8284 shows
Clear filtersAfter 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.
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 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 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 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.
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.
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.
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.
A hapless man becomes guardian to his uncle's adopted daughter and eventually wins her love.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
Two lovers arrive at an empty flat for drinks and discover they have been drawn into a murder plot.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 is a play by Will Eno. It opened on Broadway in 2014 after premiering in 2012 at the Yale Repertory Theater.
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.
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.
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.
In a Dallas hotel lounge soon after President Kennedy’s assassination, a confined businessman's wife seeks escape with King Del Rey, a former mariachi leader with a brain tumor. Her affair has exposed her to a conspiracy involving the assassination. King dies trying to help her, and she is seized by a gang as the world around them collapses.
The Reformation is a 1673 comedy play by Joseph Arrowsmith. Originally staged by the Duke's Company, it premiered at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London. The cast included Samuel Sandford as Camillo, Anthony Leigh as Pacheco, Cave Underhill as Tutor, Henry Harris as Antonio, Philip Cademan as Pedro, John Crosby as Leandro, Matthew Medbourne as Lysander, Mary Betterton as Juliana, Margaret Osborne as Lelia and Mary Lee as AEmilia.
Two young woman both have men they wish to marry, but their father has given first refusal to a fop. Together they try and work their way around the obstacle.
The Regent is a 1788 tragedy by the British author Bertie Greatheed. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 29 March 1788. The original cast included Sarah Siddons as Dianora, John Philip Kemble as Manuel, Richard Wroughton as Gomez, James Aickin as Solerno, John Hayman Packer as Gerbin, Robert Benson as Pedro, William Bates as Diego, Richard Wilson as Servant, John Phillimore as Banditti and Sarah Ward as Paula. The Irish premiere took place at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 5 July 1788. Although it was not a great success, it was nonetheless published and a German translation was issued in 1790.
Gaston de Chanley, chosen to assassinate the Regent of France, travels to say farewell to Hélène, unaware that she is the Regent’s secret daughter. Disguises and counterplots engineered by Dubois put Gaston’s mission and love in conflict, until the Regent offers a pardon.
Playwright Bayes presents a rehearsal of an incoherent heroic drama assembled from borrowed theatrical passages. As he gives absurd directions and defends the bombast, Johnson and Smith expose its gaps, inflated speeches, arbitrary dances, and implausible action.
In this sequel to Love's Last Shift, Loveless, previously reformed by his wife Amanda, succumbs to a new affair with the vivacious widow Berinthia, while Amanda resists the persistent Worthy. In a parallel plot, young Tom tricks his elder brother Lord Foppington out of his intended bride and her dowry.
During London's debutante season, Sheila Broadbent's anxiety about scandal leads her to mistake two suitors named David and set up her reluctant daughter Jane with the wrong one.
The Reluctant Peer is a 1964 comedy play by the British writer William Douglas Home. It was the latest in his series of political farces and appeared at the Duchess Theatre in London's West End where it ran between 14 January 1964 and 6 March 1965. The cast included Sybil Thorndyke, Frank Pettingell, Helen Horton, Imogen Hassall, Naunton Wayne and Viola Lyel, with Athene Seyler and Peter Graves later coming in as replacements. The plotline of an aristocrat who renounces his title imitates the real-life 1963 renunciation of his title by the author's brother Alec Douglas-Home. It includes a number of characters who had appeared in his earlier plays including The Chiltern Hundreds.
In a Melbourne police station, new constable Ross and chauvinistic Sergeant Simmonds respond to Fiona's report of domestic abuse. Their attempt to help remove her furniture escalates into violence and a cover-up after Kenny dies, exposing the abuse of authority and social indifference.
In Tunis, Venetian gentleman Vitelli seeks his captured sister Paulina, held in the viceroy’s harem. A Turkish princess falls in love with Vitelli, while the renegade pirate Grimaldi regrets his past; the interlocking conversions, captivity and escape plots reunite the family and send them back to Italy.
Journalist Meg Lehmann cons her way into an interview with celebrated writer Ben Bran. Their conversation becomes a contest in which each tries to manipulate the other.
The Reprisal; or, The Tars of Old England is a 1757 comedy play by the British writer Tobias Smollett. An afterpiece, it was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London and produced by David Garrick. The cast included Howard Usher as Heartley, John Palmer as Brush, Richard Yates as Oclabber, Henry Woodward as Block, Maria Macklin as Harriet. It marked Smollett's last attempt to write for the stage, as several projects had fallen through and his 1749 tragedy The Regicide remained published but unperformed. It was revived in 1784 at the Haymarket.
Captured aboard a French frigate off Normandy, the English lovers Heartly and Harriet must deal with a commander who plunders his prisoners and courts Harriet. Heartly passes himself off as her brother, while the ship’s Irish and Scottish officers offer possible allies.
At Mr. Bonsor’s villa, Nina (appearing as Mrs. Freshville) returns after her Paris relationship with Paul Doubleday. Paul has been isolated by his stepmother and co-guardian as a suspected reprobate. Blanche Amber objects to his treatment; she accepts his proposal, freeing him from isolation, while Captain Chanter pursues Mrs. Doubleday. Paul proves mature and responsible.
In 1930s Chicago, mobster Arturo Ui seeks control of the cauliflower racket by eliminating competition and intimidating its leaders. Brecht's parable satirizes Hitler's rise and the establishment of Nazi power through parallels between the fictional gangsters and historical figures.
Lizzie, a white prostitute in the American South, refuses to falsely accuse a Black man who defended her from white attackers on a train. A senator and his son pressure her to sign a false statement to protect their relative, while a lynch mob searches for the accused man.
The Rest is Silence is a 1944 historical play by the British writer Harold Purcell. It is based on the 1857 trial of Madeleine Smith accused of poisoning a former lover which concluded in a not proven verdict. The play premiered at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham on 4 April 1944 before transferring to the Prince of Wales Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 59 performances from 20 April to 3 June. The London cast featured Ann Todd as Madeleine Smith, Michael Whittaker, Peter Jones, Nicholas Hannen, Martin Walker, Hugh Miller, Karel Stepanek, Tristan Rawson, Sheila Burrell, Lesley Osmond, Lucy Griffiths and Renee Kelly. It was presented by George Black and choreographed by Wendy Toye. The rights to the film were acquired by the Rank Organisation. However, when it came to the 1950 film Madeleine, also starring Todd, director David Lean chose to discard the play and base the screenplay entirely from reporting of the trial.
Three men identified as the Greek or Egyptian, the Hebrew and the Syrian debate after being among the first to meet the resurrected Christ. Outside, followers of Dionysus perform frenzied rituals and threaten to burst into the house; the debate leaves the Greek and Hebrew unable to absorb the collapse of their worldviews, while the Syrian embraces the consequences.
The end of a three-decade marriage and its emotional aftermath are framed by a title drawn from Napoleon's costly invasion and retreat from Moscow.
Two small-time criminals take a late-night train from Perth to Fremantle and menace its passengers. As the journey becomes a tense contest of peer pressure, anxiety and suppressed violence, the boundary between aggressor and victim begins to blur.
After leaving university, Philomusus and Studioso struggle to earn a living, taking humble jobs and seeking patrons while finding their education has little financial value. Their former fellow students face similar failures.
Philomusus and Studioso seek work after their studies, while Ingenioso satirizes writers and patrons. The play also follows the sale of a church position, exposing the practice of simony.
Presumed killed in the Boer War, burglar and cricketer A. J. Raffles returns to London and reunites with Bunny Manders. With Lord Alfred Douglas, they plan to rob the Marquess of Queensberry, whose treatment of Oscar Wilde motivates their revenge; an unexpected theft of the Prince of Wales’s letters complicates the scheme.
Eddie, an Elvis Presley fan who is depressed and planning suicide, waits at a Witbank street corner where he remembers his youth and a terrifying incident. Hearing Elvis on the radio revives him; he realizes Elvis once saved his life and finds hope for the future.
The Return of Sherlock Holmes is a play written by J. E. Harold Terry and Arthur Rose and originally starring Eille Norwood as Sherlock Holmes. The play premiered at Princes Theatre on October 9, 1923. Based on the work of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the play incorporated aspects of four stories: "The Adventure of the Empty House", "The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton", "The Disappearance of Lady Frances Carfax", and "The Red-Headed League". Actor Eille Norwood had previously portrayed Holmes in the Stoll film series from 1921 to 1923.
Djabal returns to an oppressed Druse community intent on avenging his murdered family and leading his people back to Lebanon. To unite them he has encouraged the belief that he is the divine Hakeem. As the revolt approaches, his desire for liberation conflicts with his awareness that he has won their faith through deception.
The Return of the Soldier is a 1928 play by the British writer John Van Druten. It is an adaptation of Rebecca West's 1918 novel of the same title about a shell shocked officer returning from the First World War with amnesia who is no longer in love with his wife. It was staged at the Playhouse Theatre in the West End, running for 46 performances. The cast included Cyril Raymond, Aubrey Mather, Eliot Makeham, Mary Clare and Grizelda Hervey.
Corina, a courtesan drawn into a relationship with Wellman, turns toward revenge while resisting the control of Mrs Dunwell, the older bawd who encouraged her involvement. Their conflict adds a darker account of sexual exploitation to the comedy of courtship and deception.
The Revenge is a 1721 tragedy by the British writer Edward Young, set in a mostly undefined region of 16th-century Africa under Spanish rule. It concerns the character of Zanga, an African prince who becomes cruel after his experiences in slavery. Although initially it did not enjoy the same success as his previous play Busiris, King of Egypt, it later became a much-revived work during the eighteenth century particularly popular because of the Othello-like role of the Moorish character Zanga. John Philip Kemble revived the work briefly in 1798 before Edmund Kean in 1815 did so with great success and it became part of his repertoire. The original Drury Lane cast included Barton Booth as Don Alonzo, Robert Wilks as Don Carlos, John Thurmond as Don Alverez, John Mills as Zanga, Mary Porter as Leonora and Christiana Horton as Isabella. The work was dedicated to Young's patron the Duke of Wharton. The character of Zanga was portrayed by the African-American actor Ira Aldridge in 1848, and received favourable reviews, although critics were less kind to the play itself. For example, the Era said that "As Zanga he is exceedingly fine, looking the character of the Moor to perfection and acting it with great power and correctness. For the tragedy itself we have little regard."
Two neighboring castle owners, Cześnik and Rejent, feud over a dividing wall while their children, Klara and Wacław, secretly love each other. After rival marriage plans and comic confrontations, the young couple marry, and the older men reconcile.
After Bussy’s death, his brother Clermont follows the Duke of Guise and embraces Christian Stoicism. Tamyra urges him to avenge Bussy by killing her husband Montsurry; when Guise is assassinated and Clermont hesitates, Bussy’s ghost tells him divine justice requires Montsurry’s punishment, which Clermont finally carries out before taking his own life.
The plot focuses on two disparate characters. Henry Bell is a 42-year-old executive, divorced and recently fired from his job, and Karen Knightly is 25 years old, wealthy, very eccentric, and recently abandoned by her lover Anthony Staxton-Billing, who opted to return to his wife Imogen. Both are intent on committing suicide by leaping from the Albert Bridge in London. When neither succeeds, they strike a bargain whereby each agrees to exact revenge on behalf of the other. Karen finds employment at Lembridge Tennit, the conglomerate for which Henry worked, and in short order two of her bosses meet violent deaths and a third has a nervous breakdown. Henry, meanwhile, is finding it difficult to keep his end of the bargain, since he has fallen in love with Imogen. Instead of planning her demise, he begins an affair with the beguiling woman. After accidentally killing her husband, Henry finds himself torn between marrying her and fulfilling his promise to Karen by disposing of her. In the end, love prevails, and a thwarted Karen hurls herself into the Thames.
Vindice seeks revenge on the Duke for poisoning his fiancée and uses disguise to expose corruption at court. He engineers the Duke’s death with a poisoned skull, then joins his brother in killing the newly installed Duke and his supporters. After Vindice confesses their crimes, Lord Antonio condemns the brothers to execution.
The Revolution of Sweden is a 1706 tragedy by the British writer Catharine Cockburn. The original Haymarket cast included Barton Booth as Gustavus, Thomas Betterton as Arwide, John Corey as Erici, Benjamin Husband as Viceroy, John Bowman as Archbishop and Elizabeth Barry as Constanta.
Seven women on the fictional Wasaychigan Hill reserve hope to attend the world's biggest bingo and raise money for the trip. Their journey brings family rivalries, painful histories and illness into the open; Marie-Adele dies at the bingo, while the others return home with life mostly unchanged.
The Richmond Heiress is a 1693 comedy play by the English writer Thomas D'Urfey. It was staged by the United Company at the Drury Lane Theatre. The original cast included John Freeman as Charles Romance, George Bright as Sir Quibble Quere, George Powell as Tom Romance, Samuel Sandford as Doctor Guaiacum, Joseph Williams as Frederick, John Bowman as Rice ap Shinken, Cave Underhill as Dick Stockjobb, John Hodgson as Hotspur, Thomas Doggett as Quickwit, William Bowen as Cummington, Anne Bracegirdle as Fulvia, Elizabeth Barry as Sophronia, Frances Maria Knight as Madame Squeamish, Elizabeth Bowman as Mrs Stockjobb and Elinor Leigh as Marmalette. Henry Purcell composed incidental music for the play.
After a car crash, bigamist insurance agent Lyman Felt faces his two wives at his hospital bedside and defends the parallel family lives he has kept in New York and Elmira. Flashbacks reveal tensions and compromises within both households as each character confronts hypocrisy.
The Right Honourable Gentleman is a dramatization of the rather complicated real-life Crawford scandal of Victorian England. Sir Charles Dilke, an important Liberal member of Parliament, is seen as a possible successor to Gladstone as Prime Minister. The circumstances leading to his destruction, his private affairs as contrasted with those of the Empire, form the crux of the play. The play introduce Dilke in his finest hour, an obvious choice for the new cabinet. But a certain Mr. Crawford sues his wife for divorce, naming Sir Charles as an involved party, based on his wife's confession that she had been having an affair with Sir Charles for some time. Mrs. Crawford provides dates and facts and is quite credible, while Sir Charles offers avowals of complete innocence, not just publicly but solemnly sworn to in private to his fiancee. And in fact Mrs. Crawford is lying, and instead is madly in love and carrying on with a certain Captain Foster, which may have been a reason for inventing her charges against the unfortunate Sir Charles. But Sir Charles had been conducting a long-term affair with Mrs. Crawford's mother, which, when it comes out, destroys his reputation and career.
A stage expansion of Bryan Wade’s radio comedy about a reluctant groom reconsidering his choices on his wedding day.
The Rimers of Eldritch is a play by Lanford Wilson. The play is set in the mid-20th century in Eldritch, Missouri, a decaying Bible Belt town that once was a prosperous coal mining community. The plot focuses on the murder of the aging local hermit, Skelly Mannor, by a woman, Nelly Windrod, who mistakenly thought he was committing rape when he was actually trying to prevent a rape from occurring.
The first half reconstructs how the 2011 England riots spread through accounts from rioters, police officers, onlookers, and residents, including a man whose home was burned. The second half uses interviews with politicians, police, teachers, community leaders, and others to examine the causes and consequences.
The Rise and Fall of Little Voice is a 1992 play written by English dramatist Jim Cartwright.
A preserved body known as Lindow Man or Pete Marsh is found in 1984; one act recounts his life in Roman Britain, and the next has him discovered and briefly revived in 2000. The play contrasts Celtic nature religion, Christian belief and genetic engineering in the human search for immortality.
A policeman guarding a quay in search of an escaped prisoner keeps company with a ballad singer. The singer is the very man the police are hunting.
After betraying his employer for profit, Gorge Mastromas becomes a successful businessman. He manipulates and marries Louisa by fabricating a history of abuse, publishes the lie as a memoir, and kills his brother when he threatens to expose him.
Businessman Gaetano Proclo takes refuge from his homicidal mobster brother-in-law in a Manhattan gay bathhouse, where he encounters eccentric patrons and performer Googie Gomez. His wife arrives and misreads the situation, compounding the farcical misunderstandings.
The Rival Fools is a 1709 comedy play by the British writer Colley Cibber. It drew inspiration from the earlier play Wit at Several Weapons. Despite Cibber's previous record of turning out hits, it was not a great success. The original Drury Lane cast featured William Pinkethman as Sir Oliver Outwit, Robert Wilks as Young Outwit, Barton Booth as Cunningham, William Bullock as Sir Gregory Goose, Colley Cibber as Samuel Simpson, George Pack as Sir Threadbare, Theophilus Keene as Priscian, Anne Oldfield as Lucinda, Mary Porter as Mirabel and Elizabeth Willis as Governess.
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