Living
Lisa meets Clint at her mother's mobile home, and they later marry and have twins. The couple lives in motels while Lisa lures young girls to Clint, who abuses them; Lisa murders the victims, then anonymously directs police to their bodies. The second act focuses on their punishment and Lisa's motives.
The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?
It is Martin's 50th birthday. In his suburban living room, he and his wife Stevie prepare to be interviewed on television by their friend Ross. Martin seems distracted and cannot remember anything. Stevie casually asks Martin about a woman's business card in his pocket and his odd scent. Martin denies having an affair with a woman, but confesses to falling in love with a goat named Sylvia. Stevie laughs it off, thinking it is a joke. Stevie leaves when Ross arrives. Ross begins interviewing Martin, congratulating him for being the youngest man ever to win the Pritzker Prize and recently being chosen to design a multi-billion-dollar city. However, Ross soon becomes frustrated with Martin’s inability to concentrate on the interview. Martin confides that the reason for his absent-mindedness is his affair with Sylvia, which began during his search for a country home. Amazed that Martin could fall in love with anyone but Stevie, Ross asks repeatedly, "Who is Sylvia?" Martin reveals a photo of Sylvia and Ross screams that Sylvia is a goat. Ross has written Stevie a letter regarding Martin's affair and Sylvia's identity. Stevie confronts Martin about this, with their son Billy also in the room. Billy is shocked and flees (throughout this scene, he enters and exits sporadically). Stevie recounts the normalcy of her life before she opened Ross's letter. She realizes that Martin was telling the truth in Scene 1 and that she was right to worry about the business card and the odd scent. The card belongs to a member of a support group for bestiality. Martin claims that people like him seek animal company as a coping mechanism. For him, Sylvia is not just an animal; she has a soul and reciprocates his love. As Martin tries to justify himself, Stevie breaks various objects and overturns furniture. Finally, she exits, vowing revenge. Billy enters the ruined living room where Martin remains. Billy claims that Martin and Stevie are good people and are better than most of his classmates' parents. However, he begins crying once he realizes that Martin's bestiality has torn their once happy family apart beyond repair. Overwhelmed with a sense of loss and love for his father, Billy embraces Martin and kisses him sexually on the mouth. Martin pushes Billy away just as Ross enters to witness the scene. Martin angrily defends both his son and himself. Ross says he received a call from Stevie saying Martin needed him. Ross and Martin spar over Ross's letter and how Martin's public image can be saved from disgrace. Stevie then enters, dragging a dead goat. With directions from Ross to the farm where Sylvia was kept, she found and killed the goat, because she could not stand the idea that she and Sylvia loved Martin equally, and were loved as equally by him. The scene and play ends with a tableau as Ross freezes, Stevie remains emotionless, Martin breaks down in tears, and Billy quietly tries to address his parents.
The Goblins
In the mythical kingdom of Francelia, Tamoren leads a band of robbers who disguise themselves as devils and unsettle the country with pranks and rough justice. The plot also weaves in rival noble families, while the lively play draws on romance, action, songs, dances, and a comic subplot.
The God of Hell
Wisconsin dairy farmer Frank and his wife Emma live quietly until Mr. Welch, a mysterious, ultra-patriotic government agent, arrives in pursuit of Frank’s old friend Haynes.
The Gods Are Not to Blame
In the Yoruba kingdom of Kutuje, King Odewale seeks the cause of a plague. A prophecy and revelations about the murder of the former king expose that Odewale unknowingly killed his father and married his mother; Ojuola kills herself, and Odewale leaves the kingdom.
The Gods of Comedy
Classics professors Ralph and Daphne discover a manuscript of Euripides’ lost tragedy Andromeda. When Daphne misplaces it, she calls on Dionysus and Thalia for help, and the gods appear, unleashing comic mayhem.
The Gold Diggers
Rumors that Napoleon buried gold in a Jewish cemetery throw a shtetl into chaotic competition to find it.
The Gold Diggers
Stephen Lee is a wealthy man who is convinced that the chorus girl engaged to his nephew is a "gold digger", who only wants his nephew's money. Lee asks Jerry Lamar, another chorus girl he knows, to convince his nephew to break off the engagement. Instead she tries to convince Lee that not all chorus girls are out for money. Unfortunately for her effort, several of her friends demonstrate that they are as money-hungry as Lee fears. Annoyed by Lee's comments, Lamar decides to show him up by getting him drunk and tricking him into proposing to her. Her scheme proves harmless when it turns out that she and Lee really are in love.
The Golden Age
Engineer Francis Morris and geologist Peter become lost in Tasmania and find a community isolated since the mid-19th century, with its own language and Regency-era social conventions. Authorities force the group into society and then confine them in an asylum; after wartime service, Francis returns and chooses to live with the surviving member, Betsheb, in the wilderness.
The Golden Age Restored
Astraea, goddess of justice and the returned Golden Age, awakens the twelve Sons of Phoebus. Pallas banishes the personified Iron Age, while twelve personified Evils form the anti-masque; the work also carries a theme of reforming a corrupt court.
The Golden Fleece
A three-part dramatic poem based on the Greek myths of Jason, the Argonauts, and Medea. The cycle consists of The Guest-friend, The Argonauts, and Medea.
The Golden Gander
A drama about gold seekers in central Australia, inspired by the 1932 Charles Chapman expedition to The Granites.
The Golden Oldies
Two actors and two dummies portray the memories, dreams and imagined lives of three generations of Australian women, with dummies taking the male roles.
The Golem
Rabbi Leyb creates a clay golem named Yosl despite the spirit's pleas not to be born. After the golem is trapped in a cave amid forces tied to an attempted blood libel, he later rampages through Prague and demands that the rabbi remain with him; the rabbi accepts responsibility and ends his life.
The Good Companions
The Good Companions is a 1931 play by J.B. Priestley and Edward Knoblock, based on Priestley's 1929 novel of the same title about a touring concert party. The music was composed by Richard Addinsell. It was first performed at the Princes of Wales's Theatre in Birmingham before beginning its West End run at His Majesty's Theatre before transferring to the Lyric. It lasted for 331 performances between 14 May 1931 and 27 February 1932. The cast included John Gielgud, Adele Dixon, Edward Chapman, Ellen Pollock, Edith Sharpe and Frank Pettingell. Several of the actors reprised their roles for the 1933 film adaptation, notably Gielgud. A New York production the same year staged by Julian Wylie lasted for 68 performances.
The Good Doctor
The Good Doctor is a comedy with music written by Neil Simon. It is a series of short plays based on short stories and other works of Russian writer Anton Chekhov, framed by a writer commenting on them.
The Good Fairy
Lu, an usherette with debts from pretending to be wealthy, tells her admirer Konrad that she is married to a successful lawyer. When he asks to hire her supposed husband, she selects Dr. Sporum from the phone book, setting off a chain of misunderstandings and new opportunities. Lu eventually chooses the Head Waiter, while the epilogue revisits the group ten years later to reveal that her life has taken a different turn.
The Good Hope
In a poor Dutch fishing village, Kniertje’s remaining sons join a crew on an unsafe vessel because the fishermen face poverty if they refuse. The owner declines repairs to protect his profit; the ship sinks, leaving Kniertje bereaved and exposing the human cost of greed.
The Good Life
Tom and Barbara Good leave the suburban rat race for a self-sufficient life in Surbiton, growing food and keeping livestock at home. Their new routine unsettles neighbours Margo and Jerry Leadbetter, who want to preserve the neighbourhood’s conventional way of life.
The Good Person of Szechwan
After the gods reward the prostitute Shen Teh for sheltering them, she buys a tobacco shop, but her generosity draws people who exploit it. To protect herself she adopts the identity of her stern male cousin Shui Ta, whose business acumen turns the shop into a factory. As she falls in love with an unemployed pilot and becomes pregnant, the boundary between the two identities strains; the play leaves the audience to confront whether goodness can survive in an unjust society.
The Good and Faithful Servant
After fifty years as a doorman, Buchanan approaches retirement and encounters Edith, a former lover who is also the mother of his twin sons. He reflects on his life, marries Edith and dies quietly beside her.
The Good-Natur'd Man
The Good-Natur'd Man is a 1768 comedy play written by the Irish author Oliver Goldsmith. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 29 January 1768. The original cast included Mary Bulkley as Miss Richland, Isabella Mattocks as Olivia, Ann Pitt as Mrs Croaker, Jane Green as Garnet, William Powell as Mr Honeywood, Edward Shuter as Croaker, Henry Woodward as Lofty, Matthew Clarke as Sir William Honeywood, Robert Bensley as Leontine, John Dunstall as Jarvis, John Cushing as Butler and John Quick as Potboy. The prologue was written by Samuel Johnson. It was a middling success for Goldsmith, and the printed version of the play became popular with the reading public. It was released at the same time as Hugh Kelly's False Delicacy, staged at Drury Lane Theatre. The two plays went head to head, with Kelly's proving the more popular. Garrick rejected The Good-Natur'd Man, possibly because the story is an antidote of False Delicacy. In 1850 William Powell Frith produced a painting Mr Honeywood Introduces the Bailiffs to Miss Richland as His Friends based on the play which he displayed at the Royal Academy Exhibition of 1850 and the Paris Salon of 1855.
The Goodbye People
The dramedy focuses on elderly Max Silverman, who is determined to reopen the Coney Island Boardwalk hot dog stand he closed twenty-two years earlier for renovation, despite the fact he's recovering from a severe heart attack and it's the middle of February. He demands assistance from his daughter Nancy, who abandoned her husband, changed her name from Shirley, and had a nose job in an effort to assume a new and more exciting identity but has come to realize it takes more than a $4,000 rhinoplasty to erase the past. Into their lives arrives neurotic Arthur Korman, who comes to the beach to watch the sunrise and forget he despises his career choice and inability to quit a job he hates. With the help of each other, the trio manages to jump start their individual dreams before tragedy intercedes.
The Goose Hangs High
The story take place at the Ingals' colonial style home in a Midwestern city with a population of 100,000. Act I (The Ingals' living room. About 5pm on December 23rd.) Bernard and Eunice are preparing for their younger children's homecoming from college for Christmas. Noel Derby suggests to Bernard they buy a market garden business and turn it into a nursery. Leo Day drops by to pressure Bernard into sponsoring him at the local country club. Bernard stalls him by inviting him to dinner later that week. Julia Murdoch escorts Granny Bradley home from shopping. Granny and her both scold the Ingals for indulging their kids. Julia spills the news of Hugh's engagement to Dagmar Carroll. Hugh surprises everyone by his unexpected return from New York. Pandemonium ensues when the twins arrive home a day early. Ronald Murdoch takes his mother Julia home. Lois says she will continue with marketing her senior year, while Brad discusses his summer plans for studying scene design. Both take it for granted their parents will be subsidizing them. Bernard mentions the trouble he is having with the new city councilmen. Hugh confesses his engagement, and says he and Dagmar will soon marry and move into a Manhattan apartment. Hugh makes good money and has savings, but does not know of his parents precarious finances. All three children rush off to a holiday dance, leaving their parents to dine alone. (Curtain) Act II (Same as Act I. About 8pm on December 29th.) Hugh and Dagmar discuss future plans then leave for dinner at Dagmar's, though Hugh was supposed to dine at home. More, he left his mother to walk home in the rain instead of picking her up downtown. Lois also skipped dinner, having spent hours with a local department store owner suggesting improvements to his advertising. Lois explains she has secured a place in an expensive residence for her coming semester and will need more money. Clem comes for Lois and Granny goes next door to the Holding's. Bernard tells Brad about his troubles with Kimberly, how he fired his longtime stenographer and put a girlfriend in the job. Brad, without a date, expresses sympathy for D. H. Lawrence's theory of women. For the first time, Bernard and Eunice doubt their approach to child rearing. Kimberly calls on Bernard to demand an apology for his girlfriend, whom he says feels insulted by Bernard. Throwing Kimberly out, Bernard writes his resignation and addresses it. Before he can stop him, Brad takes it to mail on his way to a dance. Telling Eunice what he's done, Bernard tries to get ahold of Brad to stop the letter. He is horrified when Brad telephones home and Eunice tells her son to mail it. She won't let Bernard be tormented or corrupted. When Granny returns, Eunice asks to borrow money, and explains why. But Granny refuses a loan, if they are going to spend it on the twins. Eunice and Bernard go for a walk. Granny calls Hugh at Dagmar's and has him round up the twins. (Quick curtain) An hour has gone by; when Hugh, Lois, and Brad come in, Granny bluntly tells them their father has lost his position and is bankrupt. After agonizing over their selfishness, they take action. Hugh writes his parents a check, the savings on which he was to marry. Lois sends a telegram cancelling her college dormitory reservation. Brad, knowing it was Kimberly who provoked the crisis, goes over to his house and beats him up. When Bernard and Eunice return from their walk, the kids explain they know the situation and have taken steps. (Curtain) Act III (Same as Act I. Morning of December 30th.) Bernard still refuses Hugh's check. Dagmar has come to breakfast and secured Eunice's approval. When he gets Dagmar alone, Hugh explains their marriage must wait. Dagmar agrees to the postponement until Bernard gets back on his feet financially. Eunice outrages Granny by offering the twins' bedrooms for rent, since Hugh's money will send them back to college. But the twins refuse to go back; Lois has taken a job with the department store, while Brad will do scenery for the local stage theatre. They go to work on Granny, pointing out how ashamed she would be to have her son-in-law working menial jobs. Gradually they lead her into investing her money with Noel Derby for a nursery business, with Bernard as manager. Noel and Granny go upstairs to work out the deal. But Bernard startles everyone by saying Leo Day has saved his job by refusing the resignation. Eunice tells Bernard she will divorce him if he goes back to City Hall. Stunned, he is forced to acquiesce to Granny's offer, which Noel says the twins' dreamed up. Hugh's money is returned, allowing him and Dagmar to marry, as the twins refuse to go back to college; the entire family celebrates their love and loyalty. (Curtain)
The Gorilla
Alice Denby visits her uncle Cyrus at his old mansion with Arthur Madsen, who hopes the uncle will invest in his mystery play about a criminal called the Gorilla. As detectives arrive and a real escaped ape carries Alice away, the house seems to reproduce Arthur’s fictional plot; the events are ultimately revealed as the imagined contents of his play-within-a-play.
The Gospel According to Jesus, Queen of Heaven
In a theatrical monologue, Jesus is imagined reincarnated in modern times as a transgender woman.
The Government Inspector
In a corrupt provincial town, officials mistake the penniless, boastful civil servant Khlestakov for an incognito government inspector. They bribe and flatter him until his departure and an intercepted letter expose the deception; the real inspector's arrival leaves them frozen in a silent scene.
The Governor's Lady
A three-act contemporary domestic drama about a husband and wife's rise from poverty to wealth, addressing social status and divorce. Its staging recreated a Childs Restaurant on stage using materials and food from the restaurant chain.
The Governour of Cyprus
The Governour of Cyprus (or The Governor of Cyprus) is a 1703 play by the English writer John Oldmixon. It premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London, but the exact date was unclear with some sources putting the first performance in December 1702. The original cast included George Powell as Phorsano, Barton Booth as Virotto, Thomas Betterton as Iopano, Elizabeth Barry as Issamenea and Elizabeth Bowman as Lucinda.
The Grand Paradise
Audience members enter a fictional 1970s Florida resort promising access to the Fountain of Youth. They explore its rooms, beach, lounge and aquarium, following performers or wandering independently through an interactive theatrical world of dance, installations, scents, music and individual encounters.
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a 1988 play adapted by Frank Galati from the classic 1939 John Steinbeck novel of the same name, with incidental music by Michael Smith. The play debuted at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago, followed by a May 1989 production at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego and a June 1989 production at the Royal National Theatre in London. After eleven previews, the Broadway production, directed by Galati, opened on March 22, 1990 at the Cort Theatre, where it ran for 188 performances. The cast included Gary Sinise, Kathryn Erbe, Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, Lois Smith, Sally Murphy, Francis Guinan, and Stephen Bogardus. The play was adapted for television in 1990 for the PBS series American Playhouse. A new production opened on 25 July 2024 at the Lyttleton Theatre, part of the National Theatre. The cast included Harry Treadaway, Cherry Jones, Greg Hicks, Natey Jones and Maimuna Memon.
The Grass Harp
The Grass Harp is a play written by Truman Capote based on his novel of the same name. Producer Saint Subber staged it on Broadway in 1952. It was Capote's first play.
The Grass Is Greener
Needing revenue, the Earl and Countess of Rhyall open their Hampshire manor to tourists. An American visitor falls in love with the Countess, and the Earl tries to make her jealous by using an old flame.
The Grateful Servant
Foscari believes he must surrender Cleona to the Duke of Savoy and enter a monastery, but a page he rescued is revealed as Leonora, the Duke’s former betrothed in disguise. Meanwhile, the Duke’s libertine brother is drawn into a demonic ruse that brings him to reform; the play resolves with three marriages.
The Grave
In a graveyard, a corrupt political leader and police inspector are confronted by Murda Fakir, a survivor of famine who lives among the graves. The dead language martyrs refuse burial and insist they remain alive in the nation's memory, exposing the leaders' attempt to minimize the Bengali Language Movement.
The Great Adventure
Ilam Carve is a celebrated painter, but is of a retiring personality and greatly dislikes being in the public eye. He visits England as rarely and unobtrusively as possible. On his present trip to London his valet, Albert, is taken mortally ill. A doctor is called, and assumes the dying man is Ilam. Ilam is too tongue-tied to convey to the doctor that the patient is the valet and not the painter, and finally he goes along with events, foreseeing a permanent escape from his irksome celebrity. When Albert dies, Ilam allows the body to be interred in Westminster Abbey while himself adopting the persona of the supposedly still-living Albert. Complications soon arise. Albert had been corresponding through the lonely-hearts columns with a young widow, Janet Cannot. They had not met, and she now turns up and assumes Ilam is Albert, as he is pretending to be. They are mutually attracted and by the second act they are happily married, living modestly on the annuity Ilam left Albert in his will. Ilam cannot resist resuming painting, and sells some pictures, but when an art expert sees them he realises that they are by Carve. He acquires them and sells them to an American collector. When it emerges that the pictures are dated after the artist's supposed death, litigation looms. A further complication arises when it emerges that Albert had been married and had deserted his wife, who now turns up with her two sons – both curates – in tow, accusing Ilam of bigamy. He proves his true identity, but to spare the embarrassment of the Abbey authorities he agrees to remain officially dead and he and Janet leave for a new life abroad, as Mr and Mrs Albert Shawn.
The Great Campaign
A farmer runs for president because the opposing candidate was selected by a corrupt politician. His son turns over the farmer’s major speech to the opposition, helping defeat the campaign.
The Great Duke of Florence
Cozimo, a widowed duke, plans to leave his realm to his nephew Giovanni, whose affection for Lidia complicates the duke’s dynastic expectations. Count Sanazarro also falls for Lidia, while Cozimo’s ward Fiorinda favors him; the young men’s effort to manipulate the duke leads to arrest, confession, forgiveness, and two marriages.
The Great Father
A young man and woman in a psychiatric ward confront violence embedded in history and in their own pasts.
The Great Favourite
Robert Howard’s historical drama portrays the Duke of Lerma’s ruthless pursuit of influence in the Spanish court: he exploits family and political ties, survives a banishment, and finally avoids the expected fall from power by purchasing a cardinal’s office.
The Great Game: Afghanistan
A cycle of twelve short plays in three sections traces Afghan history and foreign intervention from 1842 through 2009. The component plays are linked by historical monologues and dialogues, including edited verbatim testimony from modern figures connected with Western involvement in Afghanistan.
The Great God Brown
Business partners’ sons Dion Anthony and Billy Brown both love Margaret, who falls for Dion’s cruel public mask rather than his sensitive artistic self. After Dion’s death, Billy assumes the mask and identity, gradually losing his own self until he too dies; years later Margaret still pledges her love to the mask.
The Great Helmsman
Two women debate which of them will be chosen to spend a night with Chairman Mao Zedong.
The Great Highway
Structured as a seven-stage journey, the memory play follows the Hunter on a mountain walk through surreal encounters with symbolically named figures. As he descends, he meets people from his past, including the daughter he deserted, and the journey becomes an allegory of life's passage.
The Great Magoo
Nicky, a songwriter, and Julie, a Coney Island dancehall performer, share a tumultuous relationship; Julie briefly becomes a radio celebrity singing Nicky’s song.
The Great Man
The death of a prominent Labor Party politician and its impact on the people close to him.
The Great Rescue
Bland Holt's stage adaptation reworks Lincoln Carter's American story Bedford's Hope for an Australian setting and the rescue of Modesto Varischetti; the production featured a train onstage.
The Great Theater of the World
God acts as the Author who assigns people roles in the world’s play: kings, the poor and the rich perform their parts, then receive reward or punishment according to how they lived.
The Great White Hope
The Great White Hope is a 1967 play written by Howard Sackler, later adapted in 1970 for a film of the same title. The play was first produced by Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., and debuted on Broadway at the Alvin Theatre in October 1968, directed by Edwin Sherin with James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander in the lead roles. The play won the 1969 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, with the only singing role as Barbara Johnson Tucker. Subsequent touring companies of the play featured Brock Peters and Claudette Nevins in the lead roles. The play is based on the true story of Jack Johnson (fictionalized under the character name "Jack Jefferson") and his fight against Jim Jeffries, and also covers the controversy over his marriage to first wife, Etta Terry Duryea, and Duryea's death by suicide in 1912.
The Greater Love
The Greater Love is a 1927 play by the Irish writer James Bernard Fagan. It ran for 53 performances at the Prince's Theatre in London's West End between 23 February and 9 April 1927. The original cast included Sybil Thorndike, Charles Laughton, Basil Gill, Lawrence Hanray, Lewis Casson, Colin Keith-Johnston and Brember Wills.
The Greatest Show on Earth
The Greatest Show on Earth is a comedy in three acts by Vincent Duffey and Irene Alexander. Set in a circus, the actors in this show portray animals longing to escape into the wild natural world. It premiered on Broadway at the Playhouse Theatre on January 5, 1938. It ran there for a total of 29 performances; closing on January 29, 1938. The cast included Edgar Stehli as Slimy the snake, Margaret Perry as Kitty, Dorothy Patten as Princess, John Alexander as Rajah the elephant, Anthony Ross as Leo the lion, Frank Lovejoy as Laddie, Alice Belmore Cliffe as Scheherazade the elephant, and Alan Handley as Adonis. The production was produced by Helen Bonfils and her husband George Somnes. Somnes also staged the production.
The Grecian Daughter
The play, set in ancient Sicily, opens with the King of Syracuse Evander having been imprisoned by a usurper, Dionysius. Evander's daughter, Euphrasia, is dedicated to his rescue. Euphrasia's husband and infant son have escaped the city, but Euphrasia remains, and at night climbs a mountain to reach the cave in which her father is being held with no food or drink. She persuades his guards to allow her to see him. Finding her father weak from starvation, Euphrasia breast-feeds him to save his life. As military aid approaches to free Syracuse from Dionysius, Euphrasia helps her father escape his prison and hides him in her mother's tomb. Dionysius schemes to kill the soldiers of the opposing army during a false truce, and tells Euphrasia that he will make her watch him murder Evander. Euphrasia draws a concealed dagger, and stabs Dionysius. His death serves to rescue Evander and the city. Euphrasia is happily reunited with her husband and son, and Evander names her his heir for the throne.
The Greeks Had a Word for It
Because the play was never published, this synopsis was compiled from contemporary newspaper reviews and articles. Act I (Scene 1: A private backroom in a New York City nightclub) Schatze, Polaire, and Jean meet up after the latter's return from Paris. Polaire suggests Jean take up with Dey Emery, who has been plaguing her with his attentions. Louis Small and Dey Emery join the trio, introducing Boris Feldman who is with them. (Scene 2: Boris Feldman's Apartment) Polaire, Jean, and Dey join Boris at his apartment. Boris is interested in Jean, who at first isn't. He bets her $5000 that she will be in love with him by the next morning. Meanwhile, an ignored Polaire has gone over to Boris' piano and begins playing. At once Boris forgets Jean and goes straight to Polaire. He likes her music and brags he can make her a concert sensation, but Polaire demurs. Now Jean wants Boris seeing Polaire's interest. Jean sneaks into Boris' bedroom and removes most of her clothes, letting the others think she had departed. Seeing Boris and Polaire are now clicking, Dey volunteers to leave. However, Polaire decides to leave too. Outside the apartment she stops to think things over, then turns back. But Boris, having decided to go to bed, doesn't answer the door, being now quite busy. Act II The storyline here involved a stolen necklace. Act III After proposing to Polaire, Dey Emery seeks his father Justin's approval. Justin gives it, but then steals Polaire away with his own proposal. Jean swoops in to capture the banker's attention. Jean and Justin become engaged and are at the Ambassador Hotel for the ceremony, when Polaire and Schatze sweep in to ply Jean with some drinks and their new-found friends, three French aviators. Soon Jean pulls off her wedding dress, throws a coat on, and abandons her groom to go to Paris with Polaire, Schatze and the fly-boys. (Curtain)
The Green Bay Tree
The Green Bay Tree is a 1933 three-act drama written by Mordaunt Shairp that explores a "half-suggested homosexual relationship" between a man and his protégé or, in the words of one critic "a rich hot-house sybarite" and someone "he adopted at a tender age and has reared in emasculating luxury". It was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1933-1934. The play premiered at St Martin's Theatre in London's West End on 25 January 1933 and had a highly successful run of 217 performances, closing on 19 August 1933. It was directed by Marguerite Rea and the cast included Hugh Williams (the author's stepson) as Julian, Catherine Lacey as Leonora, Frank Vosper as Mr. Dulcimer, Herbert Lomas as Mr. Owen and Henry Hewitt as Trump. Its Broadway premiere was produced and staged by Jed Harris with scenic design by Robert Edmond Jones. The play was a hit, running for 166 performances from 20 October 1933 to March 1934 at the Cort Theatre. Laurence Olivier appeared as Julian, Jill Esmond as Leonora, James Dale as Mr. Dulcimer, O. P. Heggie as Mr Owen and Leo G. Carroll as Trump. It was Heggie's final Broadway role. Harris's direction was lauded for its subtlety. Decades later, Olivier described the play as "a wonderful piece of work... brilliantly done and sensationally successful". In the New York Times, Brooks Atkinson wrote: "When the curtain rings down after a long, tense evening, you feel that the entire story has been brilliantly and forcefully told.... The theater has unleashed one of its thunderbolts." The play was revived in the West End at the Playhouse Theatre on 24 April 1950, directed by Anthony Pelissier. The cast included Jack Watling as Julian, Brenda Bruce as Leonora, Hugh Williams this time playing Mr. Dulcimer, Walter Fitzgerald as Mr. Owen and Henry Hewitt reprising his 1933 performance as Trump. Its Broadway revival at the John Golden Theatre on 20 January 1951 ran for only 20 performances. It was directed by Shepard Traube (1907–1983) and the cast included Denholm Elliott as Julian, Anne Crawford as Leonora, Joseph Schildkraut as Mr. Dulcimer, Mercer McLeod as Mr. Owen and Francis Compton as Trump. Atkinson again praised it as a "thoroughly absorbing drama" but found the performance could not compare with the 1933 production in "craft and tone". He noted the production minimized the homosexual overtones: "You can read his association with his ward as an abnormal attraction but Mr. Schildkraut does not put it there.... [He] has proved there it more than one way to play it and still preserve the horror and the tragedy."
The Green Bird
After Queen Tartagliona orders her daughter-in-law buried and her twin children killed, the twins survive and grow up with a butcher. They are cast out when they learn they are not his children; their search for their true parents is shaped by Renzo’s cynical philosophy, Barberina’s attraction to the speaking Green Bird, and a magical quest for the singing apple and dancing waters. The twins ultimately restore their family and defeat Tartagliona.
The Green Cockatoo
On 14 July 1789, actors at a Paris tavern called the Green Cockatoo entertain aristocratic customers by pretending to be violent criminals. When the real turmoil of the French Revolution enters the tavern, the line between their performance and reality becomes increasingly uncertain.
The Green Goddess
The Green Goddess was a popular stage play of 1921 by William Archer. In the three years after its publication, the play toured in both America and England. It was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1920-1921. The 1921 Broadway production four-act melodrama was produced and staged by Winthrop Ames. It ran for 175 performances from January 18, 1921, to June 1921 at the Booth Theatre.
The Green Hat
Act I (Third floor suite at Hotel Vendome, Deauville. Summer 1913, late afternoon.) "Boy" Fenwick fell to his death on his wedding night with Iris. The next day, Dr. Conrad Masters remonstrates with Monsieur Cavelle. The doctor was on vacation in the hotel; his practice is in Paris, and he has never seen Fenwick or Iris before. Gerald March bursts in, behaving wildly, full of questions and accusations. He is followed by Napier and Sir Maurice Harpenden, and Hilary Townshend. Dr. Masters tries to paint Fenwick's death as accident, but Iris says it was suicide. When Gerald demands to know why, Iris says he died for purity. Gerald thinks she refers to her own lack, and agrees Fenwick would have died for that principle. Napier is deeply disillusioned with Iris; it is just two years since they sought to marry and were stymied by Sir Maurice, but it appears she has already taken lovers. Gerald accuses his sister of harlotry, but when Dr. Masters, who has examined Fenwick's body tries to speak, she stops him. When the others leave, Napier and Masters remain with Iris. Napier tries to understand Iris' behavior. She explains it is for decency, not the sort he understands, but the "decency when no one is watching". Later, alone with Dr. Masters, she acknowledges his reproach: the marriage was not, could not, have been consummated. When he asks why she has ruined herself by lying, she again repeats for decency. (Curtain) Act II (Napier's Mayfair bachelor apartment. 1923, evening.) Napier earned a DSO during the Great War, and is now at the Foreign Office. A small dinner party to celebrate the engagement of Napier and Venice Pollen is just ending. Hilary Townshend and Sir Maurice are there with others. Venice presses Napier for some assurance of the depth of his love for her. The other guests speak of Gerald March, rumored to be dying of drink in squalid circumstances. Of Iris Fenwick they whisper about her rumored affairs in Paris and on the Riviera, racing about in her yellow Hispano-Suiza. When all have left except Hilary Townshend, Turner announces a lady who gives no name, but came in a yellow car and wears a green hat. Iris has heard of Gerald's illness, but he refuses to see her. Napier too, is banned from Gerald's presence, so Hilary is sent out. He is reluctant to leave them, but goes. Alone, Iris and Napier speak of their love since they were playmates. Napier is ashamed of desiring her still, while Iris confesses her indulgences in desire without love. Unable to resist, they embrace and turn out the light. (Quick curtain, to denote passage of two hours.) Hilary returns and turns on the light. As Napier comes into the room, Hilary tells him of Gerald's death. He sees the green hat lying on the sofa and knows what has happened. He excoriates Napier for his loss of honor in betraying Venice. Iris has heard and comes in, saddened about Gerald but wondering if he has now escaped the family curse. Hilary argues with both of them: they must part and never see each other, for the sake of Venice. Iris sadly goes. (Curtain) Act III (Convent-nursing home, Paris. Nine months later.) Dr. Masters discusses Iris Fenwick's condition with Sister Virginia. Iris needs sleep, but will not sleep; she waits for someone and hugs a newly-arrived bunch of roses. Dr. Masters tells Hilary he cannot see Iris, who is recovering from septic poisoning following the death of her newborn child. The doctor laments she does not want to live, so he wired Napier in London to come over, for he is all she talks about. Hilary is stunned; he explains Napier has been married for many months, but the doctor is only concerned for his patient. Napier arrives with Venice, who is confused by his concern. "Who is Mrs. Fenwick to him?" she asks Hilary. From Hilary's evasiveness she realizes Napier and Iris are more than old friends. Iris staggers out of her room, dressed in hospital robes. A nun has taken her roses and she wants them back. Seeing Napier she gives a glad cry, but halts when she sees Venice behind him. Despite her disheveled condition, Venice can sense the power of her attraction for Napier. Iris and Napier make a show of being old childhood playmates for Venice. Dr. Masters is complicit with Iris, telling Napier her trouble is ptomaine poisoning. Iris tells Venice she will have children for Napier, but breaks down sobbing. Sister Virginia and Venice help Iris back to her room, with Dr. Masters following. Alone with Napier, Hilary asks him "Why did you bring her?" Napier explains he will not do anything behind her back, to which Hilary says "You're too noble, boy-- at the wrong moment." But Dr. Masters is satisfied; the flare-up has restored Iris' will to live. (Curtain) Act IV (Library at Sutton-Marle, the Harpenden country house. Four months later.) Sir Maurice has invited Guy De Travest and Hilary to join him in speaking with Iris. Rumor says she is about to run away with Napier, who has confirmed it. They will go to South America the next day. Venice has acquiesced to the scheme, having no desire to keep Napier against his will. Sir Maurice and the other two men, who have known Iris from childhood, will appeal to her to let Napier go. Iris arrives unannounced through the French window of the library, courtesy of Truble. She parries their arguments and tells them of her dead child who was also Napier's. But she does not want Napier out of obligation so she suggests they do not tell him. Sir Maurice appeals to her on their shared family background, an argument she rejects though it frays her nerves. She blames Sir Maurice for her unhappiness, and despises his idea of success for Napier: "The kind of success you respect is like a murky sponge wiping out the lines of a man's character". Sir Maurice hurls Boy Fenwick's death at Iris, but Napier enters to defend her. He reveals Fenwick committed suicide because he suffered from a venereal disease that rendered him impotent, a disease he caught from patronizing whores. Iris is aghast that Napier has revealed the secret, destroying her act of decency, even though Gerald, who adored Fenwick, is already dead. Iris and Napier hurry out to the cars, while Venice, who has come down with Napier enters the library. Napier comes back and tells Venice he will not desert her now. Venice is puzzled until Napier explains Iris has revealed Venice's pregnancy. But she is not pregnant; Iris has lied, to stop Napier from going with her. From the library window they all watch as Iris drives her sports car straight into a large oak tree and dies. Venice and Napier must now reconcile themselves to the shadow that hangs between them. (Curtain)
The Green Pastures
A young African-American child imagines Old Testament episodes in familiar terms, relocating them to New Orleans and an all-Black community. The play expands the role of De Lawd and incorporates spirituals.
The Green Ring
Finochka, a troubled teenager, joins her father’s circle of school-age idealists after a family crisis. When the group learns of her distress, its members devise a marriage of convenience to keep her with her father while allowing her mother to join them.
The Greyhound
The play may have been published as The Greyhound: A Play in Four Acts, date and publisher unknown. This synopsis is compiled from 1912 newspaper reviews. Act I (A room in a lodging house at San Francisco, March 15.) J. Crawford Alexander, Kitty Doyle, and Jack Fay meet at the room of their leader, Louis Fellman. He tells them that wealthy Mrs. Allen will be sailing with her children on the Mauretania. They will make excellent targets for a variety of sly approaches. The gang plans to make their way across country to New York and board the vessel. Just outside, McSherry has been sent by "The Eye", which suspected Louis of backsliding. The three henchmen having departed, Louis is confronted by his wife Claire. She reproaches him for returning to crime. Worried she will shop him to police, he agrees to a joint suicide pact by poison. Louis fakes drinking while Claire collapses to the floor. He leaves, but McSherry enters and saves Claire by summoning an ambulance. (Curtain) Act II (Hurricane deck of the steamship Mauretania, just underway from New York, June 5.) Passengers, stewards, and others mill about the deck. The gang covertly scouts their intended victims. Henry Watkins attracts attention for his obvious wealth and by calling the Hurricane deck the "roof" of the ship. The Allen matriarch and her brood come in for close scrutiny: they note Mrs. Allen's dissatisfaction with Bob Kirk as a suitor for Bess, and Percival's naive fascination with fashionable women. Among many other passengers, though, they miss seeing McSherry bring aboard Claire with a nurse to tend her. (Curtain) Act III (Scene 1:Promenade deck of the Mauretania, mid-ocean, on June 9.) Kitty in her role of Baroness has bewitched young Percival, to the consternation of his mother. Later, Louis Fellman approaches Mrs. Allen with a note, supposedly from Bob Kirk but forged by Whispering Alex, suggesting he can be bought off for $50,000. (Two minutes intermission) (Scene 2:The Smoking Room, mid-ocean, on June 9.) Jack Fay induces McSherry and Henry Watkins into a card game, under the misapprehension the former is a rich rube. Bob Kirk is also in the game, trying to win enough to marry Bess. When the deal comes around to McSherry, he deals Jack four aces, but gives Bob a Queen-high straight flush. Jack bets everything, but with the pot at $10,000 is busted by Bob's hand. (Two minutes intermission) (Scene 3:The Grand Salon, mid-ocean, on June 9.) Mrs. Allen has given Louis a check for $50,000, unaware of Bob's new fortune. He promises not to cash it until the ship reaches France. She then catches Percival with the "Baroness" and sends him to his stateroom. The "Baroness" and her "attorney" Alex demand a settlement for "alienation", a subtle hint of blackmail to prevent a scandal. But Steve the wireless operator brings a radiogram at McSherry's behest, confirming there is no Baroness Von Hilde. (Curtain) Act IV (Off the Irish coast, the hurricane deck at night, June 9.) Distraught by repeated glimpses of his "dead" wife, Louis has been drinking heavily. He still has the check for $50,000, but his confederates have been defeated and are penniless. Now Claire approaches Louis in the moonlight, appearing ghostly in all white. Louis backs away, then jumps over the railing into the ocean. With the ship's alarm sounding and cries of "Man overboard!", the play ends. (Curtain)
The Guardian
In Naples, Durazzo tries to guide his nephew Caldoro toward worldly pleasures while Caldoro loves Calista, who favors the rakish Adorio. Disguises and mistaken identities entangle their families: Iolante pursues a visiting Frenchman, her husband Severino returns as a bandit, and a series of errors is resolved when the supposed stranger is revealed to be the man Severino thought he had killed.
The Guardian of the Threshold
Johannes refuses an invitation to the Mystic League, while Strader confronts visions after his wife’s death. Their paths lead toward encounters with spiritual powers.
The Guardsman
An actor who suspects his wife of infidelity disguises himself as a guardsman and attempts to seduce her. His experiment becomes a contest over jealousy, performance, and whether either spouse can know what the other believes.
The Guilty Mother
Twenty years after The Marriage of Figaro, Bégearss exploits the Countess's secret relationship with Chérubin to manipulate the Almaviva family and pursue the Count's fortune through marriage to Florestine. Figaro and Suzanne expose his scheme, allowing Léon and Florestine to marry.
The Guinea Pig
A novice woman playwright experiments on a young man while researching a seduction scene; he later realizes he has been used as her subject and resents it, creating the misunderstanding that must be resolved in the final act.
The Guinea Pig (Chetham-Strode)
The Guinea Pig is a three-act play by Warren Chetham-Strode. The work premiered in London's West End at the Criterion Theatre in 1946, starring Rachel Gurney as Lynne Hartley. Following its successful sixteen month run, the play was adapted into a 1948 film, starring Richard Attenborough and Sheila Sim.
The Gulf
On a summer evening in Alabama's Delta, Kendra and Betty fish from a boat; when Betty challenges Kendra's stalled life, their routine outing turns violent.
The Gusher
The Gusher is a 1937 mystery adventure play by the British writer Ian Hay. It is set during a gold rush. It ran for a 137 performances at the Prince's Theatre in London's West End. The large cast included Alastair Sim, Coral Browne, Edward Sinclair, Percy Parsons, Bernard Lee, Jack Livesey and Joan Hickson, and the production featured a revolving stage.
The Gut Girls
In a Deptford cattle-market gutting shed at the turn of the twentieth century, working-class women find pay and solidarity despite dangerous, stigmatized labor. When Lady Helena seeks to reform them into domestic servants and the sheds close, the women lose their independence and are scattered into less autonomous lives.
The Guys
Joan, an editor, helps Nick, a New York fire captain, prepare eulogies for eight firefighters who died under his command during the World Trade Center collapse.
The Gypsies Metamorphosed
A company of fortune-telling gypsies sing, dance and pick pockets at court before their complexions transform under King James’s influence and they return the stolen goods. The masque blends comic criminal tricks with flattering fortunes for nobles, including Buckingham, who speaks to the King.
The Gypsy Girl
Daisy Dean, known as the Gypsy Girl, and her friends try to recover treasure stolen from the gypsies and thwart assassins threatening her life.
The Habit of Art
Actors rehearse Caliban’s Day, a fictional 1972 meeting between W. H. Auden and Benjamin Britten. Britten, composing Death in Venice, wants to discuss the opera’s troubling themes, while Auden assumes he has come for a libretto; the rehearsal’s actors and stage manager repeatedly break character to debate the play, artistic craft and the failings of its famous subjects.
The Hairy Ape
Stoker Yank feels powerful while working below deck on an ocean liner until industrialist's daughter Mildred calls him a beast. He tries to avenge the insult and find a place among the wealthy and labor organizers, but feels alienated everywhere. He ultimately approaches a gorilla at the zoo as a kindred being; it kills him.
The Half-Pay Officers
The Half-Pay Officers is a 1720 comedy play by the Irish writer Charles Molloy. The play included popular scenes from Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and Love and Honour. It proved popular with audiences and was revived on a number of occasions. It premiered with the farce Hob's Wedding as an afterpiece. The original cast at Lincoln's Inn Fields included Lacy Ryan as Bellayr, Benjamin Griffin as Fluellin, Christopher Bullock as Meagre, Anthony Boheme as Jaspar and John Harper as Loadham. The premiere was attended by George Prince of Wales.
The Ham Funeral
In a shabby London rooming house after the war, a young poet is pursued by his landlady, Mrs Lusty. The second act centers on a feast mourning the sudden death of her husband; the tragicomic drama explores desire and social constraint.
The Happiest Days of Your Life
A bureaucratic error forces a boys’ school to share premises with a girls’ school, and their staffs scramble to hide the mistake from two sets of parents; relationships among teachers add to the chaos.
The Happy Capsize
In Holberg’s satirical comedy, a love intrigue unfolds amid servants’ schemes and conflicts among the household, while the candid Philemon’s literary criticism draws opposition from its targets.
The Happy Ending
The Happy Ending is a 1922 play by the British writer Ian Hay. A man believed to have died a heroic wartime death returns home alive, and blackmails his wife into supplying him with money. Before the truth is revealed to their children, he redeems himself by a genuinely brave death. It premiered at Devonshire Park in Eastbourne before beginning its run in the West End. It ran for 43 performances at St James's Theatre between 30 November 1922 and 13 January 1923. The cast included Adele Dixon, Robert Loraine and Jean Cadell, Ethel Irving and Miles Malleson.
The Happy Family
When they found that their shop on the South Bank is required to be demolished in order to make way for the Festival of Britain the Lord family refuse to vacate the premises. After their protests to authorities fail they barricade themselves inside and prepare to defend it, gaining popular support in the process.
The Happy Husband
The Happy Husband is a comedy play by the British-based Australian author Harrison Owen. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Portsmouth before transferring to the Criterion Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 109 performances between 15 June and 17 September 1927. The London cast included Madge Titheradge, Stella Arbenina, A.E. Matthews, Charles Laughton, Lawrence Grossmith, David Hawthorne, Carl Harbord in his West End debut, Marda Vanne and Ann Trevor. It was produced by Basil Dean. It was staged at the Empire Theatre on Broadway the following year, running for 72 performances.
The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden
On a bare stage, the Kirby family drives from Newark to Camden to visit a daughter who recently lost a baby in childbirth. Their reminiscences, jokes and sightseeing turn an uneventful trip into a meditation on ordinary life's joys and sorrows, with Ma Kirby as its emotional center.
The Happy Marriage
The Happy Marriage is a 1952 comedy play written by the British actor John Clements. Inspired by Jean Bernard-Luc's French play Le Complexe de Philémon, it premiered at the Grand Theatre in Leeds. It then transferred to the Duke of York's Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 367 performances from 7 August 1952 to 27 June 1953. The West End cast included Clements, Kay Hammond, Charles Lloyd-Pack, Michael Shepley and Frances Rowe.
The Hard Problem
Psychology student Hilary, who prays for the daughter she gave up for adoption, debates consciousness and altruism with her tutor Spike and fellow researcher Amal. At a brain-science institute, Hilary and her assistant Bo test children's compassion, but Bo's manipulated data complicates Hilary's belief that goodness can be objectively demonstrated. Hilary later discovers that the institute founder's adopted daughter is her own child.
The Harefield Entertainment
A multi-day court entertainment for Elizabeth I combines welcoming dialogues, speeches, a lottery of humorous gift verses for court ladies, and a farewell allegory in which Place asks the queen to remain.
The Hasty Heart
A dying Scottish soldier in an Asian military hospital resists the friendship offered by the other patients. Their efforts to reach him, and his bond with a nurse, challenge his fierce isolation.
The Hat and the Prophet
A man accused of harming an alien being is examined by two judges as his pregnant lover and her mother seek to exploit the creature. Their encounters expose the gulf between human feeling and the Thing’s emotional indifference; the man becomes consumed by its possible meaning and prophecy.
The Haunted
A year after their return from abroad, Orin and Lavinia have taken on the traits of their dead parents. Orin writes a record of the family's crimes and tries to control Lavinia, then shoots himself. Lavinia breaks off her engagement to Peter and chooses to live alone in the Mannon house, shutting herself away with the family dead.
The Haunted Inn
The Haunted Inn is an 1828 melodrama by the British writer Richard Brinsley Peake. It was first acted at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and was part of a group of plays that used a country inn as a setting for sinister or threatening events.
The Haunting of Lin-Manuel Miranda
A fictionalized Lin-Manuel Miranda is visited by spirits omitted from Hamilton, including enslaved people, Native Americans and Harriet Tubman, who confront him with the musical’s historical omissions; he consults historian Ron Chernow before confronting him.
The Haves and the Have Nots
When housekeeper Hattie asks the wealthy Willis family for help as her own family faces eviction, her daughter Rose and son-in-law Frank join the household. Tensions rise when Mrs. Willis tries to buy Frank’s affections.
The Headmaster
A clergyman who is a school headmaster tries to persuade his daughter to marry the foolish son of an influential figure in hopes of being promoted to bishop.
The Heart Is Highland
Written for Lennox Milne as a one-person show, the play has a single performer portray all fourteen characters.
The Heart of Maryland
A four-act Civil War melodrama built around a woman's love and heroism, inspired by the image of a young woman clinging to a church bell's clapper to keep it from ringing.
The Heart of Robin Hood
Robin Hood’s outlaws rob the rich without sharing their gains. When Prince John threatens the kingdom, Marion enters Sherwood Forest and challenges Robin to become the defender of the poor that the legend remembers.
The Hebrew
The Hebrew is an 1820 historical play by the British author George Soane. It was premièred at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 2 March 1820. It is inspired by the 1819 novel Ivanhoe by Walter Scott, with a number of the characters and plot elements removed. The original cast included Edmund Kean as Isaac, Alexander Pope as Prince Aymer, Thomas S. Hamblin as Brian de Bois Guilbert, Charles Holland as Cedric, William Penley as Ivanhoe, William Oxberry as Friar Tuck, Margaret Carew as Miriam and Sarah West as Rebecca. He dedicated the published version of the play to his father the architect Sir John Soane. The rival Theatre Royal, Covent Garden put on its own version of the novel, Ivanhoe by Samuel Beazley, the same year.
The Heidi Chronicles
The plot follows Heidi Holland from high school in the 1960s to her career as a successful art historian more than twenty years later. The play's main themes deal with the changing role of women during this time period, describing both Heidi's ardent feminism during the 1970s and her eventual sense of betrayal during the 1980s. Though most of the characters are women, there are two important male characters; Peter Patrone, a gay pediatrician who is arguably Heidi's best friend, and Scoop Rosenbaum, a magazine editor who marries and has many affairs, and with whom Heidi has a tense friendship. Heidi meets Scoop at a Eugene McCarthy rally where he tries to woo her with knowledge and wit. She seems unenthused, but she realizes Scoop is a very intelligent, attractive man despite his egotistical ways. Although their romantic relationship is unsuccessful, the chemistry between Scoop and Heidi is undeniable, and they become lifelong friends. Heidi realizes that remaining unmarried does not mean she cannot be a mother, and she chooses to adopt a child on her own.
The Height of the Storm
The Height of the Storm is a play by Florian Zeller which follows a couple looking back at 50 years of marriage and realising their relationship may not be as perfect as they expected.
The Heir at Law
The Heir at Law (1797) is a comedic play in five acts by the English dramatist George Colman the Younger that remained popular through the 19th century. It and John Bull (1803) were Colman's best known comedies. The piece debuted at the Haymarket in London on 15 July 1797, with John Fawcett playing Dr. Pangloss, and ran for 27 performances. It was first performed in the United States at the Park Theatre in New York in April 1799. Many American actors played the role of Pangloss to success, including comedian Joseph Jefferson starting in 1857 at the Olympic Theatre in New York.
The Heir of Morocco, with the Death of Gayland
Altemira, the Princess of Algiers, is overjoyed when her lover, Admiral Altomar, tells her that the king of Algiers, Albuzeiden, has allowed him to marry her. However, the pair's happiness is short lived, as Albuzeiden has a change of heart and decides to marry his daughter off to the arrogant usurper Gayland, who has just arrived in Algiers. The scheming courtier Meroin hatches a plot to murder Altemira and her father, but is prevented from doing so by Altomar, who saves Albuzeiden and Altemira by stabbing Meroin. Because Altemira refuses to wed Gayland, Albuzeiden places Altomar in prison, where he is confronted by Gayland, who desires to challenge him. After Altomar kills Gayland in self defense, he is brutally tortured and executed. As Altomar dies, Albuzeiden finds out that the man he has sentenced to death is a natural born heir to the seat of Morocco, but was sent out of the country as an infant in order to avoid being murdered by the woman who occupied the throne at that time, the titular villainess in The Empress of Morocco. Altomar was brought up without being aware of his true heritage. Albuzeiden laments Altomar's death, as he could have married Altemira to a potential emperor. Shortly there afterwards, a mad Altemira commits suicide before Albuzeiden. An anguished Albuzeiden then kills himself as well.
The Heir to the Hoorah
Western gold-mine owner Joe Lacy's new wife is dominated by her mother, who disparages Joe and his friends. After Joe returns from Europe, he fights to regain his home and family, and the couple reconciles as they welcome their child and heir to the Hoorah mine.
The Heiress
Lord Gayville becomes engaged to fashionable Miss Alscrip, believing her to be an heiress, but discovers that the fortune will pass to his true love, Miss Clifford.
The Heiress
In New York City, sometime in the 1850s, Catherine Sloper is a plain, painfully shy woman whose father, Dr. Austin Sloper, makes no secret of his disappointment in her. Catherine, as her father painfully reminds her, has limited talent and cannot "hold a candle" to her deceased mother. Catherine's gregarious Aunt Lavinia Penniman moves into the household after becoming widowed and attempts to prod Catherine into being more social and finding a husband. When she meets the handsome Morris Townsend at a ball, Catherine is taken by the attention he lavishes upon her. Catherine falls madly in love with Morris and they plan to marry. Dr. Sloper believes Morris, being far more attractive and charming than Catherine, but poor and with few prospects after he wasted his own inheritance, is courting Catherine only to get her sizable income. Aunt Lavinia favors the match regardless, being both romantic and pragmatic enough to view this as Catherine's chance at a happy married life. Morris is genuinely fond of Catherine's honesty and kindness despite his largely monetary motivations, and treats her with respect, unlike her father. A frank discussion with Morris's sister confirms Dr. Sloper's opinion of Morris as a gold digger. The doctor takes his daughter to Europe for an extended time to separate them. When they return to New York, Dr. Sloper threatens to disinherit his daughter if she marries Morris and they have a bitter argument in which Catherine realizes how poorly he views her. Catherine and Morris make plans to elope with the help of Aunt Lavinia. Catherine packs her bags and waits all night for Morris to come and take her away, but he never does. Catherine is heartbroken and grows cold. Soon afterward, Dr. Sloper reveals he is dying. He tells Catherine that he is proud she resisted Morris, but Catherine tells her father she still loves Morris and dares him to change his will if he is afraid they will waste his money after he dies. He does not alter the will and dies, leaving her his entire estate. Catherine refuses to see him on his deathbed. A few years later, Morris returns from California having made nothing of himself and having even fewer prospects. Aunt Lavinia arranges for Morris to visit Catherine, thinking this is Catherine's last chance. Catherine gives Morris a gift of ruby buttons that she had bought for him in Paris. Morris eagerly promises to come back for her that night and she tells him she will start packing her bags. After Morris leaves, Catherine informs her aunt that she has no intention of offering her love to him. Her aunt asks her if she can be so cruel, and Catherine coldly responds "Yes, I can be very cruel. I have been taught by masters." When Morris arrives later that night with the promised carriage, he rings the bell, and Catherine orders the maid to bolt the door, leaving Morris locked outside, shouting her name and banging on the door. Catherine Sloper Dr Austin Sloper Morris Townsend Lavinia Penniman, Catherine's widowed aunt Maria, the Slopers' maid Mrs Montgomery, Morris Townsend's widowed sister Marian Almond, Catherine's cousin Elizabeth Almond, Catherine's aunt Arthur Townsend, Marian's fiancé and Morris' distant cousin
The Herbal Bed
Set in 1613, Peter Whelan's play imagines Susanna Hall's response to a slander accusation that she committed adultery with Rafe Smith. As John Hall pursues the case in ecclesiastical court, the household navigates secrecy, loyalty and the threat to the family's reputation.
The Heresy of Love
A biographical drama based on the life of the 17th-century Mexican poet and nun Juana Inés de la Cruz.
The Heretic
At a university, climate researcher Diane Cassell faces pressure to suppress sea-level findings that challenge accepted views on global warming. Her relationship with her daughter, an environmentalist student, and a colleague is tested by threats and a disputed research project.
The High Road
The High Road is a comedy play by the British writer Frederick Lonsdale which was first staged in 1927. It opened in the West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre, and ran for 234 performances. The following year, it opened on Broadway at the Fulton Theatre, where ran for 144 performances, with Alfred Drayton and Frederick Kerr from the London cast. In 1930 it was adapted into the American film The Lady of Scandal directed by Sidney Franklin and starring Ruth Chatterton and Basil Rathbone.
The Hills of California
According to the play's press release:
The Historical Register for the Year 1736
A satirical play framed as a rehearsal: author Medley presents a sequence of loosely connected episodes to the critic Sourwit and Lord Dapper. The episodes expose political corruption, fashionable society's false values, and the theatre world of the period.
The History Boys
The play opens in Cutlers' Grammar School, Sheffield, a fictional boys' grammar school in the north of England. Set in the mid-late 1980s, the play follows a group of history pupils preparing for the Oxford and Cambridge entrance examinations under the guidance of three teachers (Hector, Irwin, and Lintott) with contrasting styles. Hector, an eccentric teacher, delights in knowledge for its own sake but his ambitious headmaster wants the school to move up the academic league table and hires Irwin, a supply teacher, to introduce a rather more cynical and ruthless style of teaching. Hector is discovered sexually fondling a boy and later Irwin's latent homosexual inclinations emerge.
The History of Cardenio
A lost play likely drawn from Cardenio’s story in Cervantes’s Don Quixote. Its dramatic plot has not survived.
The History of King Lear
Tate reshapes Lear’s story around a love between Cordelia and Edgar. Cordelia remains in Britain as her sisters take the kingdom, while Edmund’s schemes threaten her and Lear; after the battle and imprisonment, Lear is rescued, regains his throne and gives Cordelia to Edgar, who declares that truth and virtue will succeed.
The History of Timon of Athens the Man-hater
After Timon exhausts his wealth through generosity, his false friends refuse to help him and he retreats to the forest. Shadwell's version adds the lover Evandra and a jealous fiancée, Melissa; Timon rejects Evandra, burns his house, finds gold in the forest, funds Alcibiades' war, and ultimately dies.
The Hitch-Hiker
Ronald Adams drives from Brooklyn toward California but keeps encountering the same mysterious hitchhiker ahead of him. His attempts to understand and escape the figure turn the cross-country journey into a disturbing confrontation with the unknown.
The Hobbit
Bilbo Baggins joins a company of dwarves on a journey to reclaim their home from a dragon in Kim Selody’s stage adaptation.
The Hole
A man waits beside a road hole where workmen are at work. Onlookers gather, each interpreting the unseen activity differently and trying to persuade the others of a contradictory theory.
The Hollow
The action of the play passes in the garden room of Sir Henry Angkatell's house, The Hollow, about eighteen miles from London. Time: the present. ACT I A Friday afternoon in early September The play begins with Henrietta Angkatell (Henry's younger cousin, in her 30s) working on a sculpture and Sir Henry Angkatell reading a newspaper. Lucy Angkatell, Henry's wife, soon enters and makes some characteristically disjointed statements about moles in the garden. Discussion reveals that a number of guests will be arriving to spend the weekend at The Hollow. The first guest to arrive is Midge Hardcastle, another cousin to the Angkatells. The group reflects on a portrait of Ainswick, an estate once inhabited by Lucy Angkatell. Midge and Henrietta remember Ainswick fondly as well, having spent a part of their childhood or adolescence there. Gudgeon, the butler, soon shows in the next guest, Edward Angkatell, yet another cousin and the current owner and resident of Ainswick. It is made clear that Midge is in love with Edward, but Edward is in love with Henrietta. The Angkatell clan briefly leaves the stage, and Gudgeon returns with a maid in training, the working-class Doris. A car is heard, and Gudgeon greets the final guests, John and Gerda Cristow, a successful but condescending doctor and his slow-witted wife. After establishing that John doesn't think much of Gerda's intelligence, he departs, and Henrietta enters and warmly greets Gerda. Henrietta gives Gerda a statuette for which she had previously posed. John, Sir Henry, and Midge return from the garden, and John expresses disdain for the statuette. To break the tension, Henry mentions that film star Veronica Craye is currently residing nearby, in a cottage called Dovecotes. John and Henrietta find themselves alone on stage, and after John reveals that he and Veronica Craye were once lovers, it becomes apparent that he and Henrietta are currently having an affair. Edward walks in on an intimate moment between the two, and John leaves. Edward tries to convince Henrietta to return with him to Ainswick, but is rebuffed. Henrietta leaves to get dressed for a formal dinner, and Sir Henry and Midge come onstage. Midge discusses her employment at a dress shop, rejecting her cousins' pleas to accept their financial support and aristocratic lifestyle. As the Angkatells and Cristows all return to the stage, Veronica Craye makes a surprise appearance. She complains that her cottage has lost power, and her lighter is not working, and so is in need of matches. While waiting for Gudgeon to return with the matches, Veronica notices John, and reveals their past to the group. She asks John, dazed by her appearance, to come over after dinner. He assents, and the act ends as Veronica departs and the rest of the cast goes to dinner. ACT II Scene 1 – Saturday morning John Cristow enters, quickly followed by Gudgeon who bears a note that displeases John. Midge enters, and John goes off in search of Henrietta. Lucy enters, and reveals to Midge that she saw John return to the house at three in the morning. Sir Henry then passes through the room with a pair of revolvers on his way to the shooting range, revealing that Lucy is an accomplished markswoman while convincing Midge to join him at the targets. Henrietta enters as shots are heard from off-stage, quickly followed by Gerda who is alarmed by the gunfire. Henrietta convinces Gerda to try shooting, and the two leave for the target alley. John enters and begins to write letters as Lucy leaves with a basket of eggs. Veronica enters, interrupting John and revealing that she sent the note delivered by Gudgeon at the top of the act. Veronica's lighter is now working, and she reveals that her residence at Dovecotes was part of a plot to reunite with John. She expresses an interest in leaving her current husband and marrying John, but John rebuffs her, expressing a newfound satisfaction with his marriage and regret over the romantic activities of his overnight visit to Dovecotes. Veronica leaves in a rage, but not before threatening John with the telling line, "If I can't have you, no one shall." John finds himself alone, hears a noise from offstage, and goes to investigate. Gunshots are heard, and as John staggers and collapses, a revolver is thrown onstage. Gerda is the first to enter, and picks up the revolver. The entire cast quickly enters, and John musters the strength to call the name "Henrietta." Henrietta wrests the revolver from Gerda, and Gudgeon calls for a doctor as the curtain falls. Scene 2 – Later the same day The curtain rises on Lucy, Edward, Henrietta, and Midge, sitting in an uncomfortable silence. Lucy expresses admiration for Inspector Colquhoun, the Scotland Yard detective investigating the murder. Gudgeon enters with lunch, and he and Lucy exchange clandestine comments about Lucy's basket of eggs. Lucy and Edward express the opinion that Gerda, having been discovered holding a gun near John after the shooting, is his murderer, while Henrietta insists that Gerda deserves a chance to defend herself. Gerda enters, soon followed by Sir Henry and Inspector Colquohoun. Colquohoun recommends that Gerda hire a solicitor before making a statement, but she declines, and describes her entrance as the audience observed immediately after the shooting. Gerda states that there was no disagreement between her and John in response to Colquohoun's queries. Colquohoun then asks to question Lucy who, delighted with the intrigue, readily complies. They leave with Sir Henry, leaving Edward and Henrietta alone. It becomes apparent that both knew about John and Veronica's rendezvous, Edward expresses sympathy for Henrietta's loss, and Henrietta has an emotional breakdown over John's death. Henrietta leaves as Midge enters. Edward pines for Henrietta while comforting Midge in fatherly way. She attempts to overcome his preconceptions, pointing out that she is "not a child" any more. Edward is called away to be questioned by the inspector, and Henrietta returns from a walk. She and Midge discuss Edward's misplaced affections, and Henrietta recommends that Midge be more bold with her advances. Lucy replaces Henrietta onstage, and expresses a desire for Henrietta and Edward to marry, ensuring that the Ainswick estate will remain in the family. The inspector enters with Police Sergeant Penny. They question Midge, who conceals her knowledge of John's affair with Henrietta, but acknowledges that John's final words were Henrietta's name. The police are left alone on stage. They note that Edward denies Cristow having any final words, while Sir Henry backs Midge's version of events. Henrietta returns, responds frankly to the inspector that she and John were romantically involved, and asserts that Gerda remains oblivious to the affair. Upon her departure, Colquohoun confides to Penny that the identity of the murderer is still unclear. Gudgeon enters, and hypothesizes that a mysterious handbag found on the sofa may belong to Veronica Craye. Fortuitously, Veronica appears, having heard about the murder. She claims John was obsessed with her, and that she had to rebuff his offer of reconciliation. She claims ownership of the handbag, but becomes irate when Colquohoun reveals a gun he found in the bag. Veronica storms out, refusing to comment further without a lawyer. ACT III (The lights are lowered during the act to denote the passing of one hour.) The following Monday morning The curtain rises on Inspector Colquohoun and Sergeant Penny looking at the portrait of Ainswick, and discussing the estate's inheritance. Doris enters, reveals that she saw Gudgeon carrying a revolver the day of the murder, and quickly leaves. Sir Henry enters, and upon being questioned about his firearm collection, says that the gun Gerda was holding at the time of the murder was among them, and that he had brought it to the target alley but had subsequently found it missing. Coulqouhoun states that ballistics evidence prove it was not the murder weapon after all. At Coulqouhoun's request, Henry checks his collection again, and discovers that a second gun of the same calibre is missing. Colquohoun shows him the gun found in Veronica's handbag, and Henry confirms that it is one and the same gun. Colquohoun then questions Gudgeon about Doris' earlier statement; Gudgeon confirms the event, saying he was simply up (having found the gun laying out), and had simply forgotten the incident. Lucy enters, dismisses Gudgeon, and reveals that the butler has been attempting to cover for her – the gun had been in her basket of eggs, though she claims not to remember why. When the detectives are gone, she confides to Henry that she had thought John might have an accident involving the basket, but that she would never actually go so far as to commit murder. Edward and Midge soon find themselves alone on stage. Edward's affections have changed, and he and Midge become engaged. Lucy enters, and is delighted by the news. Midge and Henrietta have a private conversation, and Midge begins to suspect that Edward has only proposed to create the illusion that he is not in love with Henrietta, which might be a motive for him to have murdered John. By the time Edward returns, Midge is convinced of this motivation, and calls off their engagement. Edward is distraught, and returns to the stage with a gun, clearly contemplating suicide. Midge finds him, confesses her fears, and the two reconcile. All depart for the formal inquest into the murder, and the lights fade. An hour later Gerda and Henrietta enter. Henrietta asks Gerda what she has done with the holster of the murder weapon, stating that if they can get rid of that, there will be no evidence, and no one will be convicted of the murder. Gerda feigns ignorance, but Henrietta is persistent.
The Hollow Crown
A four-speaker, three-singer stage anthology dramatizes material associated with British monarchs from William the Conqueror to Queen Victoria. It combines royal speeches and letters with chronicles, songs, poems and excerpts from historical and literary accounts.
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