The Pilgrim Woman
Girolamo Bargagli's court play was staged for the 1589 Medici-Lorraine wedding with six elaborate musical interludes and scenic designs by Bernardo Buontalenti.
Plays
8284 shows
Clear filtersThe Pilgrimage to Parnassus
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.
The Pillars of Society
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.
The Pillowman
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.
The Pink Dominos
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.
The Pitchfork Disney
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.
The Pitmen Painters
Set in Ashington in 1934, Lee Hall’s play dramatizes the Ashington Group, the community of painters whose story inspired the work.
The Plain Dealer
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
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.
The Platonick Lovers
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
The Play About the Baby is a play by Edward Albee.
The Play That Goes Wrong
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.
The Play What I Wrote
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
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.
The Play of Everyman
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.
The Play of Lights
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.
The Play of Wyt and Science
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.
The Play of the Weather
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.
The Play's the Thing
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.
The Playboy of the Western World
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.
The Playhouse to be Let
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.
The Pleasant Comedie of Old Fortunatus
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.
The Plebeians Rehearse the Uprising
Günter Grass criticizes Bertolt Brecht and the Berliner Ensemble for their inaction during the 1953 East German uprising.
The Pledge
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.
The Plough and the Stars
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.
The Pocket Dream
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.
The Pocket Orchestra
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.
The Police
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.
The Political Tinker
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.
The Politician
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.
The Poltergeist
A solo monologue performed by one actor who shifts rapidly among multiple characters, with caustic asides puncturing everyday conversation.
The Pool
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.
The Poor Bride
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
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.
The Poor Man's Comfort
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.
The Poor of New York
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.
The Pope and the Witch
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.
The Popinjay Cavalier
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.
The Portal of Initiation
Johannes Thomasius faces trials on a path of spiritual initiation, while visions reveal his relationship with Maria across past lives.
The Portuguese Kid
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.
The Possessed
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.
The Post Office
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.
The Postman Always Rings Twice
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.
The Pot Maker
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.
The Potting Shed
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.
The Power of Darkness
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.
The Power of Yes
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.
The Present
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.
The President
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.
The Preston Passion
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
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.
The Pretenders
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.
The Pretty Sister of Jose
A Spanish-themed love story centers on a light-hearted young woman, combining comedy and pathos.
The Price
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."
The Pride
Two parallel love stories are counterpointed in Campbell’s drama.
The Pride of Jennico
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.
The Priest and the Willow
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.
The Priest of Kirchfeld
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.
The Primrose Path
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 (Buckner and Hart)
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.
The Prince
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.
The Prince and the Beggar Maid
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.
The Prince of Homburg
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.
The Prince of Parthia
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.
The Princess
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.
The Princess
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.
The Princess and the Butterfly: or, The Fantastics
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
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.
The Priory
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
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.
The Prisoner of Second Avenue
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.
The Prisoner's Dilemma
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.
The Prisoners
In a romance of adventure set around Sardinia and the sea, pirate Gillipus enslaves nobles and kidnaps princesses.
The Private Secretary
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.
The Problem
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.
The Promise
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.
The Promise
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.
The Prophet
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 Prophetess
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
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.
The Provoked Wife
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
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.
The Psychic
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.
The Public
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.
The Puppet Play of Don Cristóbal
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.
The Purification
Set on a mid-19th-century ranch, this verse drama concerns an incestuous relationship between a brother and sister and a murder trial.
The Puritan
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.
The Purple Flower
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.
The Puzzle
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.
The Quare Fellow
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
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.
The Queen Was in the Parlour
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
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.
The Queen and Concubine
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.
The Queen of Corinth
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.
The Queen's Exchange
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.
The Queen's Handbag
Villains from children's literature, angry at missing the palace party, try to spoil it for the invited characters. One steals the Queen's handbag, threatening her ability to deliver the closing speech.
The Queen's Husband
The play is set in the private office of the King, on the second floor of the palace, in the capital city of the Kingdom of Merland, located in the North Sea somewhere between Scotland and Denmark. Act I (The King's private office. Afternoon) Frederick Granton turns away visitors announced by Phipps; the King is out for a walk. The Queen also is absent, preparing for her departure to America that day on a fund-raising trip. When Princess Anne comes seeking her father, Granton is delighted. The King arrives, followed by the Queen, who instructs him to wear a hussar uniform for her departure. Northrup comes in with Lord Birten, who has brought a penguin statuette for the King's collection, provoking a scolding from the Queen about the royal hobby. Northrup complains that execution papers for various political prisoners have not been signed, but is stymied by the King's obfuscation. Lord Birten has brought news for the Queen: the marriage alliance with Greck is agreed, the Princess Anne to marry Prince William. The Princess is dismayed, and so secretly is Granton, but the Queen is delighted. When alone with Phipps, the King suggests a game of checkers. The footman agrees but warns his monarch he is dubious about his sportsmanship. When the Queen returns, the King tries to hide the board, but she seizes it and berates him for playing a foolish game. After the King changes to the hussar uniform, they set off for the Queen's departure ceremony. (Curtain) Act II (Same as Act I. Evening, two months later.) The Queen is still in America. Northrup has provoked the opposition into rioting over unemployment. He then uses the Army to suppress the protesters, hoping they will rebel. They oblige, but prove stronger than expected, forcing their way to the palace. Northrup and Birten are alarmed by the romance between Granton and Princess Anne, as it will upset the planned wedding with Prince William and alliance with the Empire of Greck. Princess Anne pleads with her father not to force this wedding upon her. He tries to console her but is unsure he can do anything about the wedding. Northrup now threatens to turn the Navy's big guns against the revolt, but the King countermands this. Instead he summons Dr. Fellman and Laker to the palace with Major Blent as an escort. Under flag of truce, they meet and a ceasefire is agreed. Dr. Fellman explains their main concern is unemployment. Upon assurance the Queen's fund-raising will help alleviate the problem, they have their forces stand down. (Curtain) Act III (Same as Act I. Morning, a week later.) Prince William and Princess Anne meet for the first time; she finds him repellent. When Granton intrudes, the Prince is amused at their obvious relationship and angers them both by saying he will not object after the wedding. The Queen, returned from America, is upset with the King for not having backed Northrup, and for allowing Grafton to woo Anne. The King speaks of their own wedding; he realizes she loved someone else when they married. The King orders Phipps to summon Northrup, Birten, Dr. Fellman, and Laker. The King stuns everyone by announcing he has read the constitution, and will exercise his powers under it. He tells Northrup that Parliament is immediately dissolved. Northrup is irate and resigns, which the King accepts. The King then asks Dr. Fellman to form a new government, mollifying Laker who guarantees no interference with the royal wedding. The Queen sets off for the cathedral where Prince William waits. When all have left, the King has Major Blent bring in Granton and Princess Anne. As head of the national church, the King officiates over their quick wedding. Then as head of state, he orders Granton and his wife deported. Major Blent will escort them aboard a ship departing within the hour and return on the pilot boat. The King sets out for the cathedral, where all expect him to bring the Princess. He apprehensively tells Phipps he will return shortly. (Curtain)
The Racket
The Racket is a 1927 Broadway three-act drama written by Bartlett Cormack and produced by Alexander McKaig. It ran for 119 performances from November 22, 1927, to March 1928 at the Ambassador Theatre. Edward G. Robinson had a major role as a snarling gangster, which led to his being cast in similar film roles. It was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1927-1928. It was adapted as a silent feature film also titled The Racket in 1928 and the 1951 film noir remake The Racket, starring Robert Mitchum.
The Rage
The Rage is a 1794 comedy play by the British writer Frederick Reynolds. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 23 October 1794. The original cast included William Thomas Lewis as Gingham, Alexander Pope as Darnley, James Middleton as Sir George Gauntlet, John Fawcett as Honourable Mr Savage, John Quick as Sir Paul Perpetual, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Flush, George Davenport as Ready, John Bernard as Signor Cygnet, Rosemond Mountain as Clara Sedley, Isabella Mattocks as Lady Sarah Savage and Jane Pope as Mrs Darnley. The Irish premiere took place at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 16 January 1795.
The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
In Edwardian England, house painters face poverty and job insecurity as their bosses cut wages and exploit their labor. Socialist Owen explains the system's inequities and is tasked with decorating a Moorish room; after a wage cut divides the workers, the play closes with a call for workers to unite.
The Railway Children
After their father disappears, three children move with their mother to the countryside. Their friendship with a railway porter and their fascination with passing trains lead them into adventures while they try to understand what happened to their family.
The Rainmaker
Set in a drought-ridden Western rural town in Depression-era America, the play tells the story of a pivotal hot summer day in the life of spinsterish Lizzie Curry. She keeps house for her father and two brothers on the family cattle ranch. She has just returned from a trip to visit pseudo-cousins (all male), which was undertaken with the failed expectation that she would find a husband. As their farm languishes under the devastating drought, Lizzie's family worries more about her marriage prospects than about their dying cattle. A charming confidence trickster named Starbuck arrives and promises to bring rain in exchange for $100. His arrival sets off a series of events that enable Lizzie to see herself in a new light.
The Rajah; or Wyncot's Ward
A hapless man becomes guardian to his uncle's adopted daughter and eventually wins her love.
The Rambling Justice
The Rambling Justice; Or, The Jealous Husbands is a 1678 comedy play by the English writer John Leanerd. It was first staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane by the King's Company. The original Drury Lane cast included Martin Powell as Sir Arthur Twilight, John Wiltshire as Sir Generall Amorous, Thomas Disney as Contentious Surly, Carey Perin as Sir Geoffrey Jolt, John Coysh as Bramble and Sarah Cooke as Flora.
The Ramona Pageant
In 1850s California, Ramona, a mixed-race orphan adopted by Señora Moreno, falls in love with Alessandro, a Native American. They flee together, face dispossession and hardship, and after Alessandro is killed, Ramona returns and marries Moreno's son.
The Raspberry Picker
A petty thief seeking a room at a rural inn is mistaken by the town's leaders for a fugitive Nazi war criminal. They flatter him and help conceal their own wartime crimes, while the thief accepts their gifts until his real identity is revealed and he is arrested.
The Rat
The Rat is a play by the British writers Ivor Novello and Constance Collier which first premiered in 1924. It ran for 282 performances in its original West End run, initially at the Prince of Wales Theatre before transferring to the Garrick Theatre. Novello himself starred as the title character, an Apache dancer who frequents Paris nightclubs. The cast also included James Lindsay and Isabel Jeans. On Broadway it enjoyed a run of 126 performances at the Colonial Theatre. The play's success led to a film adaptation The Rat, released the following year by Gainsborough Pictures with Novello again in the title role. This in turn was followed by two sequels The Triumph of the Rat and The Return of the Rat.
The Rat Trap
Novelist Sheila marries aspiring playwright Keld despite a friend’s warning that two egotistical writers will struggle to share a life. As Sheila’s writing stalls and Keld has an affair with an actress, she leaves him; later, pregnant and frightened, she considers returning despite no longer loving him.
The Rats
In a Berlin tenement, Jette John steals and substitutes infants in an attempt to keep a baby as her own, while conflicts among a former theatre manager's family and aspiring actors unfold nearby. The thefts and deceptions are exposed, ending in Jette's suicide.
The Rats
Two lovers arrive at an empty flat for drinks and discover they have been drawn into a murder plot.
The Reach of Song
Set in the Appalachian Mountains between World War I and World War II, the two-act drama follows the life and death of writer Byron Herbert Reece.
The Real Inspector Hound
Two theatre critics, Moon and Birdboot, review a country-house murder mystery. As they watch, their own jealousies and desires mirror the drama; when Moon goes onstage to answer a ringing telephone and Birdboot is mistaken for a character, the critics become trapped in the play-within-the-play. The cast and critics then exchange roles, and the murder mystery's identities converge with their own.
The Real Ivanov
Once admired and charismatic, Nikolai Ivanov has become overwhelmed and depressed. Those around him offer explanations he cannot accept, in a compact comic treatment of despair and mutual misunderstanding.
The Real Thing
Setting: London in 1982 In the first scene, Max accuses his distant and travelling wife, Charlotte, of adultery. Upset, she leaves. In the second scene, Charlotte's personality appears to have changed and she is now married to a playwright named Henry. The audience is gradually led to realize that Charlotte is an actress, and the first scene was her performance in a play that Henry, her husband, wrote. In the play, the character of Max is played by the husband of a married couple with whom Henry and Charlotte are friends, also named Max. The scene reveals that Charlotte is unhappy with the play. She believes that Henry gives limited development to the female lead in order to show off his wit through the male lead's lines. Max and his wife Annie drop by for a social visit with Charlotte and Henry. Without the benefit of Henry's dialogue, the real-life Max seems superficial. By contrast, his wife Annie is, according to the script, "very much like the woman Charlotte has ceased to be." Annie is a devoted activist on behalf of an imprisoned soldier, Brodie, who has been arrested for setting fire to the wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior. Henry mocks her as a sentimental do-gooder, giving offense to Max. But when Annie and Henry are left alone, the scene reveals that their fight was also a performance: they are having an affair, and she agrees to meet him later on the pretext of visiting Brodie in prison. Max discovers the affair, and Annie leaves him to be with Henry. Soon, Henry is reduced to writing television scripts in order to pay alimony to Charlotte. He struggles to write a play about his love for Annie, but finds it difficult to find the right language to express sincere emotion: he can vocalize his feelings but has difficulty expressing them honestly in writing. Two years later, Henry's play about Annie remains unwritten. Annie asks him to ghost-write a play by the prisoner Brodie, whom she continues to visit. Brodie's anarchist politics, anti-intellectualism, and lack of writing ability are the antithesis of everything Henry values. Annie discounts Henry's distaste and states that what matters is the passion behind the writing. Henry defends the importance of beauty in language and skill in writing using an analogy with a cricket bat: good writing is like hitting a ball with a cricket bat (i.e. something that has been carefully designed and crafted to hit balls in the best manner possible); bad writing is like hitting it with a plank of wood (i.e., something that has the same composition as a cricket bat, and bears it some resemblance, but is ultimately random and inferior). Henry accuses Annie of being attracted to Brodie, and instantly realizes his mistake. When Annie is cast in a production of Tis Pity She's a Whore in Glasgow, she must be away from Henry for some time, and Henry visits Charlotte and their daughter Debbie. The teenage Debbie declares that monogamy is a thing of the past, a form of colonization. Henry gently cautions the girl against his own vice of making clever phrases for their own sake, but he is shaken by her cynicism. For her part, Charlotte breezily admits to multiple affairs during their marriage, and tells him that his affair with Annie only caused trouble because he treated it romantically instead of as a source of fun. Henry returns home in a frenzy of jealousy and ransacks his and Annie's apartment searching for evidence of infidelity. His confrontation with Annie echoes the scene from the play he wrote that was performed in the first act of The Real Thing, but Annie has more to say than his imaginary wife did. She admits that she is having an emotional affair with her young co-star Billy, though she claims it is not a physical one; but she refuses to either give Billy up or leave Henry: both romances have a moral claim on her, and Henry must accept this. With pain, he does. Her relationship with Billy seems to come to an end, but there remains a notable distance between her and Henry. Adding strain to the already difficult relationship between Henry and Annie, Brodie is released from prison and visits them. He turns out to be a prize oaf, with all of Henry's arrogance and elitism, but none of the playwright's eloquence. He is highly critical of Henry's ghost work on his television play, and makes several crass comments about Annie. It is revealed that Annie's crusade to free Brodie had not been based on a belief in the righteousness of his cause but rather on a sense of guilt over Brodie's intention in committing his crime, which was to impress her. In the end, Annie throws Brodie out of the house, and peace between her and Henry is restored. The play ends with a phone call from Max, who tells Henry that he is newly engaged.
The Real World?
Young playwright Claude writes his parents into his first play. They reject his portrayal as inaccurate, while the drama shifts between their real lives and Claude's imagined version of them.
The Realistic Joneses
The Realistic Joneses is a play by Will Eno. It opened on Broadway in 2014 after premiering in 2012 at the Yale Repertory Theater.
The Realm of Joy
In a theatre lobby before a politically scandalous play, spectators crowd in to witness the supposed indecency while pretending to condemn it. Two men repeatedly attend to moralize, and two husbands try to hide from each other as each escorts the other's wife; tangled deceptions bring their hypocrisy to light.
The Rear Column
Act 1 Bonny, Ward and Troup have just arrived after an arduous journey from London and are disappointed to find that Stanley has gone on ahead. They discover from Major Barttelot that they are to wait for Tippu Tib to bring 600 more porters before they can follow Stanley. The porters already in the camp, Zanzibaris and Soudanese, are diseased and many of them have been flogged for thieving. Ward and Troup are furious when Barttelot refuses to release provisions promised to them in London, on the basis that Stanley has left no explicit orders for them to be released. Later, Barttelot asks Bonny if he can recommend him as unfit for service as he hasn't been sleeping, mistakenly thinking that Bonny is a doctor. Bonny informs Barttelot that he is only a medical orderly, and couldn't make such a recommendation, but is fully in support of the major carrying on his duties. That evening, a goat is cooked especially to mark the arrival of the three officers. Barttelot, under the suggestion of Jameson, offers to give them half their provisions then, and the other half when they meet up with Stanley. The officers agree. Act 2 Six months later. Ward is outside performing a flogging. Jameson is due back from a trip up the river to investigate rumours the Tippu Tib is nearby. Troup complains to Barttelot that Jameson is always absent during floggings and has always voted against them, on the grounds that enough of the porters are dying from disease already. Ward returns and says he is coming round to Jameson's point of view, and suggests they should try not flogging for a while. Troup agrees, but Bartellot is adamant that they should continue with the floggings, from which many people now have died. Jameson returns with no confirmation of Tippu Tib being near, but he has seen the remains of a cannibal feast. Troup demands that they talk about what they are going to do, arguing that Stanley couldn't possibly want them to wait indefinitely, particularly as medical supplies are running low. Barttelot insists that they must wait, as they have enough brass rods to pay the porters for another six months. Ward, who has been suffering from a fever, gets quickly worse and asks that Jameson stay next to him as he tries to sleep. A few days later, on Christmas Day, Ward is feeling better, and the officers all enjoy brandy and cigars. Act 3 Six months later. A native woman is tied by the neck to a post, suspected of stealing morphine from the supplies tent while the guards were sleeping on duty. Bonny observes her while Ward makes a sculpture of her. Ward tells Bonny that he knows it was him who stole the morphine to help him sleep. Troup comes in, suffering terribly from a fever. Barttelot enters with two rotting fish, provided by the native woman's husband to buy her back, so he sets her free. Troup asks Barttelot for some quinine from Stanley's supplies, but Barttelot refuses. Jameson returns from another sortie to report that he has met Tippu Tib, who has promised he will be there in a month with the 600 porters, bringing great relief all round. Jameson then gives Troup his quinine. Ward suspects that Jameson is lying and when they are alone he quizzes him about the trip. Jameson admits that while he did meet Tippu Tib, but it was obvious that the promise he gave was a lie. Later that night, Barttelot confesses to Jameson that the day before he had attacked the native woman who beats drums every night in the camp and bitten her in the neck, then afterwards, with blood round his mouth, beaten his servant boy, John Henry. Bonny comes in and looks at Jameson's sketches from his trip. One sketch shows a young native girl tied to a tree. Jameson explains that, as he had never seen a cannibal feast, under Tippu Tib's suggestion he had bought the girl so that she could be given to a cannibalistic tribe, and he could sketch her being killed and eaten. The other men are shocked, and Jameson realises with horror what he has done. Barttelot is furious that, as Jameson had given copies of the sketches to Tippu Tib, the story will get out and his reputation will be ruined. In his rage Barttelot attacks John Henry and kills him, then runs outside to the beating drum where he is shot and killed by the porters. In the final scene of the play, Stanley has arrived, but only Bonny is left in the camp. Jameson has died of illness at a mission house, Ward has gone missing and Troup is on his way back to England.
The Recruiting Officer
In Shrewsbury, recruiting officers Captain Plume and Captain Brazen pursue military recruits and romantic matches. Sylvia disguises herself as a man to enter the town, becoming entangled in a recruiting contest and legal proceedings, while a fortune-telling deception and mistaken identities complicate the courtships of Melinda, Worthy, and Brazen.
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