8284 shows
Clear filtersAt a country-house gathering, Lady Jessica’s flirtation with Edward Falkner leads her companions to construct a barrage of lies to conceal the affair from her husband. The deceptions unravel, but Sir Christopher restores the marriage by persuading Gilbert to accept blame.
Years after Agamemnon’s murder, his son Orestes returns to Argos with Pylades and meets his sister Electra at their father’s tomb. Following Apollo’s command and the Chorus’s encouragement, Orestes and Electra plan revenge: Orestes kills Aegisthus and then, despite hesitation, kills their mother Clytemnestra. The Furies pursue him for matricide.
Don John pursues a life of sexual violence and murder, repeatedly escaping consequences as women and the dead seek justice. After refusing the Commander's final warning, he and his companions are condemned to Hell.
The play centers on Caitlin Gabriel, a high-school student in an unnamed town who survives a school shooting, then struggles to relay her version of events against eyewitness reports from fellow survivors that she informed the shooter, who is based on Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, where other students had hidden. Even her own parents accept media reports of this accusation, which spark widespread revulsion towards her in the aftermath of the shooting.
In Ireland in 1993, the Northern Ireland peace process is taking its faltering first steps. On the island of Inishmore, a middle aged man named Donny berates foolish teenager Davey for allegedly killing his cat, Wee Thomas, with his bike - although Davey claims innocence. Donny explains that he was only caring for the cat on behalf of his son Padraic. Padraic is an insane (so much so that he was considered too mad for the Irish Republican Army) Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) member known commonly as 'Mad Padraic' and loves Wee Tommy more than life itself so will cause carnage when he hears of his death. Despite his dismay, Donny forgives Davey after forcing a confession from him and miserably phones Padraic. Padraic receives the call while torturing a Belfast drug dealer named James, ready to cut his nipples off having already pulled off his toenails. When he hears that his beloved cat, Wee Thomas, is poorly, Padraic breaks down on the phone in front of James. James gives some advice on ringworm medication for the cat and promises not to sell drugs to kids any more. Padraic briefly suspects James of hoodwinking him to escape but ultimately unties him and gives him money for the bus to the hospital to inspect his potentially infected toes. Padraic then heads back home to the island of Inishmore, where he learns that Wee Thomas is not sick but has been killed and so is intent on revenge. It is then revealed that the cat was not killed by Davey but by two INLA members who did it to attract Padraic over to Inishmore so they could kill him as his madness makes him a liability. Padraic kills four people including them and two other cats before Wee Thomas is found alive and well; the first cat was mistaken for him. At this point only Donny and Davey are still alive and although annoyed at Wee Thomas for creating all this trouble, feed him cereal.
The Life I Lead is a one-man comedy play by James Kettle about the life of English actor David Tomlinson.
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby is an -hour-long adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1839 novel, performed in two parts. Part 1 was 4 hours in length with one interval of 15 minutes. Part 2 was hours in length with two intervals of 12 minutes. It was originally presented onstage over two evenings, or in its entirety from early afternoon with a dinner break. Later it was presented on television over four evenings. The opening night was on 5 June 1980. The show ran for an 8-week season at the Aldwych Theatre, playing Part 1 on some nights and Part 2 on others with both parts playing together on matinée and evening performances. It was revived for two further 8-week runs at the Aldwych in the autumn season of 1980 and the spring season of 1981 before being filmed for Primetime TV at the Old Vic Theatre and transferring to Broadway for the autumn season of 1981. A further revival with a substantially different cast played at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford and toured to Los Angeles and Broadway in 1985. The play was adapted by David Edgar from the Charles Dickens novel The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Directed by John Caird and Trevor Nunn, the music and lyrics were by Stephen Oliver and the set design was by John Napier and Dermot Hayes. It transferred to the Plymouth Theatre on Broadway, initially opening 4 October 1981 and running until 3 January 1982. Revivals of the original production were produced in 1986 (which returned to USA for a Broadway run and national tour) and a truncated version from 2006 to 2008.
A dramatic portrait of Captain James Cook’s life and death, written for the 1888 centenary celebrations in Australia.
The play portrays the 1381 Peasants' Revolt leader Jack Straw as a tragic figure misled into rebellion by priest John Ball. It allegorically links the revolt to political instability in late-Elizabethan England.
A history play depicting King John’s conflict with France, the papacy, and English nobles over the crown, ending with his death and the succession of his son Henry III.
As Henry Bolingbroke challenges Richard II’s authority, Richard’s seizure of Bolingbroke’s inheritance helps drive the nobles to rebellion. Bolingbroke takes the throne as Henry IV, and Richard is imprisoned and murdered.
The Life and Slimes of Marc Summers is a one-man stage performance by American stage and screen actor Marc Summers. The performance takes place on a replica of the original Double Dare set, with audience members competing in stunts from the show to accentuate Summers's narration of his life's triumphs and setbacks. Alex Brightman adapted Summers's 1999 memoir as the basis for the work, which recounted his struggles with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). The 2017 Mathew Klickstein documentary On Your Marc was centered around the play's development.
Brecht’s free-verse adaptation recounts Edward II’s troubled reign and death, the rise and fall of his favourite Gaveston and of Roger Mortimer, and the disordered fate of Queen Isabella, against the backdrop of England in 1307–1326.
Surveyed by Someone in Grey (as well as another, anonymous character who is never leaving the stage), Man passes through life (in the grey world where all things are of colour grey) from birth to death as a blind man, unable to see what comes to him next. First he is destitute, then rises to affluence, and finally hits the bottom again. Cursing the anonymous witness to his tribulations, he imagines himself as a hapless warrior who loses everything in his strife against the unfathomable, evil forces. "I am armless now", he exclaims, before the candle (a symbol of life) dies and darkness falls.
Small-time criminal Willie Dobie’s plans for a pharmaceutical business unravel, drawing eight people into a series of increasingly uncontrolled encounters.
Fact-checker Jim Fingal is assigned an essay by John D’Agata that could revive a struggling magazine. With editor Emily Penrose caught between them, their argument over disputed details becomes a confrontation about literary freedom and responsibility to the truth.
An unfinished, autobiographical drama that reflects Leo Tolstoy’s personal dilemma through the lens of family life.
The Light of Heart is a 1940 play by the British writer Emlyn Williams. It ran for 127 performances at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End between 21 February and 8 June 1940. The cast included Godfrey Tearle, Megs Jenkins, Gladys Henson, Elliott Mason and Angela Baddeley. It later ran for 55 performances at the Guild Theatre on Broadway.
After Harold Armytage elopes with Bess Marks, his wealthy father disowns him. His scheming cousin frames him for a crime to secure the inheritance, but Harold escapes prison and later rescues the accomplice who confesses, allowing Harold to reclaim his inheritance and the cousin to face punishment.
The Likes of Her is a 1923 play by the British writer Charles McEvoy. It premiered at Battersea Town Hall on 30 January 1923. It enjoyed a West End run of 229 performances at St Martin's Theatre between 15 August 1923 and 1 March 1924. The original cast included Leslie Banks, (replaced by Clifford Mollison) Ian Hunter, Ben Field, Allan Jeayes (replaced by Felix Aylmer), Ivor Barnard, Mary Clare, Olga Lindo, Barbara Gott and Hermione Baddeley.
An uprooted Lily falls in love with a human bride, drawing the ire of the Great Longing Deity, a stage curtain bent on enforcing nostalgia and a fixed narrative. The Lily tries to take control of the story and create its own form, in a multi-part theatrical work combining verse, music, dance, puppetry and film.
The Limping Man is a 1930 mystery thriller play by the British author Will Scott. It premiered at the Pleasure Gardens Theatre in Folkstone before transferring to London's West End. It ran for 91 performances between 19 January and 18 April 1931, initially at the Royaly Theatre before switching to the Apollo Theatre and then to the Shaftesbury. The West End cast included Arthur Hardy, Ronald Simpson, Franklin Dyall, Eve Gray. It subsequently returned to the West End for a longer run from 1935 to 1936.
The play takes place in 1947 England in the home of Professor Robert Linden, who holds the chair of modern history at the provincial University of Burmanley. Rationing and austerity seem to have fostered opportunism, escapism and confrontation within the Linden family, who have gathered to celebrate Professor Linden's 65th birthday and each of whom is struggling with their own crises. Linden wants only to continue teaching in a world that no longer seems to share his quiet ideals. The new vice-chancellor of the university is pressing Linden to retire, and family itself divides along political lines, the worldly versus the idealists. The critic Michael Billington summarises it thus: "Linden's put-upon wife, super-spiv son and expatriate daughter all press him to opt for retirement. But his other daughters – a dedicated NHS doctor and a 17-year-old cello-playing student – urge him to fight on."
Set in Montmartre, Timberlake Wertenbaker’s play explores the relationship between Edgar Degas and Suzanne Valadon, an artist he called the Master and a younger protégée whose drawing and way of life challenged his. Their artistic exchange unsettles the traditions and habits each represents.
In 1983, Nick Guest moves into his university friend’s wealthy Notting Hill household, led by a newly elected Tory MP. His attraction to its privileged world brings desire into conflict with class, sexuality and public image.
In Ilujinle, schoolteacher Lakunle and chief Baroka compete to marry Sidi, the village beauty. Their courtship brings into conflict modernizing ambitions, traditional authority and women’s autonomy; after Baroka outwits Sidi, she chooses to marry him, leaving Lakunle stunned.
In a northern town, Kit, an alcoholic, and her itinerant-salesman husband Frank drift through an extended family’s quarrels and unrealized plans. Their children begin to leave, and Frank briefly departs with his mistress, but returns to the life he shares with Kit.
Set during Christmas 1183 at Henry II of England's castle in Chinon, Anjou, Angevin Empire, the play opens with the arrival of Henry's wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, whom he has had imprisoned since 1173. The story concerns the gamesmanship between Henry, Eleanor, their three surviving sons Richard, Geoffrey, and John, and their Christmas Court guest, the King of France, Philip II Augustus (Philippe Auguste), who was the son of Eleanor's ex-husband, Louis VII of France (by his third wife, Adelaide). Also involved is Philip's half-sister Alais (by Louis VII's second wife Constance), who has been at court since she was betrothed to Richard at age eight, but has since become Henry's mistress.
After two men kill United Nations aid workers, the Taliban throw them to Marjan, the one-eyed lion at Kabul Zoo, with the United Nations' unwilling collusion.
A one-act, two-actor dramatization of C. S. Lewis’s children’s fantasy novel, set in Narnia.
In Act I, depressed literary editor Stephen takes refuge with his opera-loving friend Mendy, discussing divas and listening to records while avoiding his failing eight-year relationship with doctor Paul. In Act II, Stephen returns home to confront Paul’s infidelity. Their shared opera fandom, especially devotion to Maria Callas, shapes their relationship.
A woman whose life is organized around lists recounts the death of her neighbour. An overlooked task becomes the centre of a searching account of isolation, responsibility, and the difficulty of distinguishing the urgent from the essential.
Waiter Albert Loriflan unexpectedly inherits a fortune, but his unscrupulous café owner refuses to release him from a long-term contract, hoping he will pay to escape. Albert refuses and keeps working; he then falls in love with his employer's daughter, Yvonne.
A naval captain pays one of his crew to marry a woman.
The four characters are an actor, Mitchell; his acerbic agent Diane; a hustler named Alex; and Alex's girlfriend Ellen. When Mitchell and Alex become involved in a physical relationship, Diane is concerned that what she describes as Mitchell's "slight recurring case of homosexuality" will derail his career before it gets started.
The play's focus is Southerner Regina Hubbard Giddens, who struggles for wealth and freedom within the confines of an early 20th-century society where fathers considered only sons as their legal heirs. As a result of this practice, while her two avaricious brothers have wielded the family inheritance into two independently substantial fortunes, she has had to rely upon her manipulation of her cautious, timid, browbeaten husband, Horace. He is no businessman, just her financial support; although he is pliable enough for her ambition, that ambition has driven him into becoming merely the tool of her insatiable greed. Her brother Oscar married Birdie, his much-maligned alcoholic wife, solely to acquire her family's plantation and cotton fields. Oscar now wants to join forces with his brother, Benjamin, to construct a cotton mill. They need an additional $75,000 and approach Regina, asking her to invest in the project. Oscar initially proposes marriage between his son Leo and Regina's daughter Alexandra—first cousins—as a means of getting Horace's money, but Horace and Alexandra are repulsed by the suggestion, as is Birdie. Horace refuses when Regina asks him outright for the money, so Leo, a bank teller, is pressured into stealing Horace's railroad bonds from the bank's safe deposit box. Horace, after discovering this, tells Regina he is going to change his will in favor of their daughter, and also claim he gave Leo the bonds as a loan, thereby cutting Regina out of the deal completely. When he has a heart attack during this chat, she makes no effort to help him. He dies within hours, without anyone knowing his plan and before changing his will. This leaves Regina free to blackmail her brothers by threatening to report Leo's theft unless they give her 75% ownership in the cotton mill. (It is, in Regina's mind, a fair exchange for the stolen bonds.) The price Regina ultimately pays for her evil deeds is the loss of her daughter's love and respect. Regina's actions cause Alexandra to finally understand the importance of not idly watching people do evil. She tells Regina she will not watch her be "one who eats the earth," and abandons her. Having let her husband die, alienated her brothers, and driven away her only child, Regina is left wealthy but completely alone.
In Paris, Dinant loves Lamira, who has married the wealthy Champernell, while Cleremont is drawn into a duel on Dinant’s behalf. Cleremont recruits the timid lawyer La-Writ as his second, and La-Writ’s lucky success turns him into an eager challenger; a series of schemes and misunderstandings eventually ends with reconciliations and a new couple.
The Little Glass Clock is a 1954 historical comedy play by the British author Hugh Mills. It premiered at the King's Theatre, Edinburgh before transferring to the Aldwych Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 138 performances 3 December 1954 and 2 April 1955. The West End cast featured John Clements, Kay Hammond, George Curzon, Basil Sydney and George Relph.
After Luddite unrest in the Scottish town of Thrums, young minister Gavin Dishart falls for Lady Babbie, daughter of the local landowner, while she disguises herself as a Romany to aid the weavers. A hostile army captain seeks to punish her and the townspeople, but his schemes lead to Dishart and Babbie’s marriage.
Newly married Kare goes to a farm for a holiday and falls in love with Rudd Barton, whose mother Amy runs the farm. Amy is jealous of her son's attention to other women and takes extreme action when she learns of Kare's marriage.
The Lives of Others is an upcoming play adapted by Robert Icke, based on Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck German film of the same name. Directed by Icke, the world premiere production of The Lives of Others is expected to open at the Adelphi Theatre in October 2026.
Fedor Protasov leaves his wife and life, believing his wife loves another man. When she remarries, he returns to testify that she thought him dead; after a court threatens her with exile or separation, he shoots himself, and she declares that she always loved him.
The play consists of two acts, each of two scenes and is set entirely in the living room of Rose Pemberton and her two elderly aunts who live with the aunts' brother James, a disabled Roman Catholic priest. The aunts have a long-running fear of death in the house, with any bedroom being locked away from further use following a death of its resident family member. The story revolves around the introduction of Rose's new lover, Michael Dennis, to the family. It later transpires that Michael is married when his suicidal wife arrives at the house.
The London Cuckolds is a 1681 comedy play by the English writer Edward Ravenscroft. It was performed at the Dorset Garden Theatre by the Duke's Company. The original cast included Cave Underhill as Wiseacre, James Nokes as Doodle, Joseph Williams as Townly, John Wiltshire as Loveday, William Smith as Ramble, Anthony Leigh as Dashwell, John Richards as Tom, Elizabeth Currer as Eugenia, Elizabeth Barry as Arabella, Elinor Leigh as Engine and Margaret Osborne as Jane.
The London Hermit, Or, Rambles in Dorsetshire is a 1793 comedy play by the Irish writer John O'Keeffe. It was staged at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket on 29 June 1793. The original cast included Richard Suett as Whimmy, James Aickin as Old Pranks, John Bannister as Young Pranks, Howard Usher as Barleycorn, Ralph Wewitzer as Barebones, John Henry Johnstone as Tully, William Parsons as Toby Thatch, Lydia Webb as Mrs. Maggs, Elizabeth Kemble as Kitty Barleycorn, Elizabeth Heard as Dian and Jane Powell as Fishwoman. The prologue was written by George Colman the Younger and spoken by William Barrymore. It was staged at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin in 1795.
Act I Sarah Millwood, a London prostitute, schemes to find some innocent young man "who, having never injured women, [would] apprehend no injury from them" (I.iii) to seduce and exploit for money. She observes young George Barnwell in town, and she invites him to her house for supper. She realizes that he works for the wealthy merchant Thorowgood (who is known throughout London for his wealth and success). She decides to seduce George Barnwell at supper with irresistible flattery, and he succumbs to her wiles in a way that will give her access to Thorowgood's money, and she manipulates Barnwell to steal from his boss. Act II Upon returning home the next morning, George feels he has betrayed Thorowgood by disobeying his curfew. The guilt he feels from disobeying the rules of the house, as well as the guilt he feels from his fornication with Millwood, leaves George tormented. His guilt is compounded by the loyalty of his friend Trueman. Soon, Millwood visits George at his place of work. When she discovers he no longer wants anything to do with her, she begins to sense her money-making scheme has come to an end. She quickly thinks of a lie to tell George to keep her plan going. She tells George that the man who provides her with housing somehow found out about their tryst and is now evicting her because of it. This evokes new feelings of guilt from George, and he is prompted to steal a large sum of money from his employer's funds to give to her to amend the situation. Act III After giving her the money, George feels unworthy of his kind master, Thorowgood, so he runs away and leaves a note for Trueman confessing his crime. Having no place to go, he turns to Millwood for help. At first she refuses him since his employer's money is no longer at his disposal, but she quickly remembers that he has previously mentioned a rich uncle. She again manipulates George into believing that she truly loves him, and concocts a scheme for him to rob his uncle. George objects, saying that his uncle will recognize him as his nephew; Millwood answers that the only way, then, will be to also murder his uncle. In a fit of passion, George runs off to commit the robbery and murder. He finds his Uncle Barnwell alone, and as he approaches, George veils his face and attacks his uncle with a knife. As he lies dying, Uncle Barnwell prays both for his nephew and his murderer, not knowing that they are the same. Overcome with sorrow, George reveals himself to his uncle, and before he dies, Uncle Barnwell forgives his murderous nephew. Act IV In the meantime, Lucy came to Thorowgood and revealed the truth behind what Barnwell had done. Because of this Thorowgood rushes to exit and tells Lucy she must keep watch on Millwood's house. Later, George returns to Millwood's home upset, trembling, and with bloody hands. Upon realizing that he did not take any money or property, Millwood sends for the police and has George arrested for murder. Two of Millwood's servants, Lucy and Blunt, who were aware of the plan from the beginning, have her arrested as well. Both George and Millwood are sentenced to death. In the last scene of Act 4 Millwood expresses to Thorowgood that she is not remorseful in the least bit saying, "I hate you all! I know you, and expect no mercy -- nay, I ask for none. I have done nothing that I am sorry for. I followed my inclinations, and that the best of you does every day. All actions are alike natural and indifferent to man and beast who devour or are devoured as they meet with others weaker or stronger than themselves." Act V Millwood blamed society and men for what she has become. She is not remorseful at all and with passion accepts her fate. Despite all that has transpired, George is visited by Thorowgood and Trueman in his prison cell. They console and forgive him. Thorowgood provides for his spiritual needs by arranging a visit from a clergyman. In the end, George is truly repentant for his sins and is at peace with himself, his friends, and God. Trueman ends the show with a small monologue saying, "In vain with bleeding hearts and weeping eyes we show a human gen'rous sense of others' woe, unless we mark what drew their ruin on, and, by avoiding that, prevent our own" (Act V Sc. X) to show that the play was to learn how to do the right things in our own lives.
Matthew Flowerdale, a prodigal merchant's son, gambles, lies and falls into debt. His father feigns death to observe him; after Matthew's marriage and continued wrongdoing, his loyal wife Luce eventually inspires his repentance.
Commission councillor Lonei is stern with his 21-year-old son Kurt, who feels treated like a child. When Kurt fails his school-leaving examination and a bill goes missing, father and son clash; Kurt's despair leads him to throw himself into a canal, where the lawyer Reinhard rescues him. They come to recognize their mistakes and reconcile, and Kurt later passes his examination with distinction. A parallel romance links Reinhard with Paulina, Lonei's ward.
Brothers Coleman and Valene bicker after their father's death, which Coleman caused and Valene covered up. Their priest Father Welsh's attempt to reconcile them ends in suicide; the brothers then reveal past cruelties and attempt to make peace.
Across ninety years, the Bayard family gathers for Christmas dinner as generations are born, customs change, and the family accumulates property. The action compresses ninety dinners and a broad sweep of American life into a single one-act play.
During a Christmas drive to their grandparents’ home, two parents and their three young children experience conflict and turmoil that reverberate through the family’s later life. The play uses bunraku-style puppetry alongside actors.
As a man moves out of his childhood apartment, memories of his family’s four-person household unfold in flashbacks: his father leaves, his mother dies, and his sister falls from grace.
Archie Lee and Baby Doll Meighan reluctantly house Aunt Rose, an elderly relative passed among the family. An unsatisfactory supper brings their resentment and the family’s treatment of Rose to a head.
In AD 410, as Roman rule in Britain collapses, the play follows Julian’s family near Richborough amid the departure of the legions and the threat of Saxon invasion. The source also describes the family’s attempts to resist the invaders and its eventual conversion to Christianity.
A British patrol in Malaya in 1942 takes refuge in an abandoned jungle hut as its radio fails and a Japanese soldier appears. Tensions rise among the soldiers as they confront the threat and their own conflicting temperaments.
A woodland scene frames a dialogue between Orpheus and Mania, followed by dances from Mania and her companions. Prometheus reveals star-dressed masquers descending on clouds; statues of women come to life, then dance with the masquers and the newly married couple. A final vision and Sibyl's prophecy celebrate Elizabeth's imperial future and the union of British and German peoples.
A two-person play about domestic tension; part of its dialogue develops Alasdair Gray's idea of the Epic, discussed in Lanark's epilogue.
Paul Green’s outdoor historical drama portrays Sir Walter Raleigh’s effort to establish a permanent English settlement on Roanoke Island. It follows the 1587 colonists, including Eleanor Dare and her newborn daughter Virginia, through the hardships that led Governor John White to seek supplies in England and the mystery of the colony’s disappearance.
A Restoration comedy whose characters include country gentleman Sir Rustic Good-Heart, his son Wilmore, and Belira, Wilmore’s secret mistress.
Jack Wright, a handsome, well-travelled young newspaperman with a gambling problem and debts, has been fired by his employer over losses that he caused to the paper with some shoddy reporting. To turn in a sensational story that will get his job back, and also raise some cash, he decides to conduct a lottery through the newspaper with himself as the prize in marriage; he will also supply the paper with weekly tales of his adventurous exploits, and each installment will tantalize readers a hint about his identity. He promises the paper that if he fails to go through with the marriage, the winner will get all the lottery money. As soon as the piece goes to press, he falls in love with a charming girl, Helen, and realizes that the lottery will ruin his new relationship. The lottery is a big hit, raising $300,000. In an attempt to prevent matrimonial disaster, he buys up all the lottery tickets he can. When Helen learns of the stunt, she is upset and breaks up with Jack. On the last day of the lottery, a nervous spinster, Lizzie, wins the lottery and refuses to give up her prize. It turns out, however, that she has stolen the lottery ticket. All ends well, and Jack marries Helen.
Irish immigrant Terence O'Halloran leaves a life of crime to become an amateur detective, facing counterfeiter Mordie Solomons. The play was first written as a burlesque of sensational drama before Brougham revised it into a more plausible, though still improbable, piece.
In a small Queensland sugar port, union leader Sid Brady disrupts ship loading to advance his career, frustrating the long-suffering English employer Harold Barker. Their conflict becomes a verbal farce satirizing unions, employers and the pressures of assimilation.
The Love Chase is an 1837 comedy play by the Irish-born writer James Sheridan Knowles. It premiered at the Haymarket Theatre in London on 10 October 1837 with a cast that included Robert Strickland as Sir William Fondlove, Edward William Elton as Waller, Benjamin Nottingham Webster as Wildrake, Julia Glover as Widow Green and Charlotte Vandenhoff as Lydia. Louisa Cranstoun Nisbett's role as Constance became one of her two signature parts. The Haymarket had just come under the management of Benjamin Webster that year.
A Japanese domestic tragedy originally written for bunraku puppet theatre and adapted into kabuki shortly after its premiere.
Honest oil merchant Tokubei refuses an arranged marriage because he loves courtesan Ohatsu. After his uncle dismisses him and his friend Kuheiji falsely denies a loan, Tokubei is beaten and the lovers flee. Facing disgrace and separation, they journey to Sonezaki Shrine and die together.
An elderly bachelor marries the much younger Belisa at his servant's urging and her mother's encouragement. After the wedding, he discovers her infidelity but responds with an elaborate strategy: he writes her love letters as a mysterious red-caped admirer, then stages a fatal duel that reveals his identity and wins her love at the cost of his life.
The Love of Four Colonels is a play by the British writer Peter Ustinov, first performed in 1951. It is a fantasy set around military officers from the four Allied Occupation Powers (American, British, French and Soviet) of postwar Germany. It premiered at The Alexandra, Birmingham before transferring to London's West End where it ran for 816 performances between 23 June 1951 and 9 May 1953, initially at Wyndham's Theatre before transferring to the Winter Garden Theare.The original West End cast included Ustinov, Moira Lister, Alan Gifford, Colin Gordon, Eugene Deckers, Theodore Bikel, Paul Hardtmuth, Patricia Jessel and Mary Hignett. Due to the length of the run, a number of replacements took the roles of original cast members including Cyril Luckham, Clifford Mollison, Ruth Trouncer. It subsequently ran for 141 performances at the Shubert Theatre on Broadway in 1953 with a cast that included Rex Harrison and Lilli Palmer. That year it was chosen as the Best Foreign Play by the New York Drama Critics' Circle and won a Donaldson Award.
Wertenbaker reworks the Philomela myth as a feminist drama: Tereus rapes Philomela and cuts out her tongue, then conceals her fate from Procne. Philomela communicates the truth through a puppet performance, and the sisters take revenge before the gods transform them into birds.
In a Soviet prison camp in 1945, honest prisoner Nemov objects to Lyuba's relationship with the camp doctor, which she maintains for better food and living conditions. Their conflict unfolds within a broader picture of prisoners navigating camp life and moral compromise.
After being murdered, teenage Susie Salmon watches from an afterlife as her family grieves and changes: her father searches for her killer, her mother tries to begin a different life, and her sister enters experiences Susie cannot share. Susie wants to ease their suffering but struggles to find a way to reach them.
A husband and wife appear to have separate lovers: the man who visits the wife is revealed to be her husband role-playing as a lover, while she plays a mistress for him. He wants to end their pretend adultery, to her dismay, but finally switches back into the lover's role.
Prince Palador sinks into melancholy after his beloved Eroclea disappears; their identities and disguises are eventually revealed, helping cure him and her father, while secret loves and courtly conceits complicate the relationships among their companions.
In France, Cleander’s friend Lisander remains in love with Calista, who is married to Cleander, while Olinda cannot choose between two suitors. A lawyer named La-Writ becomes obsessed with duelling after a lucky victory, and the lovers’ schemes lead to a murder, an apparent ghost, and a final trial that resolves the couples’ fates.
In Thessaly, Princess Eudina must choose between twin brothers Philargus and Philocles while the ambitious Stratocles plots to take the throne. The twins sacrifice their own prospects for one another, thwarting the plot; a concealed birth reveals their true identities, allowing Philocles to inherit and Eudina to marry Philargus. A comic subplot mirrors the courtship conflict.
The Loving Enemies is a 1680 comedy play by the English writer Lewis Maidwell. It was first staged by the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London. The original cast included Thomas Betterton as Lorenzo, William Smith as Marcello, Joseph Williams as Antonio, Anthony Leigh as Paulo, Cave Underhill as Circumstantio, John Richards as Albricio, Mary Lee as Julia, Elizabeth Barry as Camilla, Anne Shadwell as Lucinda and Elinor Leigh as Paulina. It was dedicated to Charles Fox, son of the politician Stephen Fox, who Maidwell had been a tutor to.
With Adam Smith as narrator, the play follows 18th-century American Jim Trumpett, born outside marriage and raised in a brothel, as he discovers The Wealth of Nations and embraces capitalism. A contemporary scene at a G8 summit connects his story to present-day economic thinking after the 2008 financial crisis.
A group of impoverished lodgers in a cellar endure illness, exploitation, and violence. A wandering pilgrim offers some hope, but after he disappears, the residents return to their brutal circumstances and learn that the Actor has died by suicide.
The Loyal Brother; Or, The Persian Prince is a 1682 tragedy by the Irish writer Thomas Southerne. It was first performed by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The prologue was written by John Dryden. It was Southerne's first play and was written in the context of the recent Exclusion Crisis and the Popish Plot from a Tory viewpoint. Two characters are thinly disguised versions of contemporary figures, the heroic Tachmas is James, Duke of York and the villain is the Whig politician the Earl of Shaftesbury. It was staged at a time when the growing Tory Reaction had swung power away from the Whigs trying to exclude the Catholic York from the throne. The original Drury Lane cast included Cardell Goodman as Seliman, Thomas Clark as Tachmas, Michael Mohun as Ismael, Philip Griffin as Arbanes, Richard Saunders as Osman, Katherine Corey as Begona, Sarah Cooke as Semanthe and Anne Marshall as Sunamire. The published play was dedicated to the Duke of Richmond, Master of the Horse and illegitimate son of Charles II.
The Loyal General is a 1679 tragedy by the Irish writer Nahum Tate. It was first performed at the Dorset Garden Theatre by the Duke's Company. The prologue was written by John Dryden. The original cast included Thomas Betterton as Theocrin, Henry Harris as King, Henry Norris as Theron, Thomas Gillow as Diphilus, Thomas Jevon as Escalus, John Bowman as Pisander, Joseph Williams as Abardanes, Elizabeth Currer as Queen, Mary Lee as Arviola and Emily Price as Edraste.
In Muscovy, loyal general Archas is dismissed by the Duke after correcting him, then recalled when the army refuses to fight without him. False charges bring Archas to torture and his son to rebellion, but Archas’s loyalty ultimately prevents the soldiers from joining the invading Tartars and leads the Duke to punish his corrupt counsellor.
A Royal Navy sailor is nearly framed by an enemy agent for stealing secret documents.
The Luckey Chance, or an Alderman's Bargain by Aphra Behn is a 17th-century comedy in five acts. The play was first staged in the Spring of 1686. Its main theme is romance and it includes devices such as impersonation and disguise, Some songs were composed by John Blow. The play continues to be performed. In 1984 it was performed at the Royal Court Theatre as the first production of the Women's Playhouse Trust (now known as The Wapping Project). A version in 1960s dress was staged by Echo Theatre in 2013 at the Bath House Cultural Center in Texas, United States.
The Lying Lover; Or, The Lady's Friendship is a 1703 comedy play by the Irish writer Richard Steele. It was his second play, written while he was an army office doing garrison duty in Harwich during the War of the Spanish Succession. It is described as being both a restoration comedy and a sentimental comedy, and marked the transition between the two. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The original cast included Philip Griffin as Old Bookwit, Robert Wilks as Young Bookwit, John Mills as Lovemore, Colley Cibber as Latine, William Pinkethman as Storm, William Bullock as Charcoal, Jane Rogers as Penelope, Jane Lucas as Lettice, Susannah Cox as Betty and Anne Oldfield as Victoria. The published version was dedicated to the Duke of Ormonde, an Irish politician and soldier.
Impoverished Gayless hopes to marry Melissa without revealing his ruined finances. His valet Sharp invents excuses and deceptions to keep the match alive, but unexpected dinner guests threaten to expose their empty household.
Jackie Walker performs a one-woman narrative about her activist parents, her experiences of racism after moving to Britain, and the controversy surrounding her Labour Party suspension. Imagining herself on trial, she plays her mother as the defence, while the audience serves as jury.
As Ben Lyons lies dying of cancer, his wife Rita and their grown children gather at the hospital. After forty years in a loveless marriage, Rita plans her future without him; Lisa is an alcoholic leaving an abusive marriage, while Curtis, who is gay, has been estranged from his homophobic father.
In a subterranean society where the Machine supplies every need and people communicate through screens, Vashti’s son Kuno rebels against its control. His actions bring the system toward catastrophe and reopen the possibility of direct human experience.
In a future society where people live alone in identical underground cells, Vashti’s son Kuno asks her to meet in person, outside the Machine’s video interface. The production uses live acting, puppetry and projections to stage the society’s dependence on the Machine.
In a subterranean future, people communicate instantly across the globe while fearing direct experience. The Machine controls their lives, and the work follows the consequences of living within this enclosed system.
The tragicomedy centers on Memnon, a general suffering from melancholy over an unsatisfactory romantic attachment. The characters stage a masque of beasts and trees, drawing on Orpheus, in an effort to treat his madness.
A fictionalized biographical study of the latter half of George III's reign, focusing on the king's struggle with mental illness and his court's inability to manage his condition.
Alone in his New York room on a hot summer day, aging drag performer Leslie Bright reflects on his attempts at self-invention, past loves, his mother's death, and childhood abuse. Voices from two unreal figures give expression to remembered criticism as Leslie gradually descends into madness.
A five-act historical drama tracing Queen Joanna of Castile's plight in 1506, with its action moving from Tudela de Duero and an inn near Tudela to the Palace of the Constables in Burgos.
A three-character comedy about midlife madness set in motion by an unlikely trip to Burning Man.
The play is set in the café "chez Francis" in the Place de l'Alma in the Chaillot district of Paris. A group of corrupt corporate executives is meeting. They include the Prospector, the President, the Broker and the Baron, and they are planning to dig up Paris to get at the oil which they believe lies beneath its streets. Their nefarious plans come to the attention of Countess Aurelia, the benignly eccentric madwoman of the title. She is an aging idealist who sees the world as happy and beautiful. But, advised by her associate the Ragpicker, who is a bit more worldly than the Countess, she soon comes to realize that the world might well be ruined by these evil men who seek only wealth and power. These people have taken over Paris. "They run everything, they corrupt everything," says the Ragpicker. Already things have gotten so bad that the pigeons do not bother to fly any more. One of the businessmen says in all seriousness, "What would you rather have in your backyard: an almond tree or an oil well?" Aurelia resolves to fight back and rescue humanity from the scheming and corrupt developers. She enlists the help of her fellow outcasts: the Street Singer, the Ragpicker, the Sewer Man, the Flower Girl, the Sergeant, and various other oddballs and dreamers. These include her fellow madwomen: the acidic Constance, the girlish Gabrielle, and the ethereal Josephine. In a tea party every bit as mad as a scene from Alice in Wonderland, they put the "wreckers of the world's joy" on trial, and in the end condemn them to banishment—or perhaps, death. One by one, the greedy businessmen are lured by the smell of oil to a bottomless pit from which they will (presumably) never return. Peace, love, and joy return to the world. Even the earthbound pigeons are flying again.
A young artist and his former-actress wife live in a slum they call their “magic tower”; the play follows their optimism as it gradually fades.
A magistrate's wife has concealed her age and her son is older than he believes. She and her sister visit a hotel to confront old acquaintances; the magistrate and his stepson end up there too, and a police raid sets off a chase that leads him to hear the case involving his own family.
Lady Loadstone’s household is crowded with suitors pursuing her niece Placentia, a financially controlling uncle, and unruly female servants. When Placentia goes into premature labour, a hidden infant switch from fourteen years earlier is revealed: the apparent niece is the governess’s daughter, while the maid is the true heir. The worthy steward Compass and Captain Ironside prove suitable matches for the women.
Jean-Claude Carrière’s stage adaptation of the Sanskrit epic unfolds in three parts: The Game of Dice, The Exile in the Forest, and The War.
Ismenia and Antonio fall in love despite a feud between their families, while their companions’ pursuit and a botched pageant complicate their courtships. At the same time, the miller’s daughter Florimel is abducted by Count Otrante but resists his attempts to make her his mistress; the king eventually discovers she is the long-lost daughter of a nobleman, clearing the way for her marriage and the resolution of the romances.
The Maid of Bath is a 1771 comedy play by the British actor-manager Samuel Foote. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London on 26 June 1771. It was inspired by the life of the singer Elizabeth Ann Linley of the Bath-based Linley family. The prologue was written by David Garrick.
Camiola loves Bertoldo but refuses to marry him while he remains bound by vows as a knight of a religious order. After he is captured in a military campaign, she pays his ransom and secures a marriage contract, but his attraction to another woman leads Camiola to reject him, enter a nunnery, and give away her fortune.
The Maid of Kent is a 1773 comedy play by the English writer Francis Godolphin Waldron. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 17 May 1773. The original cast included William Parsons as Sir Thomas Richacre, John Hayman Packer as Doctor Goodman, Francis Godolphin Waldron as Metre, John Palmer as George, Joseph Vernon as William, John Moody as O'Connor, Robert Baddeley as La Poudre, Richard Griffith as Robert, Elizabeth Younge as Emily, Jane Pope as Patty and Mary Bradshaw as Dame Quickset.
The Maid of Mariendorpt is an 1838 play by the Irish writer James Sheridan Knowles. It was inspired by the 1821 novel The Village of Mariendorpt by Anna Maria Porter. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London on 8 October 1838. The original cast included Sheridan Knowles as Muldenhau, Robert Strickland as General Kleiner, Walter Lacy as Baron Idenstein, Benjamin Nottingham Webster as Joseph, John Buckstone as Hans, Fanny Cooper as Adolpha, Emma Elphinstone as Meeta, Julia Glover as Esther. The same year it appeared at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.
A five-act tragedy loosely follows Joan of Arc: after falling in love with an English knight she spares him, is accused of sorcery and dismissed, then escapes captivity to save the French army, dying as victory is won.
The Maid's Last Prayer: Or, Any Rather Than Fail is a 1693 comedy play by the Irish writer Thomas Southerne. It was first staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane by the United Company. The original cast included George Powell as Granger, John Bowman as Gayman, John Verbruggen as Garnish, Thomas Doggett as Lord Malepert, George Bright as Sir Ruff Rancounter, William Bowen as Sir Symphony, Cave Underhill as Drydrubb, William Pinkethman as Porter, Carey Perin as Christian, Elizabeth Barry as Lady Malepert, Anne Bracegirdle as Lady Trickitt, Susanna Mountfort as Lady Susan Malepert, Jane Rogers as Maria, Mary Betterton as Wishwell, Elinor Leigh as Siam and Mary Kent as Florence. It included music composed by Henry Purcell. The published version was dedicated to Charles Boyle.
When Duke Telemachus orders Eurymine killed for loving his son Ascanio, she escapes into the forest. Apollo transforms her into a boy at her request; she and Ascanio struggle to reunite amid mistaken identity and pastoral comic episodes, until Apollo restores her and her royal parentage is revealed.
In Portugal, Catalina's deceptive courtship of Antonio to conceal his love for her sister Berinthia leads her to plot her sister's abduction and poisoning. When Antonio saves Berinthia, a chain of family commands and duels ends in murder and reciprocal revenge.
When a king forces Amintor to marry Evadne instead of his betrothed Aspatia, Evadne reveals that the king has made her his mistress. She kills him; later Aspatia deliberately receives a fatal wound in a duel with Amintor, Evadne kills herself, and Amintor follows. The tragedy also follows General Melantius's revenge plot and the court's political upheaval.
At the Sicilian court, the queen’s love for her favorite Philocles is obscured by his misunderstanding of her feelings and the court’s expectation that she marry Lysimantes. Their shifting loyalties and restraint keep the outcome uncertain, alongside a comic courtship plot involving Celadon and Florimel.
When wealthy older bachelor Don Diego plans to marry 16-year-old Francisca, he believes she consents. She is in love with his nephew Carlos, who has come to stop the wedding. After discovering their feelings and recognizing the pressure both young people face, Diego lets Francisca choose and she marries Carlos.
Sisters and housemaids Claire and Solange take turns impersonating their absent mistress, Madame, in a ritual of domination and revenge. After their attempt to implicate Monsieur and drug Madame fails, they enact the murder in their role-play, with Claire ultimately drinking the tea herself.
A company hires a pleasure steamer for its staff party, where the boss announces impending redundancies. Employees compete to prove why they should keep their jobs, submitting to intimate confessions and increasingly cruel games. Rat commentators and motivation exercises expose a workplace in which dignity and survival are at stake.
The Major is an 1881 comedic play produced by Edward Harrigan and Tony Hart. It debuted to a full house at the new Theatre Comique on Broadway in New York City on August 29, 1881. Songs contributed by David Braham include "Major Gilfeather", "Miranda, When We Are Made One", "Veteran's Guards' Cadets", "Clara Jenkins' Tea" and "4-11-44". It ran for over 150 performances, closing on January 7, 1882, the longest of any Harrigan and Hart production at that time. The play was revived in March 1885 at the Fourteenth Street Theatre.
After an engineering project causes the death of a local river god, British engineer Frederick Compton and his wife invent a replacement deity, Moo, for the community. Its worship grows into an organized apocalyptic blood cult, eventually led by the Comptons’ son as prophet.
The deposed Duke Altofronto returns to the corrupt court of Genoa disguised as the caustic Malcontent Malevole, exposing his enemies’ schemes and maneuvering to regain his dukedom and reunite with his imprisoned wife.
Postwar soldier Beckmann returns from Russia to find his home and family lost. After failed attempts to reconnect with his former life and a suicide attempt, he confronts those responsible for the deaths of his men, but receives no answer to his questions about guilt, suffering, and responsibility.
A theatrical research piece created through research, improvisation, and ensemble exploration, inspired by Oliver Sacks's book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat.
The play is set in the small town of Mesalia, Ohio in the weeks leading to Christmas in the late 1930s. The famously outlandish New York City radio wit Sheridan Whiteside ('Sherry' to his friends) is invited to dine at the house of the well-to-do factory owner Ernest W. Stanley and his family. But before Whiteside can enter the house, he slips on a patch of ice outside the Stanleys' front door and injures his hip. Confined to the Stanleys' home, Whiteside is looked after by several professionals: Dr. Bradley, the absent-minded town physician, Miss Preen, his frantic nurse, and Maggie Cutler, his faithful secretary. Confined to the house for a month, Whiteside drives his hosts mad by viciously insulting them, monopolizing their house and staff, running up large phone bills, and receiving many bizarre guests, including paroled convicts, and the eccentric Professor Metz, who brings him a glass-encased cockroach colony. Although he earns the intense dislike of Mr. Stanley, Whiteside manages to befriend his adult children, June and Richard, as well as his wildly eccentric older sister, Harriet Stanley. He also befriends local newspaperman and aspiring playwright Bert Jefferson but soon learns that Maggie has fallen in love with Bert, and plans to leave her job to marry him. Unable to bear the thought of losing his secretary, Whiteside invites his friend, the glamorous and loose-living actress Lorraine Sheldon, to Mesalia to look at Bert's new play, hoping she can break up the marriage plans. Dr. Bradley tells Whiteside he was mistaken in his diagnosis, and Whiteside is well enough to leave. Whiteside buys the doctor's silence by pretending to want to work on a book with him, and for the rest of the play keeps brushing him off. Whiteside encourages June Stanley to elope with a young union organizer whom her father disapproves of, and Richard to run away and pursue his dream of becoming a photographer. Lorraine arrives, and Maggie instantly suspects Whiteside's efforts to interfere with her and Bert. Whiteside and Maggie then receive a visit from their friend, noted British actor and playwright Beverly Carlton. Maggie learns Beverly can do a great impression of Lord Bottomley, an English lord whom Lorraine is desperate to marry. She gets Beverly to call Lorraine from the train station and pretend to be Lord Bottomley proposing, to get Lorraine to leave. However, Whiteside soon sees through the ruse and when Lorraine realizes Maggie's involvement, she starts to seduce Bert as revenge. The next day, Christmas, Bert is enthralled with Lorraine, and Maggie, hurt by Whiteside's betrayal, tells him she is quitting. Feeling guilty, Sherry tries to think of a way to get Lorraine out of Mesalia. He gets help from an unexpected visit by his friend, movie comedian Banjo. Mr. Stanley, however, furious at Whiteside's interference with his family, has now ordered Sherry's eviction from the house and gives him fifteen minutes to leave. All looks hopeless until an Egyptian mummy case is delivered to Whiteside (a Christmas gift from the Khedive of Egypt). Whiteside and Banjo manage to trick Lorraine into the mummy case and shut her inside. Sherry then sees a photo of Harriet Stanley when she was younger, and recognizes her as a famous axe murderer. Using this information, he blackmails Mr. Stanley into helping them get the case onto Banjo's plane. Whiteside now stands, telling Maggie she is free to marry Bert and prepares to return to New York by train. Unfortunately, as he is leaving the house, he slips on another patch of ice, injuring himself again. He is carried back inside the house screaming as the curtain falls.
The Man Who Changed His Name is a mystery play by the British writer Edgar Wallace, which was first staged in 1928. A young woman begins to suspect that her wealthy, respectable husband may be an escaped Canadian murderer. Its initial run lasted for 77 performances at the Apollo Theatre in the West End. The original cast included James Raglan, Hartley Power and Dorothy Dickson.
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