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Clear filtersThe Perplexities is a 1767 comedy play by the British actor and writer Thomas Hull. It was a reworking of an earlier Restoration-era play Adventures of Five Hours by Samuel Tuke, itself based on an original Spanish work. The original Covent Garden cast included Hull himself as Don Juan, William Smith as Don Antonio, David Ross as Don Henriquez, George Mattocks as Don Florio, John Cushing as Ernesto, Maria Macklin as Honoria, Mary Bulkley as Felicia and Jane Green as Rosa.
The Persian Princess is a 1708 tragedy by the British writer Lewis Theobald. It was performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It is also written as The Persian Princess: or, The Royal Villain. The play was not a great success and Theobald himself wrote disparagingly of it, although its acceptance to be staged at a major theatre suggests that it was seen as having merit. Along with his later work The Perfidious Brother, it has been examined for textual clues in light of the authorship of Double Falsehood a play that Theobald claimed to be based on a lost William Shakespeare work. The original Drury Lane cast included Theophilus Keene as Memnon, Robert Wilks as Artaban, John Mills as Oxartes, Barton Booth as Mirvan, John Corey as Barzanes and Thomas Smith as High Priest.
In Susa, Queen Atossa and the Persian elders await news of Xerxes's campaign against Greece. A messenger reports the Persian defeat at Salamis; the ghost of Darius condemns Xerxes's hubris, and Xerxes returns in grief to lament the losses with the chorus.
Act I The play opens inside the Black Mesa Bar-B-Q cafe, with two telegraph linemen eating lunch. Boze Hertzlinger sits with the linemen, while one of them discusses the advantages of Russian communism. Gramp Maple sits in his rocking chair, half-listening to the talk. When the word "pioneer" is used, Gramp perks up and the second lineman draws him into the conversation, hoping to divert it. A car horn is heard; Jason Maples enters and orders Boze outside to fill a customer's gas tank. Paula brings the linemen their dessert. When the linemen leave Jason scolds Gramp for boring the customers, and says he'll report them for being pinkos. Jason argues with Gramp about selling the business to Dana Trimble, so they can relocate to Los Angeles and open a garage. Gabby enters and agrees with Jason, but she wants to use some of the proceeds to live with her mother in France and study art. After Jason leaves for his American Legion meeting, Boze romances Gabby, is rebuffed at first but is making progress when Alan Squier enters. Squier orders a meal; while eating, he and Gabby tell each other their stories. She is fascinated with his conversation. She shows him the book she is reading, poetry by François Villon, with which Squier is familiar. Squier asks where the road outside leads and is told about the petrified forest. He feels that maybe this is his destination. Gabby confesses her dream of painting in France; he counters by musing about French artists yearning to paint the Arizona desert. Herb enters the cafe to pick up some food and beer. He mentions to Boze the Duke Mantee gang seems to be heading their way. Gabby shows Squier some of her watercolor paintings, which he says are in the "Dufy manner". Squier confesses he can't pay for the meal; Boze is angry but Gabby shrugs it off. The Chisholms now enter with Joseph, having arrived in their Duesenberg touring car. Joseph orders gas and oil, which Boze exits to fulfill. Gabby asks them to take Squier in their car to Phoenix. Mr. Chisholm reluctantly agrees, after Joseph searches Squier for weapons. They depart, and Boze now makes the big play for Gabby. Thinking Squier is out of her life, she agrees to go outside with Boze just to see what it's like. But before they can leave, Duke Mantee and his gang enter the cafe, having arrived in the Chisholm's hijacked Duesenberg. Jackie and Ruby carry tommy guns, with Jackie also carrying a sawed-off shotgun. Pyles stays outside in the Duesenberg, watching the road. When Duke takes off his suit coat he has two shoulder holsters with revolvers. The gang brings Gramp and Paula into the lunchroom. Paula is sent to the kitchen to cook food for the gang. Having been abandoned on the road, Squier returns to the cafe to get help, but is re-captured by the gang. Duke is gracious, allowing Squiers to have a drink. (Curtain) Act II (Thirty minutes later) Boze and Squier sit at one table, Gramps and Paula at the other. Only Gabby is free to move around. Duke and Jackie are finishing eating, while Ruby watches the captives. Gramp regales the gangsters with his memories. Boze calls the gangsters yellow. Jackie scares Boze by having him stand up and move away from the others until Duke tells them both to sit down. From the radio they hear that one of the gang's cars with a woman in it has knocked over a police station in a small Texas town, seizing arms and ammo. Duke reacts to Jackie or Ruby mentioning Doris by saying shut up. Ruby is sent to relieve Pyles in the car, so he can come in and eat. Duke tells Paula to cook Pyles some hamburger and sends him along to the kitchen to keep an eye on her and find some rope. Pyles asks when they were going to get moving again; Duke replies when it's time. Jackie winks at Pyles and says the boss has got a heavy date. Pyles suggests getting out of range is more important than a dame. Gramp asks Squier to pass the bottle over, which Gabby nixes. Jackie challenges Gramp when he reaches for his pipe, but Duke tells him to go ahead and smoke. Boze yells at Squier for drinking when can't pay for it, but Squier admits to having a dollar Gabby gave him. Stung, Boze replies that she was going to give him something else, causing Gabby to erupt with fury at Boze. He backs down immediately, begging her forgiveness. Gabby tells Squier about her near fall, who in turns consoles Boze. Jackie is amused and wishes Boze good luck. He goes into the kitchen with the map, leaving the shot gun on the table. Duke Mantee is affable with the philosophical musings of a slightly tipsy Squier, who suggests they both belong in the petrified forest along with the other obsolete detritus of civilization. Gabby in turn declares she's in love with Squier, but knows he doesn't reciprocate the feeling. She tells Boze that's why she was willing to go with him. Squier scolds Gramp for hanging onto his money when it might be better for him to die and let his granddaughter make use of it. This draws a stern rebuke from Duke for talking to an old man that way. With Jackie and Pyles in the kitchen, Boze seizes the shotgun when Duke is distracted. Boze holds Duke at bay, but just then the Chisholms and Joseph enter. Mrs. Chisholm screams, and as Boze swerves the shotgun to cover them, Duke draws a revolver and wounds Boze. Jackie and Pyles burst in; Boze is taken into the kitchen for bandaging by Gabby and to be tied up by Jackie and Pyles. Squier now takes out his life insurance policy, and changes the beneficiary to Gabby. He asks the Chisholms to witness it, and hands it to Gramp for holding. Squier then asks Duke to kill him just before the gang leaves, but admonishes the Chisholms and Gramp to not let Gabby know it wasn't in cold-blood. Duke agrees, and when Pyles comes in they all have a drink. Pyles is ready to hand one to Gramp, but Duke stops him, saying the girl didn't want that. So Pyles hands it to Joseph instead, then gets irked when he looks to Mr. Chisholm for permission to drink it. Pyles again urges Duke to leave now, that Doris and the others must have got lost in the panhandle. Duke says she was the one to pick this rendezvous. Gramp calls Squier a fool, saying no woman was worth $5000. Squier refutes him by pointing out that Duke could have left already but is risking death waiting for Doris. When Gabby returns, Mrs Chisholm urges her to go to France and not sacrifice herself. Her self-confessions are interrupted by the arrival of Jason and two other legionnaires, escorted by Ruby and his tommy gun. The three legionnaires are seated on the floor. Duke smirks at their "pansy uniforms" but is surprised to learn they were hunting the gang here. Hendy tells the gang that the cops caught the other car and the dame in it squealed, so the whole manhunt is shifting this way. Another car stops well short of the cafe; Sheriff and his deputies start flanking the cafe. Duke sends Jackie to cover the rear entrance and has Ruby get the Dusenberg ready. Pyles and Duke begin exchanging shots with the deputies in front. Duke has the three legionnaires, Joseph, and the Chisholms mount the running boards of the Dusenberg as human shields. He sends Pyles to fetch Jackie, but the latter is already dead, gunned down by the Sheriff. Duke sends Pyles to the Dusenberg, and upon Squier's insistence, shoots him just before he leaves, saying they'll be meeting again soon. The Sheriff and two deputies, guns drawn come in through the back entrance. Gabby has moved Squier to a chair at a table where he soon dies. Duke and his gang make their escape, letting their hostages go a mile down the road. Gabby recites Villon's poetry over Squier's body, as Gramp holds the insurance policy.(Curtain)
A stage dramatization of Sologub’s novel about provincial schoolteacher Peredonov, whose pursuit of promotion is distorted by corruption and paranoia.
The first act begins with two owners of an inn, Janet and Davy, on their wedding night. There is a big storm when the landlord's daughter Lucy Peveryl asks Davy to accompany her to the treacherous Raby Castle to see her love, Roland. The Ruins of the Raby, as the castle is commonly referred as, are abandoned and there is a legend that some sort of demon is there and anyone who goes inside is horrified to death. Davy agrees cautiously to lead Lucy to the ruins of the Raby. They are joined by Lord Albert Clavering, Neville, Guy, Ellen, and Maude, who had all been staying at the inn. When the bridge that leads them to the castle is knocked down by the storm, they have to take shelter in the castle. There they meet a man who identifies as a puritan living in the castle. This is Alan Raby, who is the phantom demon described in the legends. Davy is suspicious, but the others are unbothered by his presence. After discovering Roland is dead, everyone is terrified as a scream is heard from Lucy's room. Lucy runs out of her room into Lord Clavering's arms and dies, appearing to have been murdered. Alan then comes out and is shot by Lord Clavering in the heart. Lord Clavering believes he has mistakenly shot a good puritan and obeys Alan's request to place his body in the moonlight. After the group leaves to return to the inn, Alan is seen resurrecting by the power of the moon. The second act is set many years later and introduces Colonel Raby, Edgar, Dr. Reese and Ada Raby. Outside the castle, Colonel Raby announces that the village citizens will assemble in the castle, where he will wed Ada Raby. Stump and Jenny are introduced as lovers who reveal that Ada had died, but was brought back to life by a mysterious creature. When she was brought back to life, she never had the same personality as before. A will from Alan Raby is discovered and there is a case of Alan Raby being caught living longer than normal under different pen names. Alan forces Ada into a marriage ceremony, but Edgar challenges him to a duel. Alan is killed in the duel, and his body is cast into a dark abyss so the moon will never bring him back to life.
In Madrid, Doña Ángela seeks to win Don Manuel while avoiding the notice of her brothers, who confine and watch over her. Using an ingenious hidden means of communication that gives him the impression of an invisible woman, she draws him into a mysterious courtship.
The Philadelphia Story is a 1939 American comic play by Philip Barry. It tells the story of a socialite whose wedding plans are complicated by the simultaneous arrival of her ex-husband and an attractive journalist.
Leonard Charteris juggles the affections of Grace Tranfield and Julia Craven while insisting he will marry neither. At the Ibsen Club, medical and romantic entanglements complicate their relationships; Julia ultimately accepts a proposal from Dr. Paramore, and she and Grace congratulate each other on escaping Charteris.
At an English university, don Philip and his fiancée Celia host a dinner for fellow lecturer Donald, writer Braham, Araminta, Liz and student John. After a tutorial in which Philip and Donald critique John’s implausible play, the guests pair off; the next morning reveals the emotional and sexual consequences of their awkward encounters.
In the Bessemenov household, a once-commanding father struggles to control his adult children as they try to break away from his authority. Their arguments and family dramas unfold within the home, against the tension of a generational shift.
In a society where everyone's DNA is mapped and ranked, people are judged by the quality of their genes. Bea, Aaron and their friend Char navigate this genetic hierarchy and its social consequences.
Jocasta tries to reconcile her sons Eteocles and Polynices, who dispute the throne of Thebes. As war approaches, Teiresias says Creon must sacrifice his son Menoeceus to save the city. Menoeceus does so, but the brothers kill each other in a duel and Jocasta takes her life. Antigone defies Creon's burial order and accompanies her exiled father Oedipus.
Prince Phoenix disguises himself to investigate abuses in his father’s kingdom. With Fidelio, he exposes corrupt courtiers, a predatory justice and a scheming captain, then reveals the conspiracies and assumes power.
In a small Bulgarian town, storekeeper Hadzhi Kosta objects to his wife’s and daughter’s spending on foreign clothes and accessories. He also worries that his family is abandoning its traditions and adopting fashionable behavior promoted by foreign brands and local snobs.
In a psychiatric sanatorium, three physicists who claim to be Newton, Einstein, and in contact with King Solomon are revealed as spies or as Möbius, who feigned madness to contain dangerous scientific discoveries. They agree to remain imprisoned to protect humanity, but the director has secretly copied Möbius's work and plans to build an empire.
Scene 1: Boy Willie and Lymon arrive in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from Mississippi and enter the Charles' household at five in the morning. They have brought a truck of watermelons to sell. Against Doaker's advice, Boy Willie wakes his sister Berniece, and tells her of Sutter's death. Berniece accuses Boy Willie of shoving Sutter down a well, and she asks him to leave. Instead, Boy Willie wakes Berniece's daughter, Maretha, causing Berniece to run back up the stairs where she sees Sutter's ghost. Lymon notices the piano which Willie intends to sell to buy Sutter's land. Doaker insists that Berniece will not sell the piano, because she refused to sell when Avery brought a buyer to the house. Willie insists that he will convince her. Maretha comes downstairs, and Willie asks her to play the piano. She plays the beginning of a few simple tunes, and he answers her song with a boogie-woogie. Berniece enters with Avery, and Willie asks whether she still has the prospective buyer's name, explaining he came to Pittsburgh to sell the piano. Berniece refuses to listen and walks out. Scene 2: Wining Boy and Doaker talk in the kitchen when Boy Willie and Lymon enter and claim to have located the piano buyer. Willie's uncles warn him that Sutter will cheat him but Boy Willie refuses to listen. The story behind Lymon and Boy Willie's term in Parchman Prison Farm is revealed. Lymon and Willie both gather different perspectives from their experiences. Lymon wants to flee to the North where he will be better treated, while Willie feels that whites only treat blacks badly if the blacks do not try to stop them. They ask Wining Boy to play the piano, but instead he explains that being seen as nothing more than a piano player became a burden. Doaker then tells the story of the piano's history. Generations earlier, Sutter, their family's slave-owner, broke up a family by selling a mother and child to pay for the piano which he bought for his wife as an anniversary present. The wife was happy with the piano but missed having the slaves, so Sutter had that family's husband/father (who was a carpenter and too valuable to sell), carve their likenesses on the piano. He carved likenesses of his entire history on the piano. In 1911, Boy Willie's father stole the piano from the Sutters; in retaliation he was killed. Willie declares that these are stories of the past and that the piano should now be put to good use. Willie and Lymon attempt to move the piano to test its weight. As soon as they try to move it, Sutter's ghost is heard. Berniece tells Willie to stop and informs him that he is selling his soul for money. Willie refutes her, Berniece blames Crawley's death on Willie, and the two engage in a fight. Upstairs, Maretha is confronted by the ghosts, and she screams in terror. Scene 1: Doaker and Wining Boy are again together in the house alone. Doaker confesses that he saw Sutter's ghost playing the piano and feels that Berniece should discard the piano so as to prevent spirits from traumatizing the Charles family. Wining Boy disagrees. Lymon and Willie walk into the room after a watermelon sale. Wining Boy sells his suit and shoes to Lymon, promising its swooning effects on women. Both Lymon and Willie leave the house in hot pursuit of women. Scene 2: Later that day as Berniece is preparing for her bath, Avery enters and proposes that Berniece should open up and let go. He tells her that she cannot continue to live her life with Crawley's memory shut inside her. Berniece changes the topic and asks Avery to bless the house, hoping to destroy the spirit of the Sutter ghost. Avery then brings up the piano and tells Berniece she should learn to not be afraid of her family's spirits and play it again. Berniece breaks down her story of her mother's tears and blood mingled with her father's soul on the piano and refuses to open her wounds for everyone to see. Scenes 3–5: Boy Willie enters the Charles house with Grace and begins to fool around on the couch. Berniece orders them out and opens the door to see Lymon. Lymon is upset over his inability to woo women and begins to talk about women's virtues to Berniece. The two kiss, breaking Berniece's discomfort over Crawley's death, and Berniece heads back upstairs. The next morning, Lymon and Willie try to move the piano out and are stopped by Uncle Doaker. Willie, frustrated, demands that he will sell the piano no matter what. The day to move the piano draws closer. Excited to sell the piano, Willie quickly partakes on his actions without a care of his sister's words. Berniece appears with Crawley's gun, leading Doaker and Avery to urge them to talk it through first. Sutter's presence as a ghost is suddenly revived. Avery attempts to drive the ghost away with his blessings but is not successful. Suddenly, Berniece knows that she must play the piano again as a plea to her ancestors. Finally, the house is led to a calm aura, and Willie leaves to head back to Mississippi. Before leaving however, he reminds Berniece to keep playing on the piano, or he and Sutter will return.
After her husband and son die, celebrated pianist Erin avoids the piano for two years. Piano teacher Elaine helps her return to music and hope, while the arrival of renovator Tom brings a new relationship and prompts Elaine to question her own choice to teach rather than perform.
An expatriate Australian actor returns from England to Australia to star in a film adaptation of a successful Australian novel.
Before leaving for war, the Bohemian knight Mathias receives a portrait that changes color if his wife Sophia is tempted or unfaithful. When Queen Honoria and two courtiers manipulate the couple, the portrait fuels jealousy and desire, until Sophia turns the seducers’ plan against them and the royal pair confronts its own conduct.
A painter tries to sell a picture to a shrewd businessman, whose sister later dominates him; after he shoots her, she and the neighbor transform, and the painter returns as Prince Charming.
The Picture of Dorian Gray is a stage play written by Australian writer Kip Williams, based on the 1891 novel of the same name by Oscar Wilde. The play has one performer portraying 26 roles from the original novel.
A comic story based on Havel’s effort to hold a pig roast for his friends. For the stage version, Morávek expanded Havel’s 1987 dialogue with roles for characters previously mentioned in passing and incorporated sections from the Czech work The Bartered Bride.
Alinda flees her father’s attempt to force her into marriage and disguises herself as a boy while seeking Pedro, who is travelling in pilgrim’s garb. Their journeys cross with outlaw Roderigo and the madhouse at Segovia; after several disguises and misadventures, Pedro and Alinda reunite and Roderigo seeks royal pardon.
Girolamo Bargagli's court play was staged for the 1589 Medici-Lorraine wedding with six elaborate musical interludes and scenic designs by Bernardo Buontalenti.
Two students, Philomusus and Studioso, travel allegorically through stages of university learning toward Parnassus. They encounter figures who tempt them away from scholarship before they resume their journey.
Businessman Karsten Bernick's concealed misconduct resurfaces when his brother-in-law returns, while Bernick risks a ship and its crew to protect his reputation and plans.
Katurian, a writer of short stories that often depict violence against children, has been arrested by two detectives, Ariel and Tupolski, because some of his stories resemble recent child murders. When he hears that his brother Michal has confessed to the murders and implicated Katurian, he resigns himself to being executed but attempts to save his stories from destruction. The play contains both narrations and reenactments of several of Katurian's stories, including the autobiographical "The Writer and the Writer's Brother", which tells how Katurian developed his disturbed imagination by hearing the sounds of Michal being tortured by their parents.
Two wives test their husbands' fidelity by sending them invitations to a masked ball. Their husbands accept, but a mischievous maid in a similar pink domino gown creates a tangle of mistaken identities, secret suppers, and misplaced blame.
Presley and his sister Haley live in an isolated, childish world in London's East End. They let in Cosmo Disney, an insect-eating showman, and his masked partner Pitchfork Cavalier; Cosmo sexually assaults Haley, and Presley drives him away, leaving the siblings frightened by the encounter.
Set in Ashington in 1934, Lee Hall’s play dramatizes the Ashington Group, the community of painters whose story inspired the work.
Captain Manly, a sailor who distrusts nearly everyone, seeks revenge after Olivia leaves him for his friend Vernish. He sends a disguised page to seduce Olivia, then discovers the page is Fidelia, who loves him, and marries her.
The Platonick Lady is a 1706 comedy play by the British writer Susanna Centlivre. Staged at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket in November 1706, it was published the following year and is sometimes dated as 1707. In the play's preface the author defended the right of woman to write plays. The plot revolves around the question of platonic friendship. The cast included Thomas Betterton as Sir Thomas Beaumont, Barton Booth as Sir Charles Richley, Robert Wilks as Captain Beaumont, Colley Cibber as Sharper, George Pack as Robin, Henry Norris as Equipage, Anne Bracegirdle as Lucinda, Anne Oldfield as Isabella, Margaret Bicknell as Toylet, William Bullock as Mrs Brazen, Elizabeth Willis as Mrs Dowdy, Margaret Mills as Betty and Elinor Leigh as Peeper.
Theander and Eurithea begin with idealized intellectual love, while their siblings Phylomont and Ariola represent a more physical romance. When medicine changes Theander's view of women, his courtly equality with Eurithea gives way to a controlling marriage, exposing the pretensions of platonic love.
The Play About the Baby is a play by Edward Albee.
The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society, after being forced by a lack of personnel to stage scaled-down productions such as Two Sisters, The Lion and The Wardrobe, Cat, and James and the Peach, has received a substantial bequest and is putting on a performance of The Murder at Haversham Manor – a 1920s murder mystery play, similar to The Mousetrap, which has the right number of parts for its members. The cast is headed by Chris Bean, who plays Inspector Carter and serves as the show's director, set designer, costume designer, props maker, box office manager, press and PR person, voice and dialect coach, and fight choreographer. Before the play starts the backstage staff makes last-minute adjustments to the set, including trying to mend a broken mantelpiece and find a dog that has run off. During the performance, a plethora of disasters befalls the actors, including doors sticking or failing to stay closed, loose floorboards, set pieces falling, and platforms collapsing. Cast members fall down, are struck by set pieces, misplace and break props, forget lines, miss cues, break character, drink white spirit instead of Scotch whisky, mispronounce words, step on fingers, are hidden in a grandfather clock, and are manhandled off stage. One cast member is knocked unconscious, and her replacement (the group's technician reading the lines from a script) refuses to yield when the actress returns. An actor repeats an earlier line of dialogue, cuing the other actors to repeat the whole dialogue sequence, ever more frenetically, several times. During intermission, a few of the actors will interact directly with patrons in the lobby as Bean desperately tries to corral them back into the dressing room. In the climax, virtually the whole of the remaining set collapses.
Its title is drawn from one of Morecambe and Wise's catchphrases, as is "A Tight Squeeze for the Scarlet Pimple", the "play within a play" (with a cameo by a mystery guest star) which formed the play's second half. It is named after the "play wot I wrote", a series of inept plays, supposedly written by a proud Ernie Wise, and featuring a celebrity guest which formed the finale to each Morecambe and Wise show. In The Play What I Wrote, "Sean" writes a similarly inept play and is humoured by "Hamish" in the first half by having it performed. As in the Morecambe and Wise antecedent, the celebrity would play him or herself set up to appear, rather foolishly, as the title character of this play within a play. Celebrities who appeared as the mystery guest during the show's London run included Ralph Fiennes (who appeared on opening night), Ewan McGregor, Bob Geldof, Cilla Black and Sue Johnston. Kevin Kline, Roger Moore (who suffered a heart attack onstage during a performance), Alan Alda, Al Roker, Jeff Goldblum and Daniel Radcliffe were among those who appeared in the Broadway run.
The Play is the Plot is a 1718 comedy play by the British writer John Durant Breval. Originally staged at the Drury Lane Theatre the cast featured Benjamin Johnson as Sir Barnaby Bindover, Thomas Walker as Captain Carbine, William Pinkethman as Colonel Ringwood, Henry Norris as Buskin, William Bowen as Truncheon, Colley Cibber as Peter Pirate, James Oates as Jeremy, Joe Miller as Machone, Margaret Saunders as Prudentia and Susanna Mountfort as Fidelia. In 1723 Breval rewrote his work as an afterpiece retitled The Strollers which enjoyed considerable success.
When God sends Death to summon the wealthy Everyman, he has one hour to find someone to accompany him. Friends and riches refuse; Good Deeds and Faith join him as his journey confronts his treatment of the poor and his spiritual neglect. Sterling's reworking adds War and Workman and reshapes the medieval morality story through modern social themes.
A two-act stage adaptation of Potok's novel, created at the request of Philadelphia Festival of New Plays producer/director Carol Rocamora. The adaptation reshapes the book into a play about its central character, a young rabbi and military chaplain whose encounter with other faiths unsettles his beliefs.
Wit falls in love with Lady Science and sets out to defeat her enemy, Tediousness. After disregarding advice and suffering setbacks involving Idleness and Ignorance, he learns to use reason and instruction, reunites with his companions, and joins them to defeat Tediousness before agreeing to marry Science.
Jupiter descends from a divine parliament to hear people’s competing requests for weather. After a series of petitioners—including a hunter, merchant, millers, gentlewoman, laundress and boy—argue for conditions suited to their work or pleasure, Jupiter concludes that no one group matters more than another and leaves the weather unchanged.
When composer Albert overhears his fiancée Ilona's suggestive conversation with the actor Almady, playwright Turai devises a plan to save their engagement: he writes a play incorporating their words and persuades them to perform it as a rehearsal. The performance persuades Albert that the earlier conversation was only acting.
Christy Mahon arrives at an Irish pub claiming to have killed his father and becomes a local hero. When his father appears alive, the villagers turn on Christy; his second attack leads them to try to hang him, until the father survives again and leaves with his son.
A five-act theatrical anthology begins with actors auditioning for a vacant playhouse, then links a translation of Molière’s Sganarelle, two earlier Davenant dramatic tableaux, and a final burlesque of tragedy. The pieces range across comedy, historical spectacle and parody, while the framing act comments on the theatre and its performers.
Fortunatus chooses wealth over wisdom when Fortune offers him gifts and receives a purse that supplies gold. After his death, his sons inherit the purse and a magical travel hat, but their pursuit of pleasure and power brings deception, transformation and ruin; the play ends by asking Elizabeth I to judge whether Vice or Virtue has triumphed.
Günter Grass criticizes Bertolt Brecht and the Berliner Ensemble for their inaction during the 1953 East German uprising.
The Pledge; Or, Castilian Honour is an 1831 tragedy by the British writer James Kenney. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 8 April 1831. It is inspired by the play Hernani by French writer Victor Hugo. The original London cast included William Macready as Don Leo, Henry John Wallack as Hernani, John Cooper as Don Carlos and George Yarnold as Don Ricardo.
Set in a Dublin tenement and pub, the first two acts portray working-class life before the Easter Rising, while the last two follow residents through the 1916 rebellion. Jack Clitheroe joins the fighting despite Nora's pleas; the Rising brings death, looting and loss to the tenement community.
During a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, actors Simon and Phyllida discover that the rest of the company has walked out and is drinking at a nearby pub. With the help of stage manager Jo and other theatre staff, they try to keep the show going in a surreal backstage comedy.
A 90-minute theatrical history of classical music told through the lives of 26 composers, with six actor-musicians performing and a host guiding the audience. The show includes comic musical examples and excerpts.
In a mythical country where opposition has disappeared, the chief of police orders an officer to commit political crimes so the force will have an enemy; the play’s absurdist disorder culminates in the characters repeatedly arresting one another.
A satire inspired by recent political events in Hamburg, ridiculing a group of craftsmen's involvement in politics. The play also treats class conflict and political rebellion with some ambiguity.
In Norway, Gotharus manipulates the king and his heirs through forged letters, political marriages, and murder plots to control the throne. His schemes collapse amid a popular rebellion and poisonings.
A solo monologue performed by one actor who shifts rapidly among multiple characters, with caustic asides puncturing everyday conversation.
A Londoner stranded in Liverpool persuades Tina to take a day off, and the two spend the day exploring the city together. The play uses a mixture of verse and prose.
Marya Andreyevna, a poor young woman, is left with few options beyond waiting or seeking a suitable fiancé. Ostrovsky’s play uses her predicament to satirize romantic posturing and expose women’s constrained position in society.
The Poor Gentleman is an 1801 comedy play by the British writer George Colman the Younger. It premiered at London's Theatre Royal, Covent Garden on 11 February 1801. The original cast included Charles Murray as Lieutenant Worthington, Thomas Knight as Corporal Foss, Henry Erskine Johnston as Sir Charles Cropland, George Davenport as Warner, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Sir Robert Bramble, William Thomas Lewis as Frederick Bramble, John Waddy as Humphrey Dobbins, John Emery as Stephen Harrowby, John Fawcett as Doctor Ollapod, Maria Gibbs as Emily Worthington and Isabella Mattocks as Lucretia MacTab. It was revived in 1829 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. In 1845 it appeared at the Chestnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia and the Park Theatre in New York.
Old shepherd Gisbert seeks justice after his daughter Urania is deserted by her noble husband. Denied redress in court, Gisbert journeys through a corrupt society of shepherds, shipwrecked princesses and venal lawyers before justice is finally achieved.
Setting: The office of Gideon Bloodgood, bank owner. The act opens with Bloodgood preparing to abscond to England. He has been following the stock market and knows that his bank will collapse the following day. He reveals that he has done everything for his daughter's fortunes. Badger, a clerk in the bank, enters and successfully blackmails Bloodgood with the knowledge that Badger has been keeping an account of Bloodgood's dealings. Captain Fairweather enters and deposits his life savings with Bloodgood personally. Captain Fairweather has discovered that his previous bank was about to collapse and removed his money; he believes Bloodgood to be sound. He exits with a receipt for his deposit. The Captain returns demanding his money back: His ship's owners have filled him in on the rumors about Bloodgood's finances. Bloodgood refuses to return the money and in the heated discussion that follows the Captain dies of a heart attack. Badger helps Bloodgood dispose of the Captain's body and acquires the deposit slip. End Tableau: Bloodgood and Badger triumphant separately over the prostrate Captain. Setting: The park near Tammany Hall.; Mark Livingstone explains how he has gone from a position of wealth and society to poverty and hunger. Puffy the baker enters selling sweet potatoes. He recognizes Livingstone as a former customer and explains how he has come down in the world due to the crash. He mentions his lodgers, the Fairweathers, and their fate in the crash. Livingstone reveals that he knows the Fairweathers, particularly that he had feelings for Lucy. Mrs. Fairweather and her son Paul enter. Paul demands an account of Livingstone's actions given his interest in Lucy, and Livingstone is forced to reveal his poverty. Bloodgood enters, demanding rent from Puffy. All exit except for Livingstone who gives a rousing speech about how the true poor of New York are the newly impoverished middle class. He is forced to exit by the police. Setting: Exterior of Bloodgood's Bank, Nassau St.; Bloodgood recounts his crime, twenty years before to the day on that spot, and how the Captain's money secured his fortune. Alida Bloodgood enters, demanding money from her father for her lover's gambling debts. Bloodgood returns with Puffy. Puffy offers Bloodgood the note Mrs. Fairweather has given him in lieu of paying his rent. Bloodgood exults that he now has two sources to extort. Setting: The interior of Puffy's house.; Mrs. Fairweather and Lucy Fairweather are setting the table for dinner in expectation of Livingstone visiting. Mrs. Puffy and her son Dan enter and help, adding to the food to be provided and offering to act as servants when Mrs. Fairweather insists they join in the meal. Livingstone and Paul Fairweather enter and the Puffys serve the meal. All are setting down to eat when sheriff's officers enter and demand payment of rent and Mrs. Fairweather's note. Livingstone reveals that he is unable to save his friends by making the payment for them. End Tableau. Setting: The interior of Bloodgood's residence.; Bloodgood is writing at his desk; Alida is reading an account of Bloodgood in the New York Herald, describing him as a financial vulture. Alida reveals her desire to enter high society, which has so far snubbed her. Livingstone requests entrance which Bloodgood denies but Alida forces her father to accept. Livingstone asks for a loan and admits that he is ruined. Bloodgood refuses, but Alida forces him to restore Livingstone's fortune so that she might purchase him as a husband. Badger enters, announcing his return from California. Lucy Fairweather enters to work on Alida's dress. The ladies exit and Badger extorts Bloodgood for more money, revealing that he has the receipt. Paul Fairweather enters, requesting leniency in regard to his mother's note. Badger recognizes him as the true heir to Captain Fairweather's fortune. Bloodgood offers Paul a position in Rio de Janeiro to foil Badger's threat of informing the heirs of Captain Fairweather and calls for the police. Lucy attempts to leave and encounters Livingstone returning to receive Bloodgood's loan. Livingstone professes his love to Lucy. Alida overhears and informs Lucy that she intends to purchase Livingstone as a husband, and that without her aid Livingstone will be ruined. Livingstone enters acknowledging Alida as his benefactor, without whose aid he was planning to commit suicide. Lucy renounces her love for Livingstone. Badger, Bloodgood and the police enter. Badger is arrested but has hidden the receipt in his lodgings, foiling Bloodgood. Setting: Union Square, snow falling.; Puffy is selling roasted chestnuts. Paul is crouched in a corner. Dan enters carrying luggage for a gentleman. Puffy and Dan converse about their fallen fortunes. Mrs. Puffy enters with their dinner. All three decide to give some to Paul, without recognizing him. He is sleeping and does not wake. Badger enters attempting to sell matches to a gentleman. Mrs. Fairweather enters determined to sell her wedding ring in order to provide food for her children. Badger takes her ring, but returns it and directs her to a saloon warning her not to show it to strangers. Bloodgood enters waiting for the end of an opera. Badger attempts to sell him an opera program before recognizing him. Bloodgood threatens him with a revolver but Badger disarms him with the threat of a knife that he knows how to use from the California gold fields (see the cowardly nature of melodramatic villains). Badger reveals that he has gotten out of prison, losing the Fairweathers to Bloodgood's machinations but keeping the receipt. Badger extorts Bloodgood with promise of a confession to the newspapers, and Bloodgood promises to bring money to Badger's lodgings in the Five Points neighborhood. Both exit. Mr. and Mrs. Puffy exit. Dan calls on Paul to help him with the luggage without recognizing him. Paul attempts to carry the trunk, but is too weak and the trunk is removed by a porter. Lucy and Mrs. Fairweather enter, both having failed to gain money either by work, selling the ring, or begging. They meet up with Paul and reveal the extent of their troubles. Paul sends them home promising to bring food. Setting: The Vestibule of the academy of music.; Alida and Livingstone enter. Alida revels in her triumph; Livingstone is bound to her father by debt and will marry her in one month, New York society now acknowledges her, and her lover still courts her to Livingstone's indifference. Paul enters looking for charity. Livingstone recognizes him and the two confer. Alida leaves for her lover's carriage. Livingstone tells Paul that he will aid the Fairweathers now that he has money, and gets their address, which turns out to be the same building that Badger is lodging in. Setting: Two adjoining attic rooms, 19 1/2 Cross St., the Five Points neighborhood.; Lucy and Mrs. Fairweather are in one room, Badger enters the other. Badger fantasizes about the money he will receive from Bloodgood, while Lucy and Mrs. Fairweather separately decide to commit suicide by asphyxiation from the charcoal burner they use to cook their food. The Fairweathers leave, each attempting to draw the other away from their suicide attempt. Bloodgood enters and threatens Badger with his pistol, but is disarmed by Badger who draws two large revolvers from concealment. Badger insists that Bloodgood return to his lodging with the money. The Fairweathers return. Mrs. Fairweather stops up the windows while Lucy returns with the brazier. The two realize that they share the same intent and state their reasons for suicide before succumbing to the lack of oxygen. Badger in the next room starts to feel the effects. Paul and Livingstone arrive and save Lucy and Mrs. Fairweather. Badger realizes that he is succumbing and hides the receipt. Paul hears his cries and enters his room at the same time as Bloodgood returns. Badger recognizes Paul and reveals to him that he has proof of Bloodgood's robbery, but passes out before he can retrieve the receipt. Setting: Brooklyn Heights, the garden of a cottage overlooking New York City and its harbor.; Mrs. Fairweather and Paul are seated at breakfast, being served by the Puffys. They converse about how Lucy is recovering and that Livingstone has set them up in their old home, found work for Paul and restored Puffy's bakery with a government contract. Livingstone has avoided visiting them because of Lucy's renunciation of their love. Badger enters, having nursed Lucy during her illness and now joining the police in a financial crimes unit. The receipt has not been recovered either by the Fairweathers or Bloodgood who has bought and locked up the building. Livingstone is to be married to Alida that night. Livingstone enters to say goodbye, and Badger reveals that Lucy in a fever confessed to refusing Livingstone's love so that he might regain his wealth. Livingstone and Lucy confirm their love. Dan enters, spying a fire in lower New York. He realizes that it is Badger's old lodgings. Badger determines that Bloodgood has set the fire to destroy the receipt and sets out to save the paper and the Fairweather's fortunes. Setting: The exterior of 19 1/2 Cross St. in Five Points.; Bloodgood is seen through the windows setting fires. He exits and locks the building. The fire is seen to spread. A crowd enters to watch. Badger enters and breaks into the building through a window. Dan attempts to follow him but returns, burned and overcome by the fire. The top of the building crumbles inwards and Badger is revealed in his old room. The building collapses further and Badger falls with it. Badger reappears in the ground floor and drags himself from the ruins, on fire. The crowd rescues him. End Tableau Setting: The Drawing room of the Bloodgood's Mansion on Madison Av.; Bloodgood enters, triumphant over the fire and destruction of the receipt. Alida enters dressed for the wedding. The wedding party is revealed.
A paranoid, drug-addled pope fears that 100,000 orphans gathered in St. Peter’s Square are part of a condom-manufacturers’ plot to embarrass the Church. A witch disguised as a nun arrives as an aide to his doctor, and the pope develops a paralyzing affliction.
In 1830s Europe, actor Rupert Sebastian Thomas Jr. causes a scandal while travelling to the Comédie-Française by insulting the French people. He flees to England and encounters a more dangerous situation. The farce centers on deception and disguise.
Johannes Thomasius faces trials on a path of spiritual initiation, while visions reveal his relationship with Maria across past lives.
Atalanta Lagana, a habitually widowed Greek-American tightwad, visits second-rate lawyer Barry Dragonetti to settle her latest husband's affairs. Her forceful manner unsettles the self-aggrandizing attorney, whose Croatian mother, opportunistic young lovers and political distractions add to the comic turmoil.
Camus's three-part theatrical adaptation of Dostoyevsky's novel, shaped by Camus's view of nihilism and its destructive effects. The production was a large-scale staging with 33 actors, seven sets and 24 scenes.
Amal, an ill child confined to his adoptive uncle's home, speaks with passers-by and imagines becoming a royal postman after a post office opens nearby. As the king's physician arrives, Amal dies while Sudha brings him flowers.
A drifter and an unfaithful wife conspire to kill her husband. Cain's stage adaptation was conceived in an impressionistic style and developed through rehearsal revisions.
During a family sermon, Elias tells a parable of pots that become different metals according to their response to God's instruction; the lesson provokes his wife Lucinda, whose attempt to leave with her lover ends in a fatal fall into a well, prompting Elias to rush after them.
As the Callifer family patriarch lies dying, his estranged son James returns, unable to remember a mysterious event in the family potting shed when he was fourteen. With a psychoanalyst’s help, James tries to recover the memory that left him alienated from his father and family.
Peasant farmhand Nikita seduces an orphan girl, abandons her, and marries Anisya after she poisons her husband. He then impregnates Anisya's daughter; under pressure from his wife and mother he murders the newborn, but confesses to the police on the day of the daughter's wedding.
A playwright stand-in interviews bankers, journalists, and people involved in the 2008 financial crisis to understand how it happened. Hare builds the drama from real interviews, often using their words verbatim, while questioning whether the people who impose a version of economic reality can make it prevail over events.
A new stage version of Chekhov’s Platonov, the play follows disillusioned schoolmaster Mikhail Platonov and the women drawn into his life at a country estate.
After an anarchist assassination attempt kills the president’s ally and the first lady’s dog, the president and his wife recover at the palace while their son is suspected of aiding the anarchists. On a later diplomatic visit to Portugal, the president entertains his mistress; he is assassinated offstage before a final lying-in-state scene.
This live Passion pageant retells the Gospel accounts of Jesus’s crucifixion through episodes from Preston’s local history. The story of Pontius Pilate is linked to the 1842 Preston strike, Mary’s story to a local soldier in World War I, and Jesus’s sacrifice to a schoolgirl caring for her younger siblings.
The Pretenders; Or, The Town Unmask'd is a 1698 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Dilke. It was first staged by Thomas Betterton's company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre with a cast that included John Thurmond as Lord Courtipell, Cave Underhill as Sir Wealthy Plainder, Edward Kynaston as Sir Bellamour Blunt, John Bowman as Vainthroat, George Bright as Captain Bownceby, William Bowen as Nickycrack, Elizabeth Bowman as Ophelia, Elinor Leigh as Sweetny, Abigail Lawson as Nibs and Elizabeth Willis as Doll.
Set in thirteenth-century Norway, the play follows the conflict between King-elect Håkon Håkonsson and Earl Skule Bårdsson as Håkon asserts royal power and Skule challenges him, ending with the rebellion's defeat and Skule's death.
A Spanish-themed love story centers on a light-hearted young woman, combining comedy and pathos.
The Price is a two-act play written in 1967 by Arthur Miller. It is about family dynamics, the price of furniture and the price of one's decisions. The play premiered on Broadway in 1968, and has been revived four times on Broadway. It was nominated for two 1968 Tony Awards. Miller stated that he wrote the play as a response to the Vietnam War and the "avant-garde plays that to one or another degree fit the absurd styles."
Two parallel love stories are counterpointed in Campbell’s drama.
Captain Basil Jennico, a wealthy young Englishman who inherits vast estates in Hungary, meets and marries Princess Marie Ottilie. The romantic drama follows the adventures of the couple.
A wandering priest receives a poem from an old man who vanishes; realizing the speaker was the spirit of a willow, the priest prays for it. The spirit attains Buddhahood and thanks him in a dance.
A village priest's gift of a gold cross to his orphaned ward Annerl gives his enemy, Count Finsterberg, and the vagrant Wurselsepp grounds to turn the parish against him. The priest loses his parish after allowing Wurselsepp's mother to be buried in consecrated ground; his love for Annerl also ends when she marries the peasant Michel.
Painter Ned Templeton takes his lover Joan Treghenna from Devon to Paris, where illness and poverty lead her to prostitute herself to obtain his food and medicine. After the pair move to New York and Ned becomes successful, he abandons Joan for another woman; Joan later rejects him and resolves to return to England.
The Primrose Path is a play by Robert Buckner and Walter Hart. A black comedy, the plot focuses on an impoverished Wallace family living just outside of Buffalo, New York who make ends meet through prostitution and robbery. It had a considerable amount of foul language in comparison to other plays of its period. It premiered on December 26, 1938, at the Maryland Theater in Baltimore, Maryland. It transferred to Broadway's Biltmore Theatre where it opened on Jan 4, 1939. While it received some of most scathing reviews from the New York critics in the 1938-1939 Broadway season, it had a successful run and was a commercial success. Produced and directed by George Abbott, the production used sets designed by the firm Cirker & Robbins and costumes designed by Helene Pons. The cast included Leslie Barrett as Davy Wallace, Marilyn Erskine as Eva Wallace, Betty Field as Clare Wallace, Florida Friebus as Maggie Wallace, Betty Garde as Emma Wallace, Philip Wood as Homer Wallace, Helen Westley as Grandma, Russell Hardie as Bayard Lawrence, Clyde Fillmore as Augustus Cummings, and Teresa Dale as the prison matron.
Trans women Sam and Jen discover they are trapped in Shakespeare’s plays and seek a way out. Jen’s attempts to help Hotspur, a transgender character in Henry IV, Part 1, disrupt the script and send the characters into other plays, including Hamlet. Hotspur resists escape until she dies in the battle and the play restarts, allowing Jen to guide the characters out.
Princess Monica disguises herself as a beggar maid to visit Prince Hildred’s castle and finds herself falling for his half-brother Olaf. Hildred’s attack on her state and a vow he manipulates her into making entangle Monica in a forced marriage to another brother, until the ceremony itself brings the conflict to a close.
A cavalry officer in the Elector of Brandenburg’s army sleepwalks, takes Princess Natalie’s glove, then disobeys orders during the Battle of Fehrbellin. Though his action helps win the battle, he is court-martialed and sentenced to death; the play follows his confrontation with that sentence and the Elector’s decision to pardon him.
In Parthia, the jealous Vardanes and Lysias conspire against Prince Arsaces, whose love for Evanthe also draws the desire of King Artabanus. After the king is murdered and Arsaces imprisoned, revelations and battle bring a tragic end for the lovers and conspirators.
In a fictionalized ancient Rome, captured Sicilian royals Facertes and Cicilia become entangled with Caesar’s children Virgilius and Sophia. A planned political marriage turns into love, while mistaken identities, slavery, rivalries and escape attempts complicate the young nobles’ path toward peace between Rome and Sicily.
In a blank-verse parody of Tennyson's poem, a princess who rules a women's university bars men from entering. Her betrothed prince and two companions disguise themselves as female students, provoking a contest in which the princess ultimately accepts him.
Princess Pannonia returns to London after her Hungarian husband’s death and falls in love with old friend Sir George Lamorant. Their plans are complicated by anxieties about middle age and by other romantic entanglements; the five-act comedy follows characters in London and Paris toward impulsive marriages.
The Princess of Cleve is a 1680 tragedy by the English writer Nathaniel Lee, inspired by the recent French novel La Princesse de Clèves by Madame de La Fayette set during the sixteenth century. It premiered at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London, staged by the Duke's Company. The original cast included Joseph Williams as Prince of Cleve, Thomas Betterton as Duke Nemours, Anthony Leigh as St. Andre, Thomas Gillow as Vidam of Chartres, James Nokes as Poltrot, Elizabeth Barry as Princess of Cleve, Mary Slingsby as Marguerite, Elinor Leigh as Tournon and Mary Betterton as Elianor. Incidental music was composed by Thomas Farmer. The play was not published until 1689.
After separating from her boyfriend, Kate invites close friends to a renovated, supposedly haunted priory for a New Year’s Eve party. As drinking and drug use lead to personal revelations, the gathering approaches tragedy and ends in a tense morning after.
The Prisoner at Large is a 1788 comedy play by the Irish John O'Keeffe. A farce, it premiered as an afterpiece at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London on 2 July 1788. The original cast included James Brown Williamson as Lord Esmond, William Henry Moss as Old Dowdle, Ralph Wewitzer as Count Fripon, Robert Palmer as Jack Connor, John Phillimore as Frill, John Edwin as Muns and Elizabeth Kemble as Adelaide. The Irish premiere took place at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 7 August 1789.
A middle-aged Manhattan couple faces mounting strains after the husband loses his job, including apartment disturbances and a burglary; his distress escalates into a breakdown, and his wife and family help him recover.
Set in post-Cold War Eastern Europe, David Edgar’s drama explores how the prisoner’s-dilemma problem from game theory plays out in political and social choices.
In a romance of adventure set around Sardinia and the sea, pirate Gillipus enslaves nobles and kidnaps princesses.
The mild young clergyman Robert Spalding is innocently drawn into two irresponsible young men’s scheme to evade creditors. One of them impersonates Spalding, while the real clergyman is hidden and harried until their deception is exposed.
A seemingly indifferent husband and wife discuss her pregnancy and his presumed affair, then reveal that each has been manipulating the other through elaborate deceptions. Their absurdly calm exchanges satirize Northeastern WASP attitudes and social prejudice.
During the Siege of Leningrad, a young woman and two young men first meet in a derelict room. She marries one man, later recognizes that he is the wrong partner, and eventually begins a new life with the other.
Set in the early First World War, the play explores the lead-up to the Balfour Declaration through the relationships among Herbert Samuel, Edwin Samuel Montagu, and Venetia Stanley.
Five cousins return home for the unveiling of a cousin who died by suicide a year earlier. Over three days on a basketball court, the cousins and the boy's mother confront teenage pregnancy, suicide, family ties and urban and rural Māori life.
The sorceress Delphia prophesies that the soldier Diocles will become emperor after killing a particular boar and marry her niece Drusilla. After Diocles kills the Roman usurper Aper and rises as Dioclesian, he forgets Drusilla and pursues Aurelia; Delphia’s magic redirects events, and Dioclesian ultimately defeats the Persians, abdicates, and retires with Drusilla.
The Provoked Husband is a 1728 comedy play by the British writer and actor Colley Cibber, based on a fragment of play written by John Vanbrugh. It is also known by the longer title The Provok'd Husband: or, a Journey to London. Vanbrugh had worked on a projected play A Journey to London for Cibber, a sharp comedy in the Restoration-style. Unfinished at his death in 1726, Vanbrugh left the manuscript to him. In need of a new play for the Drury Lane Theatre where he was a manager, Cibber finished it under a new title The Provoked Husband which echoed one of Vanbrugh's most popular works The Provoked Wife. He reworked it substantially, softening the character of Lady Loverule who was renamed Lady Townly, and adding a more conventional happy ending than Vanbrugh had intended. The original cast included Robert Wilks as Lord Townly, Anne Oldfield as Lady Townly, Mary Porter as Lady Grace, John Mills as Manly, Colley Cibber as Sir Francis Wronghead, Sarah Thurmond as Lady Wronghead, Jane Cibber as Jenny, Joe Miller as Moody and Roger Bridgewater as Count Basset. The play was a huge success and enjoyed a lengthy run at the theatre, boosting the finances of the struggling Drury Lane. It appeared to be the hit of the season, only to be eclipsed by the even more dramatic success of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera which opened three weeks later at the rival Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. The Provoked Husband was revived frequently over the following century, become a staple part of the repertory in many theatres.
Lady Brute, trapped in an unhappy and abusive marriage to Sir John, considers infidelity while he spends a drunken night out. She and her niece Belinda plan secret meetings with suitors, but are spied on by Lady Fanciful. Belinda wins her lover; after Sir John attempts to assault his wife and discovers two gallants hidden in his wardrobe, he accepts a duel to satisfy his honour.
The Provost of Bruges is a historical tragedy by the British writer George William Lovell. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 10 February 1836. The original cast featured William Macready as Bertulphe, Provost of Bruges, James Prescott Warde as Tancmar, Charles James Mathews as Gautier, Drinkwater Meadows as Phillipe, William Payne as Denis, Robert William Honner as Page, Ellen Kean as Constance and Mary Gossop Vining as Ursula.
After a court case destroys her reputation and leaves her facing large legal bills, TV psychic Sheila Gold accepts a wealthy couple’s request to contact their dead child. Hoping to exploit their grief for money, she encounters events that challenge her own beliefs.
Lorca’s unfinished play moves between a director’s room and a Roman ruin, with a surreal ensemble of theatrical figures, horses and characters from classical drama.
In this one-act puppet farce, the wealthy old doctor Don Cristóbal buys the young Rosita as his bride. Her continuing affairs provoke violent jealousy, while a Poet and Director frame the puppet action with arguments about how the story should unfold.
Set on a mid-19th-century ranch, this verse drama concerns an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister and a murder trial.
A widowed Puritan and her daughters are drawn into schemes by the con-man George Pieboard and his companions. Their staged prophecies and tricks set off a series of mistaken beliefs before the plots are exposed and the characters’ marriages are rearranged.
In a symbolic landscape, the oppressed Us's debate how to reach the Purple Flower guarded by White Devils; after books, labor, and gold fail, Finest Blood volunteers to confront one of the oppressors in a struggle for liberation.
A father takes his daughter on a cruise that turns out to be for swingers; the comedy examines how infidelity, boredom and the desire for more disrupt people's lives.
Set in Mountjoy Prison, the play follows prisoners and staff on the eve of an execution. The condemned man, called the Quare Fellow, is never seen; the other prisoners' reactions expose the brutality of capital punishment and the hypocrisy surrounding sex, politics and religion.
The Queen of Aragon pardons the misogynistic rebel Alphonso and marries him, but their marriage fractures when he continues to shun her. A courtier manipulates Alphonso toward reconciliation, while the Queen's general Velasco faces his own struggle to regain self-respect in a relationship with Salassa.
Nadya, the young widow of Archduke Alexander of Krayia, enters with her fiancé, Sabien. They are both tired of partying and agree to get married and settle down. Standing in the early sunlight they drink champagne to their future happiness, but as they do so the sun goes behind a cloud. After Sabien has gone home, General Krish arrives from Krayia with the news that the king has been assassinated and that Nadya, being next in succession, must return to Krayia as its queen. Nadya is horrified, but the general convinces her that it is her duty, as the country is dangerously unstable, with revolution in the air, and her presence may calm matters. She sadly writes Sabien a farewell letter. Nadya is to marry Prince Keri of Zalgar. A shot is heard: someone has tried to shoot Nadya as she arrives in her carriage, but the assassin's aim was deflected by a man in the crowd. Nadya and Keri meet for the first time, and amicably agree that the interests of state oblige them to marry, although each has had to give up a true love to do so. The shrewd old Grand Duchess Emilie, who has seen off three husbands, arrives for tea with the royal couple and General Krish, and quickly sees how matters rest. At Krish's suggestion Nadya grants a private audience to the man in the crowd who saved her life. It turns out to be Sabien. He tells her that he cannot bear to see her marry another man, and will shoot himself. He pleads with her to spend one final night with him, to which after a show of reluctance, she agrees. Sabien arrives and is concealed in an adjoining room by Nadya's loyal maid, Zana. Keri and Nadya enter and talk, agreeing that they will be friends "come weal, come woe". After he leaves, Nadya and Sabien dine together, It is four in the morning. Krish and Keri are in the queen's ante-room, keeping watch for civil unrest and insurrection. As a dangerous crowd gathers outside the palace, Nadya enters from the bedroom. She goes on the balcony and tells the mob to shoot her if they have the courage. Keri joins her and suggests that the crowd would be better off at home in bed, which makes them laugh and defuses the situation. After the crowd has dispersed, Nadya turns to Keri and begs his forgiveness. He is puzzled, but quickly understands matters when a shot is heard in Nadya's bedroom. He falls to one knee and kisses Nadya's hand. Source: Mander and Mitchenson.
The Queen Who Kept Her Head is a 1934 historical play by the British writer Winifred Carter. It is based on the life of Katharine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, who outlived him. It ran for twenty two performances at the Kingsway Theatre in London West End. The play featured Laura Cowie as Katharine with Raymond Lovell as King Henry. The cast also included Bernard Lee as Sir Thomas Seymour, Felicity Carter and Aubrey Mallalieu, and G. H. Mulcaster as Sir Anthony Knevet. The play text was published in 1938.
In Sicily, King Gonzago imprisons the loyal general Sforza, takes Sforza’s daughter Alinda as his mistress, and falsely accuses Queen Eulalia of adultery. Exiled Eulalia aids the countryside while courtly rivalries, attempted murders and rebellions eventually bring the king to repent and restore her.
In ancient Corinth, the Queen redirects her son Theanor's intended marriage to her ward Merione toward Argive ruler Agenor. Theanor retaliates by having Merione abducted and raped; mistaken accusations against Euphanes, another favored young man, fuel a revolt and further violence before Theanor's crimes are exposed and the Queen sentences him to death, then pardons him when Merione offers marriage.
Saxon queen Bertha’s arranged marriage to Northumbrian king Osrick is disrupted when he falls in love with Mildred. Through mistaken identity, Anthynus is taken for Osrick and marries Bertha, while his scheming brother Offa plots against their family. The brothers’ crimes are exposed, Segebert is restored, and Osrick is free to marry Mildred.
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