8284 shows
Clear filtersHarry Heegan goes to war as if heading to a football match. The four acts move from his youthful athletic heroism to the cynicism and despair of the front, then to bitterness in a veterans' hospital and the contrast between his disability and the lives of noncombatants.
On a newly emerged Polynesian island, an East Asian princess, a priest and two European couples form a polygamous community intended to create a utopia. Their children lack common sense; when a British clergyman joins the community, scandal leads to a threatened invasion. An Angel of the Lord then brings the Last Judgement, making most inhabitants disappear as useless.
Having spent much of his life disguised as a man, Dublin hotel butler Albert Nobbs is shocked when he meets a female painter, Hubert Page, who is also living as a man. Upon seeing Hubert's happy domestic situation, Albert resolves to set up a similar arrangement for himself.
A dark comedy for two actors in which a would-be suicide who fears that evolutionary biology leaves human life without meaning encounters a woman who has also survived a suicidal crisis after a failed romance.
The Sister is a 1769 comedy play by the British writer Charlotte Lennox. Premiering at the Covent Garden Theatre, it was based on Lennox's own 1758 novel Henrietta. The original Covent Garden cast included William Powell as Courtney, William Smith as Lord Clairville, Mary Bulkley as Miss Autumn, Sarah Ward as Lady Autumn and John Cushing as Will. However the play was received by a hostile, organised element of the crowd and was withdrawn after one night.
In Parma, proud Paulina aims to marry Prince Farnese, while her gentler sister Angellina longs to become a nun. Bandit Frapolo and his company disguise themselves as the prince and his court, tricking Paulina into preparing to leave with them. The real prince falls for Angellina, who loves the disguised page Vergerio; revelations of identity and family ties resolve the courtships, while the false prince and Paulina are paired.
Sara, who lives in London, is a representative for a major Hong Kong bank and is about to turn 54. Her sisters, Gorgeous Teitelbaum and Pfeni Rosensweig, arrive to help celebrate the birthday. Gorgeous is Dr. Gorgeous with a radio-advice program; Pfeni is a world traveler. Various friends and boyfriends also arrive for the party. In particular, Mervyn, a friend of Pfeni's boyfriend Geoffrey, falls instantly in love with Sara.
The Six Days' Adventure; Or, The New Utopia is a 1671 comedy play by the English writer Edward Howard. First performed by the Duke's Company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London, the original cast included Cave Underhill as Sir Adam Meridith, Matthew Medbourne as Sir Grave Solymour, Henry Harris as Sir Franckman, John Crosby as Featlin, John Young as Polidor, James Nokes as Foppering, Edward Angel as Peacock, Samuel Sandford as Orlando Curioso, Mary Betterton as Serina, Anne Shadwell as Celinda, Jane Long as Crispina, Elinor Dixon as Petilla and Mary Lee as Eugenia.
Edward III plans to hang six leading citizens of Calais for resisting his siege, but Queen Philippa pleads for their lives. The king changes his mind, then tries to turn the burgher Peter Hardmouth against the queen; their exchange ends in an unlikely comic rapport.
The plot tells the story of the interaction between two very different families in rural England just after the end of the First World War. Squire Hillcrist lives in the manor house where his family has lived for generations. He has a daughter, Jill, who is in her late teens and a wife Amy, as well as servants and retainers. He is "old money", although his finances are at a low ebb. The other family is the nouveau riche Hornblowers, headed by the single-minded and rich industrialist Hornblower who throws old retainers the Jackmans out of their home (much to the Squire's disgust), and who plans to surround the Hillcrist's rural estate with factories. Hillcrist wants to preserve the last piece of open land (known as the "Centry") which adjoins their property but he is (as he sees it) tricked out of the land in an auction. The Hillcrists plan to get even with the upstart Hornblower and fortuitously learn a dark secret about Mr. Hornblower's daughter-in-law Chloe who had once supported herself as the "other party" in divorce cases. When he is told the news, Mr. Hornblower agrees to sell the property to the Hillcrists for less than half the auction price on the condition that the family swears to keep the secret, but the news leaks out via the unprincipled Dawker, Hillcrist's agent and Hornblower's enemy. Chloe Hornblower goes to the Hillcrists, begging them to help keep the secret from her husband, who is aware that something is going on, then hides behind a curtain when her husband storms into the Hillcrist home demanding to know the secret. Keeping his promise to Chloe, Mr. Hillcrist makes up a story, but the young Hornblower is not convinced and declares that he intends to end his marriage, even though Chloe is pregnant. Upon hearing this, Chloe runs to the lily pond outside the Hillcrist home and tries to drown herself. She is brought into the house and it is clear that she will live.
Act I is an amalgam of early 20th century New Jersey and the dawn of the Ice Age. The father is inventing things such as the lever, the wheel, the alphabet, and multiplication tables. The family and the entire Northeastern U.S. face extinction by a wall of ice moving southward from Canada. The story is introduced by a narrator and further expanded by the family maid, Sabina. There are unsettling parallels between the members of the Antrobus family and various characters from the Bible. In addition, time is compressed and scrambled to such an extent that the refugees who arrive at the Antrobus house seeking food and fire include the Old Testament prophet Moses, the ancient Greek poet Homer, and women who are identified as Muses. Act II takes place on the Boardwalk at Atlantic City, New Jersey, where the Antrobuses are present for George's swearing-in as president of the Ancient and Honorable Order of Mammals, Subdivision Humans. Sabina is present, also, in the guise of a scheming beauty queen, who tries to steal George's affection from his wife and family. The conventioneers are rowdy and party furiously, but there is an undercurrent of foreboding, as a fortune teller warns of an impending storm. The weather soon transforms from summery sunshine to hurricane to deluge. Gladys and Henry attempt their individual rebellions and are brought back into line by the family. The act ends with the family members reconciled and, paralleling the biblical story of Noah's Ark, directing pairs of animals to safety on a large boat, where they survive the storm and the end of the world. Act III takes place in the ruins of the Antrobuses' former home. A devastating war has occurred; Maggie and Gladys have survived by hiding in a cellar. When they come out of the cellar, Gladys is seen to have a baby. Sabina joins them and is "dressed as a Napoleonic camp-follower." George has been away at the front lines leading an army. Henry also fought, on the opposite side, and returns as a general. The family members discuss the ability of the human race to rebuild and continue after continually destroying itself. The question is raised: "Is there any accomplishment or attribute of the human race of enough value that its civilization should be rebuilt?" The stage manager interrupts the play-within-the-play to explain that several members of their company cannot perform their parts, possibly from food poisoning (as the actress playing Sabina saw blue mold on the lemon meringue pie at dinner). The stage manager drafts a janitor, a dresser, and other non-actors to fill their parts, which involve quoting philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle to mark the passing of time within the play. The alternate history action ends where it began, with Sabina dusting the living room and worrying about George's arrival from the office. Her final acts are to address the audience and to turn over the responsibility of continuing the action, or life, to them.
A shape-shifting ancient fairy befriends, manipulates and pursues Lily and Josie, two teenage mothers. Its broken, punning language and changing forms draw them into a sinister world of love, loss and revenge, while the play explores postnatal psychosis and possession through a dark, fragmentary fairy tale.
Set in the Slab Room of a Paisley carpet manufacturer on a Friday in 1957, the play follows apprentice designers Phil, Spanky, and Hector as they banter through the workday. Phil faces rejection from art school and dismissal from the factory, while the group’s teasing of Hector culminates in a failed attempt to prepare him for a staff dance.
This three-play cycle follows young working-class Scots from a Paisley carpet factory and its staff dance in 1957 into their later lives in 1967 and 1972. It traces the changing fortunes of Phil, Spanky, Hector and Lucille.
At a St Teresa's Day party hosted by bookie Oola Maguire, her criminal acquaintances must leave their firearms in the hall; tensions rise when her convent-educated daughter returns with two nuns.
A Croatian noblewoman orphaned by war is captured by Ottoman pirates and brought to Dubrovnik to be sold. Knight Derenčin disguises himself as a merchant, learns her story, secures her freedom through a marriage proposal, then reveals his identity after their wedding.
During an overnight train journey, anxious new mother Agnes Roberts repeatedly wakes a fellow passenger while worrying about her husband, baby, and long-absent brother. Her husband boards secretly, then mistakes the passenger’s berth for hers; when the brother finally joins them, Agnes and her aunt successively mistake the same Californian for their relatives and acquaintances. The three-part farce turns their mistaken identities and interruptions into escalating comedy.
During the 1911 coronation season, young actress Mary Morgan meets Prince Regent Charles of Carpathia. Their initially awkward courtship unfolds amid a political plot against Charles, and the two part with the prospect of reuniting after their respective contracts end.
The Slighted Maid is a 1663 comedy play by the English writer Robert Stapylton. It was staged by the Duke's Company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London. The cast included Henry Harris as Salerno, Thomas Betterton as Iberio, Matthew Medbourne as Filomarini, William Smith as Lugo, Philip Cademan as Arviedo, John Young as Corbulo, Cave Underhill as Peralta, James Nokes as Gioseppe, Samuel Sandford as Vindex, Anne Gibbs as Decio, Jane Long as Diacelia and Mary Betterton as Pyramena.
The Smell of the Kill is a play by Michele Lowe that premiered at Cleveland Play House in 1999. A dark comedy about housewives facing marital crises, and then opportunity, when their husbands accidentally trap themselves in a meat locker, opened on Broadway at the Helen Hayes Theatre March 26, 2002 and ran to April 28, 2002. The cast starred Lisa Emery, Claudia Shear and Jessica Stone, with direction by Christopher Ashley. It closed after 40 performances.
Michael Frayn’s stage adaptation combines four short stories and four one-act plays by Anton Chekhov into a composite theatrical work.
A verse play based on the Russian folk fairytale of Snegurochka, set in an idyllic kingdom of the Berendei and shaped by a ruler's belief in love, peace and goodwill.
Elderly Holocaust survivor Milton Saltzman befriends Annie Blumberg, a young Jewish journalist assigned to cover his demand that museums acknowledge his account of soap made from human remains. Annie is caught between Saltzman’s testimony and historians’ refusal to publish a claim without surviving production records, while Holocaust denier Brenda Goodsen attacks the history itself. The play examines how memory, documentation and denial shape public understanding of the Holocaust.
London goldsmith Wittworth, a melancholic pursuing Modestina, is treated by Doctor Makewell through an elaborate staged fantasy of Hell, with Modestina and the doctor playing roles in the imagined ordeal. The treatment succeeds, and Wittworth and Modestina are united.
Marie, a merchant’s daughter, is drawn into affairs with officers whose exploitation and social ambitions leave her disgraced and abandoned. The play criticizes the treatment of middle-class women by soldiers and the social constraints surrounding them.
After a stillbirth, Phil and Alice try to reconnect and repair their relationship as they navigate grief, intimacy and recovery.
At a royal wedding masque, Error, Rumour, Curiosity, and Credulity enchant twelve knights and throw the world into discord. Eternity, the Three Destinies, and Harmony enlist Queen Anne to free them with a branch from a golden tree; the released lords dance before the audience and the performance closes with Thames bargemen singing.
A five-act Expressionist play about generational conflict and a young man's rejection of the world. The Son kills his father and strides over the corpse toward a future he imagines as full of potential.
In a fisherman's household, Joshua becomes caught in a love affair with Duella while coming to know Sumako's son. His conflict with Benko ends in a duel, and Joshua shoots himself.
The Song of Jacob Zulu is an American play that debuted on Broadway in 1993. Written by Tug Yourgrau, with lyrics by Tug Yourgrau and Ladysmith Black Mambazo and music by Ladysmith Black Mambazo and produced by the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the play is a drama set during Apartheid in South Africa. The play's Broadway production was nominated for six Tony Awards, including Best Play, Best Actor in a Play for K. Todd Freeman, and Best Featured Actor in a Play for Zakes Mokae.
Shop girl Lily Kardos marries Senator Calkins, but secretly continues to see her ex-lover Richard Laird on the side. Calkins abandons Lily when he discovers her infidelity. Lily then begins a relationship with Stephen Bennett. Stephen's uncle Phineas, aware of Lily's reputation, gets her drunk at a party to reveal the truth about her to Stephen. Her inappropriate behavior causes Stephen to break up with her. In the final act, she returns to Richard Laird.
King Abbas suspects and plots against his son Mirza, then has him blinded. In rage, Mirza plans to kill his daughter, whom Abbas also loves; a courtier betrays both father and son, and each dies by poison.
A Yiddish play drawing on popular beliefs about witches, with its central female role written for a male performer.
Hilary tries to bring spiritual ideals into his business, threatening its survival. Johannes and Strader struggle to distinguish spiritual insight from deception.
Bella Baird, a solitary Ivy League professor, faces a challenge she cannot manage alone and allies with Christopher, a brilliant and mysterious student.
A samurai accepts shelter from a mysterious woman in an isolated woodland house. As their intimacy grows, his suspicion that she is a witch clashes with his attraction to her and his fear of her greater abilities.
Vicar David Highland’s firm response to a grieving parishioner turns his coastal community against him. As his family also begins to fracture, he faces the loss of his parish position and the convictions that have shaped his life.
An episodic dramatic presentation of the events leading to the Eureka Stockade fight, focused on the physical events of the rebellion and the historical figure Peter Lalor.
Two brothers' inheritance dispute entangles a boy whose paternity is challenged, while Violante plots murder and Leandro pursues the married Amaranta. The schemes are exposed, and the characters' relationships are reconciled; a parallel sailor's family dispute is settled by a mock trial.
When a young man arrives at a factory owner's home, the family mistakes him for a suitor rather than the son born from the owner's past affair with a Spanish dancer. The revelation of several men's entanglements with the dancer puts the families' relationships under strain.
A tragicomedy pairs the secret marriage of Torrismond, rightful heir to the Spanish throne, and the usurping Queen Leonora with a comic subplot involving the corrupt Father Dominic and Lorenzo’s pursuit of a woman who is revealed to be his sister.
A nobleman abducts and rapes Clara, then later seeks to atone, while a separate plot follows nobleman Don John joining a gypsy troupe to court Pretiosa. The plots converge through mistaken identities, family revelations and reconciliation.
The Spanish Rogue is a 1673 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Duffet. It was first performed at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane by the King's Company. The original cast included William Harris as Don Fenise, Edward Lydall as Don Alonzo, Marmaduke Watson as Don Manuel, Martin Powell as Larasco, John Coysh as Mingo, Philip Griffin as Sanchez, Elizabeth Boutell as Alcinda, Katherine Corey as Teresa and Elizabeth Knepp as Leonella.
After the Spanish court fails to punish the murder of his son Horatio, marshal Hieronimo joins Bel-imperia in plotting revenge. They stage a play before the court in which the killers are murdered with real weapons, then Hieronimo reveals his motive and takes his own life.
Neighbors Touchwood and Striker are justices whose long feud obstructs the love between their heirs, Sam and Annabelle. Sam and his friends conspire to overcome the feud while other schemes at the fashionable asparagus garden target a naïve countryman. The tangled plots end with the young couple’s marriage, an old family secret reconciling the rivals, and the frauds exposed.
After Ed brings home Evie, whom he met after a one-night stand with his flatmate Tony’s wife, Tony retaliates by employing Evie in a nonexistent business.
Emily Book returns to high school ten years after surviving a bus crash that killed her classmates. She has unexplained powers that emerge when she is upset, and the town’s grief and suspicion turn against her when she may have caused the disaster.
The Spartan Dame is a 1719 tragedy by the Irish writer Thomas Southerne. It was inspired by a story from Plutarch's Life of Aegis and was originally written as early 1687, but faced a long period of censorship and revision. The Drury Lane managers chose to revive it at a time of tension with the Stanhope-led government Whigs over licensing issues, and may have selected it because its plot subtly allowed them to demonstrate sympathy with the opposition Whigs led by Robert Walpole following the recent Whig Split. The actor-manager at Drury Lane, Colley Cibber appeared as Crites. Other members of the cast included John Mills as Leonidas, Barton Booth as Cleombrotus, Robert Wilks as Eurytion, Anne Oldfield as Celona, John Corey as Agesilius, William Mills as Mandrocles, James Oates as Thracion, and Mary Porter as Thelamia.
Set inside a 1920s San Francisco speakeasy, this immersive production follows its staff, performers and guests. Audience members move among the rooms and choose which intersecting stories and scenes to encounter.
After one of Dr Rylott's stepdaughters dies suddenly, her sister Enid asks Sherlock Holmes to protect her and investigate the surgeon's attempt to seize their inheritance. Holmes confronts Rylott in a battle of deduction and physical danger, ending when the killer's snake turns on its master.
The Lady of the Lake and Merlin appear at Merlin’s tomb to condemn the decay of chivalry and prophesy its restoration under Prince Henry. They summon Meliadus, a figure for the prince, and the spirit of Chivalry before the ceremonial combat.
Joe is a successful businessman and a popular member of his community. He is a Vietnam War veteran. A hero to his neighbors. A construction contractor who has achieved phenomenal commercial success after the war. He is a family man. He has been named South Dakota's Man of the Year. Everything is going perfectly until he meets a fellow Vietnam War vet, Lou. Lou, by contrast, is a total failure, a homeless man who has been shattered by the war. During this unexpected encounter, Lou reveals secrets that threaten to undermine Joe's perfect world. Joe discovers that his daughter is not his own. But what brings their world crashing down is the long-held secret that Lou reveals on how Joe began his rise to success. Joe's fortune was based on a crime. Both Joe and Lou were complicit. They had illegally dumped barrels of toxic waste on the bluffs overlooking the area. The toxins polluted and poisoned the water supply in the region. Lou commits suicide. Joe must come to terms with their illegal act.
Little Pickle torments his indulgent father and disapproving aunt with practical jokes. A pretended exchange of babies is meant to reform him, but he returns in disguise and turns the scheme against his family, eventually preventing his aunt’s elopement with the fortune-seeking Tagg.
In the Natural History Museum, married Colin meets his lover Hilary in secret. Their clandestine meetings expose the tension and intimacy of an affair kept hidden from society.
The Sport of Kings is a 1924 comedy play by the British writer Ian Hay. It ran for 319 performance at the Savoy Theatre in the West End between 8 September 1924 and 13 June 1925.
A melodramatic horse-racing spectacle built around mortgages and an encumbered estate, a wronged pregnant woman, an impecunious earl, trained racehorses and a villain.
The Sporting Thing To Do is a play by Thompson Buchanan. The play premiered at the Philharmonic Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on September 4, 1922. Produced by Oliver Morosco and directed by Fred J. Butler, the original cast included Enid Bennett, Edith Lyle, Warner Baxter, Adele Belgarde, Boyd Irwin, Roscoe Karns, Henry Hail, Innis Shearer, Harry Manners, Thomas Galloway, and Chas A. Stevenson. Co-directed by Morosco and Clifford Brooke, the cast included James K. Applebee as Rev. Dr. Clegg, Bertha Belmore as Mrs. Suzanne Clegg, William Boyd as Jack Thornton, Walker Dennett as Colonel Thornton, Mary Fisher as Miss Simpson, Robert Hudson as Thomas Kennedy, Clara Joel as Eleanor Ainsworth, Della Johnson as Mandy, Jack Raffael as Judge McLean, H. Reeves Smith as Jim Loundsbury, Emily Stevens as Jean Thornton, and Ethel Winthrop as Mrs. Thornton. In closed in March 1943 after 40 performances.
A satire of the motion-picture industry compares a film studio to a barnyard, while a director searches for an actress to play Eve.
This synopsis was compiled from contemporaneous newspaper reviews. The Mendez family, their servants and retainers, are a content group living on their land in the village of Queano, near Granada. During a squall, a fearful Gypsy girl seeks refuge with the family. Her name is Nubi, and she is being pursued by a large fierce-looking Gypsy called El Moro. He is chieftain of her family group and wants to take her back to them, but the Mendez family hides her and claims she went elsewhere. Nubi persuades Delores Mendez to let her stay. She is striking looking, with curly black hair and large gold hoop earrings, which seem to bedazzle Juan Mendez, and Pedro the hired hand. As a servant, she soon proves worthless. She stands about, hands on hips, bewitching the men and urging them on with promises. She drives a wedge between Pedro and Manuella, while bewitching Juan, and even tempting José. She is causing gossip among the village folk with her wanton behavior. Delores is at a loss what to do. If she throws Nubi out, the men might follow her. Delores prays to the Virgin Mary for help, but is appalled to see Juan come out of Nubi's bedroom in the morning. He has given Nubi a valuable necklace for her favors. But El Moro returns, having been secretly summoned by Delores, carrying a large whip. This time the family yields up Nubi when he tells them she deserted her husband and baby. He drags her off by her hair, and the Mendez family tries to regain their previous contentment.
The Square Ring is a 1952 play by Ralph Peterson. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Brighton before transferring to the Lyric Theatre in Hammersmith where it ran for 39 performances between 21 October and 22 November 1952. The Lyric cast featured Liam Redmond, John Moffatt, Rex Garner, Ronald Lewis, Bill Owen, John Colicos, Bill Travers, George Rose, Peter Bayliss, Duncan Lamont, Hugh Goldie and Harry Towb.
In 1860s rural Australia, Violet Enderby loves Tom Bathurst, an overseer on her guardian's neighboring sheep station. The guardian's son arranges for bushranger Ben Hall to abduct Violet, while a visiting Englishman complicates the rivalry between the stations.
An Australian bushranger melodrama about a squatter's son.
After taking blame for his cousin’s financial scandal, Captain James Wynnegate leaves England and settles in Montana as Jim Carson. He marries Nat-u-ritch, a Ute woman, and they have a son. When an English solicitor urges Jim to send the boy to inherit the Wynnegate estate, Nat-u-ritch fears separation; after she is threatened with arrest, she dies by suicide, and Jim returns to England with their son.
The Squire of Alsatia is a 1688 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Shadwell. Alsatia was a nickname for the Whitefriars area of London, deriving from Alsace in northeastern France. A restoration comedy, it was performed at the Drury Lane Theatre by the United Company following John Crowne's Darius, King of Persia. One of the best-remembered roles, that of the shrewish Mrs. Termagant was first performed by Elizabeth Boutell. The play was revived numerous times during the eighteenth century. The original Drury Lane cast included Anthony Leigh as Sir William Belfond, Philip Griffin as Sir Edward Belfond, Thomas Jevon as Belford senior, William Mountfort as Belfont junior, John Bowman as Trueman, Samuel Sandford as Cheatly, George Powell as Shamwell, George Bright as Captain Hackum, Martin Powell as Attorney, John Freeman as Scrapeall, Cave Underhill as Lolpoop, John Verbruggen as Termagant, Frances Maria Knight as Teresia, Susanna Verbruggen as Isabella, Anne Bracegirdle as Lucia and Elizabeth Boutell as Mrs. Termagant.
The Stage Coach is a 1704 play by George Farquhar and Peter Motteux. A farce, it is based on the 1680 French play Les Carrosses d'Orléans by Jean de La Chapelle. It was staged at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London as an afterpiece to a revival of John Crowne's The Country Wit. The cast included Thomas Doggett as Nicodemus Somebody, Barton Booth as Captain Basil, George Pack as Fetch, John Freeman as Micher and Abigail Hunt as Dolly.
The Standard of Living is a play by James Graham, based on the life of the founding father of macroeconomics and Bloomsbury Group member John Maynard Keynes. Directed by Nicholas Hytner, the world premiere production of The Standard of Living is expected to open at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in September 2026.
Uncle and nephew Pennyboy compete for wealthy Lady Pecunia while a disguised Pennyboy Cantor watches his family’s conduct. The nephew and his companions visit Cymbal’s News Staple, a satirical news agency, and devise a Canting College to expose the insider language used by special interests. After a villain’s scheme is thwarted and the miserly uncle is mocked into madness, repentance and reconciliation restore the household.
A chance encounter at a provincial railway station brings Mona and Professor Miroiu into an unexpected romance.
A large-scale historical pageant traces African and African American history through a prologue and five scenes, from ironworking and ancient African civilizations through slavery, resistance, and a vision of Black achievement.
Two radical roommates publish a struggling political magazine in San Francisco. When former Olympic swimmer Sophie moves next door, one falls for her and hires her to keep the magazine afloat; she instead falls for his friend, straining their friendship and publication.
A fantasy of time-travel. The setting is manufacturing town in Eastern Ohio at what was the present time for the audience in the premiere, 1937. The setting then changes to thirty-five years back in time, 1905, and to a few years before that. Stephen Minch is an inventor and Martha Minch is his wife. A time travel machine is developed, the star-wagon. 1905 is the subsequent time for when the time travelers arrive in the same location, at the dawn of the automobile. The end result of the time traveling the world consist of what is to be, and that is just what happens.
In a Swiss mountain pension, the children of a troubled family befriend fantastical Sprites and seek stardust to help the worried adults. Through the children’s secret society and their journey to a star-cave, the adults are led toward sympathy, hope and a renewed sense of wonder.
When T.J. proposes to Georgia, she presses him about money and whether he can support their married life. Their romantic conversation becomes a negotiation over work and finances.
This docudrama chronicles Emmett Till's life and murder and the circumstances surrounding the crime.
In Cádiz, a plague personified as a dictatorial officer seizes the city and imposes a rigid bureaucracy. Medical student Diego helps the sick and organizes resistance, while his fiancée Victoria is caught in the struggle. Diego ultimately chooses death rather than allow the plague to keep ruling, and the dictatorship collapses.
On Hogmanay in the early 1950s, women doing their laundry in a Glasgow public washhouse share stories and aspirations.
Belisa, a noblewoman promised to Octavio, uses steel water to feign illness and escape his attentions; she then meets and falls in love with the commoner Lisardo. To give Lisardo a chance to see her, his friend Reselo pretends to court Belisa's aunt, enraging Reselo's lover Marcela. After misunderstandings and trials, Belisa and Lisardo marry.
The Stepmother or The Step-Mother is a 1663 tragicomedy by the English writer Robert Stapylton. It was first staged by the Duke's Company, premiering at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre. The original cast included Samuel Sandford as Sylvanus, Thomas Betterton as Filamor, John Young as Adolph, Cave Underhill as Tetrick, Joseph Price as Fromund, William Smith as Crispus, Matthew Medbourne as Capito, Mary Betterton as Caesarina, Moll Davis as Violinda and Jane Long as Brianella.
When Eustace Gaydon’s late sister leaves her fortune to her orphaned companion Lois, he woos Lois before she learns she is wealthy. A decade into their unhappy marriage, Lois runs a dressmaking business while Eustace controls and mismanages the family finances; her affair with neighbor Peter is exposed when she seeks a dowry for her stepdaughter. Eustace confronts Peter and flees with what remains of Lois’s fortune.
In a 1932 Irish county home, former Dublin police chief Thomas Dunne moves between his deteriorated present and memories of his career, family, and the 1922 handover of Dublin Castle. The play's recollections culminate in the trauma following Michael Collins's death and the Irish Civil War.
A popular fireman melodrama remembered for its climactic spectacle of horse-drawn fire wagons rushing to a blaze.
Canadian diplomat Harry Raymond is interrogated over a young man's murder. As political leaders try to avoid scandal, Raymond's revelations about his sexuality and knowledge of their secrets threaten a minister's leadership ambitions.
The Stolen Heiress or, The Salamanca Doctor Outplotted is a 1702 comedy play by the English writer Susanna Centlivre. The original Lincoln's Inn cast included John Bowman as Governour, Thomas Griffith as Count Pirro, John Freeman as Gravello, William Fieldhouse as Larich, George Powell as Palante, Barton Booth as Eugenio, George Pack as Francisco, Thomas Dogget as Sancho, George Bright as Rosco and Elizabeth Barry as Lucasia.
Over three years, the Telfair family faces personal and generational strain. Ben Telfair, a 32-year-old third-generation stonemason, narrates the family’s tribulations through monologues, including his decision to leave college and join the family trade.
A five-act realistic drama and work of social criticism directed particularly at Russia’s merchant class. Its conflict centers on Katerina and her life within the Kabanov merchant household.
A storm wrecks Labrax’s plans and gives two captive women an opportunity to escape. Seeking safety at Venus’s shrine, they turn to the elderly Daemones and his unruly slaves for help.
This mass spectacle dramatizes the revolutions of 1917 through two opposing stages representing the Red and White forces. Workers organize and charge across the joined stages toward the Winter Palace, where the action ends with the Reds' victory signaled by cannon fire and fireworks.
Ambitious journalist Yvonne, frustrated by her assignment at a major newspaper, pursues a sensational murder case and fabricates a young Black girl’s confession. The false story brings acclaim before unraveling, exposing the effects of her deception on colleagues and the newsroom’s racial and ethical conflicts.
Set mostly in a crowded taxi travelling to a Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearing, the play centers on three survivors’ testimonies: a mother whose son was killed by a booby-trapped Walkman, a man who spent three years on death row for a crime he did not commit, and a woman raped by security police. Three professional actors supplement the witnesses, who perform their own accounts.
In Karabakh, French botanist Monsieur Jourdan’s stories of Paris inspire Shahbaz, nephew of the local ruler, to travel there to study. Shahbaz’s fiancée and aunt oppose the plan and pay the dervish Mastali to destroy Paris by sorcery. When news of revolution and the king’s flight reaches the household, the women believe Mastali’s spell worked, but Shahbaz stays behind.
A jobless man reluctantly becomes a watchdog after the previous dog dies, living in a doghouse and eating dog food for a dollar a day. As he is denied other work and his family is strained, he gradually loses human behavior and speech until he can only bark, exposing the dehumanizing pressures of labor and social exclusion.
At a boardinghouse, a troubled new tenant known as Little Man develops an unusual attachment to Nitchevo, a cat belonging to the previous tenant.
At a tuberculosis sanatorium, young Eileen Carmody falls in love with writer Stephen Murray while helping him pursue his career. As her illness worsens and his improves, he leaves without returning her love; months later he pretends to love her to give her hope, then realizes his feelings are genuine.
During the Korean War, Major Gaylord must decide whether to authorize an air strike that could kill a missing 20-man patrol but protect the 500 soldiers under his command.
In a village that chooses an outsider as an annual scapegoat, Eman takes the role to spare Ifada, a mute boy, from exile and violence. As the community pursues him, Eman's memories of his own family history and the carrier tradition culminate in his death.
Two actresses—one married and one unmarried—meet in a café. The married woman speaks while the other remains silent, and their reactions and the unseen husband’s presence reveal a psychological contest whose outcome remains uncertain.
The Students of Salamanca is an 1813 comedy play by the British writer Robert Francis Jameson. It was first performed at the Covent Garden Theatre in London. The original cast included John Fawcett and Maria Theresa Kemble.
Timmy Cleary returns home from his service during World War II. While he seems to vindicate himself in his father's eyes for surviving the war, his drinking and cursing disturb his mother. Though his parents, John and Nettie, seem to be happy, the peace proves to be a façade. Soon old emotional wounds and unresolved marital problems resurface. Caught in the middle, Timmy feels responsible for their squabbling, but can see no way to resolve their problems.
Holocaust survivor and publisher Isaac Geldhart plans to issue a scholarly six-volume work on Nazi medical experiments despite his insolvent company. His three children, all shareholders, want a commercial bestseller to keep the business afloat, forcing a conflict between family and principle.
In the play, Avery goes under the name Arviragus, and has made himself a king in Madagascar. He captures the Indian princess Zaida and tries to force her to marry him, but she is in love with a young man named Aranes. There is an offstage fight and Aranes is reported killed; meanwhile, De Sale, who has confided to the audience that he plots to overthrow Arviragus and make himself king, ingratiates himself with Zaida. De Sale's fellow plotters are bumbling incompetents and their plans are easily thwarted, followed by a comic trial scene. It is revealed that Aranes is Arviragus' long lost son, whom he recognizes from a bracelet, and that he is still alive, his friend Alvarez having died in his place. The plotters are executed and Aranes and Zaida marry.
The Successful Strangers is a 1690 tragicomedy by the English writer William Mountfort. The original Drury Lane cast included Joseph Williams as Don Carlos, George Powell as Antonio, William Mountfort as Silvio, James Nokes as Don Lopez, Anthony Leigh as Don Francisco, George Bright as Don Pedro, Cave Underhill as Guzman, William Bowen as Sancho, Frances Maria Knight as Dorothea, Susanna Mountfort as Feliciana and Anne Bracegirdle as Biancha.
Seventeen-year-old Dani, recently returned from treatment for an eating disorder, poses online as an eleven-year-old boy and befriends Tim, a man in his thirties with a history of abusing boys. When lonely Lewis threatens to expose Tim, Dani discovers disturbing evidence on his laptop, forcing the characters toward a harrowing reckoning.
A young, unemployed man, Semyon, believes the answer to his problems is to learn to play the tuba. However, his plan fails and he contemplates suicide. Because he is committing suicide he is able to write anything in his suicide letter without fear of reprisal from the government. His neighbour: Alexander Petrovich, decides to make money from Semyon's misery by selling space in his intended suicide note to several bidders. These bidders plan to use Semyon's suicide note to further and advertise their own individual causes. The Intelligentsia, represented by Aristarkh, is the first to approach him and is followed by others representing the Proletariat, the business world, the arts, etc.
The Sullen Lovers; Or, The Impertinents is a 1668 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Shadwell, inspired by Molière's Les Fâcheux. It was staged by the Duke's Company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London. The cast included Henry Harris as Sir Positive At-All, James Nokes as Poet Ninny, William Smith as Standford and Edward Angel as Woodcock and Anne Shadwell as Emelia.
The Sultaness is a 1717 tragedy by the British writer Charles Johnson. It is a reworking of the 1672 French play Bajazet by Jean Racine set in the Ottoman Empire. In common with early eighteenth century plays it places much greater emphasis on the emotional anguish of its female characters than Racine's original. Like other plays set in Ottoman courts there may have been subtle parallels with contemporary British politics, particularly the divisions between George I and his son George, Prince of Wales. More strongly the play references the ongoing Austro-Turkish War and the role of Prince Eugene of Savoy who later that year won a major victory at the Siege of Belgrade. The original cast included Barton Booth as Bajazet, Mary Porter as Roxana, Anne Oldfield as Atalida, John Mills as Acomat and Lacy Ryan as Osmyn. Johnson used the preface of the play to attack the recent comedy Three Hours After Marriage by John Gay and Alexander Pope, provoking a long-standing rivalry. In 1720 it was followed at Drury Lane by another oriental-set drama The Siege of Damascus by John Hughes, which took a more original approach.
Widower Harry and his gay son Jeff support each other in their searches for partners. Jeff's relationship with Greg is strained by Greg's homophobic father, while Harry pursues a woman he has met through video dating. After Harry suffers a stroke, Jeff cares for him and reconnects with Greg.
After newlywed Amelia Summerland suffers an aneurysm and becomes locked-in, a corporation asks her husband Carter to let it copy her memories and personality into an android body.
A civic pageant celebrates the mercantile values of London through tableaux of Honour and the Drapers' patrons, a Tower of Virtue guarded by personified virtues, a figure whose fortunes were restored by English monarchs, and Phoebus Apollo among the zodiac and wool-bearing sheep. Aries prophesies that the sun will bring gladness to Barkham, and Fame concludes the event.
Raybright, the Sun's child, is given a year to experience earthly pleasures across the four seasons. Led astray by Humor and Folly, he fails to find satisfaction until the Sun warns him to resist them and seek harmony.
Heinrich, a bellfounder, loses his newly completed bell when sprites overturn its wagon and it sinks in a mountain lake. Nursed by the half-child, half-fairy Rautendelein, he falls in love with her, abandoning his old standards and bringing about his wife's death.
After Matt Morley is swindled out of his inheritance, he leaves England for Australia and finds a gold nugget. Bushrangers led by Dick Duggan attempt to rob the bank where he stores it, but Morley foils them. Duggan later abducts Morley's adopted daughter Babs, who is rescued; Morley and Babs marry, and he regains his English estate.
In Black's apartment, an evangelical ex-convict and an atheist professor debate God, human suffering, and the professor's attempted suicide after Black saves him from a train.
The play's protagonists are Al Lewis and Willie Clark. Lewis and Clark were once a successful vaudevillian comedy duo known as the Sunshine Boys. During the later years of their 43-year run, animosity between the partners grew to the point where they ceased to speak with each other. Eleven years prior to the events of the play, Al retired from show business, leaving Willie struggling to keep his career afloat. Willie, now an old man struggling with memory loss, reluctantly accepts an offer from his nephew Ben, a talent agent, to reunite with Al for a CBS special on the history of comedy. Willie and Al meet in Willie's apartment to rehearse their classic doctor and tax collector sketch. The reunion gets off to a bad start, with the two getting into heated arguments over various aspects of the performance. However, thanks to the urging of Al's daughter, the two decide to go through with the performance. Willie and Al's dress rehearsal at CBS' studio is derailed by Al's aggressive habit of poking Willie's chest with his index finger and spitting at him every time he says a word that has a "T" in it. One of the running gags in "The Sunshine Boys" involves Willie's resentment over having been constantly poked in the chest by his partner's all‐too‐emphatic forefinger in the course of their countless routines on stage. Willie cries, "I had a black and blue hole in my chest. He gave me the finger for 43 years!" As Al walks off the stage in regret, Willie has a heart attack as a result of his agitated state. Two weeks later, Willie is recovering under the care of a nurse. Upon Ben's recommendation, he decides to move into an actors' retirement home in New Jersey. Al, concerned about Willie's well-being, makes a visit. When the two talk, it is revealed that Al will be moving into the same home as Willie. Neil Simon was inspired by two venerable vaudeville teams. The longevity of "Lewis and Clark" was inspired by Smith and Dale who, unlike their theatrical counterparts, were inseparable lifelong friends. The undercurrent of backstage hostility between "Lewis and Clark" was inspired by the team of Gallagher and Shean, who were successful professionally but argumentative personally. Other sources say this is based on Weber and Fields.
The Danaid sisters flee forced marriages to their Egyptian cousins and seek refuge at a sanctuary in Argos. King Pelasgus fears both offending Zeus by rejecting them and provoking war by protecting them, so he puts the question to the people, who vote to shelter them. An Egyptian herald arrives to reclaim the women, but Pelasgus drives him away and the Danaids end the play safely inside Argos.
Mothers of Argive warriors killed outside Thebes seek burial for their sons, whose bodies Creon has forbidden them to recover. Theseus leads Athens against Thebes to reclaim the dead; after victory, the play ends with funeral rites, Evadne's suicide and Athena's prophecy of future vengeance.
The Surrender of Calais is a 1791 historical play by the British playwright George Colman the Younger with elements of tragedy and comedy. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London on 30 July 1791. The original cast included James Brown Williamson as King Edward, George Bland as Harcourt, Howard Usher as Sir William Manny, John Bannister as La Gloire, John Powell as Arundel, James Aickin as John de Vienne, William Farren as Ribaumont, Robert Bensley as St. Pierre, John Henry Johnstone as O'Carroll, Henry Erskine Johnston as Old Man, Elizabeth Kemble as Julia, Maria Bland as Madelon and Charlotte Goodall as the Queen. It is set against the backdrop of the Siege of Calais (1346–47) by Edward III during the Hundred Years War. The music was composed by Samuel Arnold. It was the most popular work of the season at the Haymarket. It premiered in Ireland at Dublin's Crow Street Theatre on 23 November 1791. It was revived at various theatres on a number of occasions.
As their surrogate is hospitalized with complications, Jake and Sameer face a night of uncertainty about their first child. Personal loyalties collide with questions about consent, privilege, and who defines a family.
After the American Civil War, two Missouri cattlemen return to a longstanding family feud over access to water. Suspicions of betrayal during the war push them toward a duel as relatives and friends try to prevent further bloodshed.
The Suspicious Husband is a 1747 comedy play by the British writer Benjamin Hoadly. It premiered at the Covent Garden Theatre in February 1747. The original cast included David Garrick as Ranger, Roger Bridgewater as Strictland, Lacy Ryan as Frankly, William Havard as Bellamy, Henry Woodward as Jack Meggot, Hannah Pritchard as Clarinda, Elizabeth Vincent as Jacintha and Jane Hippisley as Lucetta.
The source for this synopsis is a translation of The Swan made by Benjamin Glazer and published in 1922, while the translation used for the Broadway production was by Melville Baker. One scholar has pointed out while both men adapted multiple Hungarian plays into English, that Baker had been known to work from a French translation, and that such French adaptations were often made from Molnár's own translations of the original Hungarian into German. Act I (Pavilion by the rose garden of Princess Beatrice's Castle. Afternoon.) Dr. Agi has finished a lesson on Napoleon for Princes George and Arsene, who remind their tutor of their mother's antipathy for the Usurper. Princess Beatrice and the boy's uncle, Father Hyacinth, speak with the tutor. Hyacinth is impressed with the tutor's knowledge and athleticism, as he also instructs the boys in rowing and fencing. Princess Alexandra comes in from her daily ride, and Father Hyancinth perceives Agi's suppressed feelings for her. Symphorosa continually updates Princess Beatrice about the castle's guest, Prince Albert, who is still sleeping. Beatrice tells Father Hyancinth about her plans for Alexandra and Albert, and how the Prince so far has seemed indifferent to her. Albert now appears, trailed by his attendants. He too is impressed with Dr. Agi, especially his knowledge of astronomy. While Agi leads the boys away to don their fencing gear, Beatrice suggests Albert may wish to inspect Alexandra's rose garden. But Albert is distracted by Col Wunderlich's talk of a modern dairy farm, and sets off with him and Count Luzen to inspect it. Beatrice is now anguished, for the Prince is scheduled to leave tomorrow. She determines to precipitate his jealousy by having Alexandra invite the tutor to attend that night's ball. Father Hyacinth is alarmed, thinking the scheme unwise and unfair to the tutor. Beatrice is adamant; nothing is more important than the family regaining influence. Alexandra is frozen-faced as she grasps what her mother is asking her to do. But she obeys, and the startled Agi is suffused with unexpected emotion as he realizes the Princess Alexandra is asking him personally to attend the ball. (Curtain) Act II (Reception room of the castle, that evening.) Caesar instructs Alfred on how to serve the private dinner following the public ball. Beatrice hears from Caesar that all courses will be cold, as Prince Albert prefers. Beatrice asks she be served hot tea instead of the cold consommé the others will get. Her nerves are stretched taut, both over the uncertainty of the scheme and the local notables seeing Alexandra associate with the tutor in the ballroom. Princess Alexandra enters, followed closely by Dr. Agi, talking to her of astronomy. She gently chides him for his constant attention, confusing him. Prince Albert and the others come in for the dinner party. Albert tells Beatrice that he has telegraphed his mother, Princess Maria Dominica, to come at once to the castle. Beatrice is overjoyed, for it means the Prince will propose to Alexandra through his formidable mother. It is clear Albert is now aware of Alexandra as a woman, for he begins to patronize the tutor in conversation. Agi, who has never tasted wine nor dined with aristocracy, empties his glass of Tokay in one gulp. To cover up the faux pas, Alexandra does the same. The effects of the heady vintage hit Agi hard, and he soon rises to the bait of Albert's patronizing tone, responding with words that verge on insult. Albert admires Agi's frankness, but his temper is clearly slipping. Beatrice, seeing victory vanishing, becomes overwrought and falls ill. Albert takes her to her room, followed by many others. Agi and Alexandra are left behind with Father Hyancinth, who tries to advise them. Agi knows his position has been lost, but felt intolerably put upon. Albert returns with his attendants; no longer in a mood for tolerance, he berates Agi. Alexandra, in sympathy with Agi's hopeless position, suddenly kisses him. At once, everyone's mood changes; Albert apologises to Agi and withdraws. (Curtain) Act III (Drawing room of the castle, the next morning.) Beatrice encounters Father Hyacinth. She is agitated, both by Alexandra's late night confession to her, and the imminent arrival of Albert's mother by motorcar. Hyacinth reminds her of his warning about trifling with the tutor's emotions. She sends for the tutor but learns he is already packing to go. She goes to greet Princess Maria, as Alexandra enters. When Agi arrives she confesses the scheme to him, but he has already guessed. He will still leave despite her plea to stay, for what was intolerable to him was her kiss, which was plainly from sympathy not affection. Her brothers now come to say good-bye to their tutor. He departs the room with them, as Maria and Beatrice enter. Maria has not yet spoken with her son, so Father Hyacinth informs her of the previous night's doing, in such a way as to secure her sympathy for Alexandra. But it proves unnecessary, for Albert too has interpreted the kiss as did Agi, and still wants to marry Alexandra. He assures Alexandra that their marriage will be one in which love will come in time. (Curtain)
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