Urubhanga
After Bhima breaks Duryodhana's thighs in battle, the wounded prince accepts his fate, forgives Bhima, reconciles with his parents, queens and son, and rejects the futility of war before dying.
Plays
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Two unnamed child characters reconstruct the Beslan school siege, beginning with their differing memories of the school and moving through the hostage-taking and captivity. Their hopes for rescue give way to the deaths and aftermath, while the child-centered performance uses humor and play to approach a traumatic event.
Usha Parinayam
After Shiva curses the arrogant demon king Banasura, Banasura’s daughter Usha dreams of a young man and falls in love with Aniruddha, Krishna’s grandson. Her friend Chitralekha identifies him and brings him to Usha; they agree to marry.
Uttararāmacharita
After public criticism of Rama's acceptance of Sita, he sends his pregnant wife away while continuing to grieve her; years later, as their sons are raised by Valmiki, revelations about Sita's fidelity lead to their reconciliation.
Vagif
A three-act dramatic chronicle dedicated to the fate of the 18th-century Azerbaijani poet and statesman Molla Panah Vagif.
Valentinian
Fletcher portrays Emperor Valentinian as a rapacious tyrant. After he rapes Lucina, she dies by suicide and her husband Maximus seeks revenge, eventually poisoning the emperor. Maximus is crowned but soon dies himself.
Valley Forge
During the winter of 1778, George Washington struggles to keep his hungry, ill and poorly supplied soldiers at Valley Forge from abandoning the Continental Army. He resists General Howe’s proposed negotiations despite pressure from British forces and intrigue within Congress.
Valparaiso
After an itinerary error sends business traveler Michael Majeski to Valparaíso, Chile, instead of Valparaiso, Indiana, he becomes a media celebrity and pursues an identity through interviews, culminating in an assisted suicide on television.
Vamp Show
At a creepy train station, a young woman waiting for a train to the city is joined by five young men, who reveal they are vampires. They decide she must become one of them to survive, but one man is only pretending to be a vampire and tries to save her.
Vampire Lesbians of Sodom
A satirical series of vignettes follows two immortal vampire women, locked in comic antagonism from the fall of Sodom through their masquerades as silent-film stars and a final truce in 1980s Las Vegas.
Van Zorn
A wealthy fatalist tries to direct his friend Weldon Farnham's love affair as if he were destiny. When he sees that George Lucas may kill himself if Villa Vannevar marries Farnham, Van Zorn persuades her to choose Lucas instead, sacrificing his own feelings for their happiness.
Vanden Winter ende vanden Somer
Winter and Summer argue over which season is better for love: Winter cites long indoor nights, while Summer celebrates happy hearts. As they prepare to duel, Venus intervenes, declares the seasons equally important and inseparable, and leaves Cockien as the only disappointed figure.
Vanities
Three best friends journey through high school, college and their later lives, as they remember all of their adventures. Joanne is a sweet, naive southern girl. Mary is very confident. Kathy is the planner. Act 1: In high school in 1963, the three girls are the popular cheerleaders and are planning all of the social events. Act 2: Joanne, Mary and Kathy are in college in the late 1960s, living together in the same sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, still planning events. Kathy expresses confusion about what she wants to do after college. Act 3: Joanne marries Ted, her longtime boyfriend, and becomes extremely conservative. Mary opens an erotic art gallery and explores sexual liberation. Kathy ends up cynical and living day to day in New York City, with no job, and reads all of the books she was supposed to read in college. When they meet at Kathy's fabulous apartment in New York in 1974, they end up fighting. Joanne gets drunk and talks about how she never has a break from her kids and her husband Ted never lets her drink. Incensed by Joanne's sanctimonious airs, Mary reveals she has had an affair with Joanne's husband Ted. Joanne refuses to believe her and ultimately tells her, "Go fuck yourself!" and leaves the party in a huff. Kathy and Mary close the play by drinking "to forget" their "bygone days" together.
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair is a 1946 play by the British writer Constance Cox, based on William Makepeace Thackeray's 1848 novel of the same name. It premiered at the Q Theatre before transferring to the Comedy Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 70 performances between 29 October and 21 December 1946. A studio production of this play was broadcast live on BBC television on 3 September 1950 and again on 7 September, starring Belle Chrystall.
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
Middle-aged siblings Vanya and Sonia live in the family home in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. Named after Chekhov's characters by their theater-enthusiast professor parents, Vanya and Sonia have not had to grow up. After spending their adulthood looking after their now-dead parents, neither has a job, and money is provided by their movie star sister Masha, who owns the house and pays the bills. Vanya (who is gay) and Sonia (who is forever reminding everyone that she was adopted) spend their days reflecting on their lost chances, debating whether the grove of nine cherry trees on their property constitutes an orchard, and bemoaning their rather Chekhovian lot in life. The only other resident of the house is their cleaning woman Cassandra, who, like her namesake, is prone to making dire prophecies that no one believes. This static environment is disrupted when Masha returns home, bringing with her a flurry of drama, an endless litany of insecurity, and a much younger, gorgeous, dimwitted lover named Spike. Sonia's resentments and Masha's competitive nature begin to spark arguments, and while Vanya tries to keep the peace, he is repeatedly distracted by the preening Spike, who takes every opportunity possible to strip down and show off his muscular body. Masha's fifth marriage has recently ended and her career is starting to stall. Spike's career has never started, and his biggest claim to fame is nearly landing a part in the sequel to Entourage, Entourage 2. Another interloper arrives, the neighbor's pretty niece Nina, an aspiring actress who provokes envy in Masha, lust in Spike, and sympathy in Vanya. Masha has returned home to attend a costume party at an influential neighbor's house and insists that her friends and family dress as characters from Disney's animated Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, choosing to dress as Snow White. When told she will be going as one of the dwarfs, Sonia rebels and dresses up as the Evil Queen, imagining her as portrayed by Maggie Smith on her way to the Oscars. As they prepare for the party, Masha tells them she intends to sell the house, leaving Vanya and Sonia devastated. Things come to a head the day after the party. As Cassandra uses a voodoo doll on Masha, trying to dissuade thoughts of selling the house, Sonia receives a phone call from a man she met at the party, requesting a date. Hesitantly, she accepts. Vanya, who is secretly writing a play inspired by Konstantin's imagined symbolist drama in The Seagull, is convinced by Nina to let her read it in front of the others. During the reading (which stars Nina as a molecule and takes place after the destruction of the earth), Spike rudely answers a text on his phone, and dismisses Vanya's suggestion of a handwritten response. Vanya reacts by launching into an impassioned rant, criticizing America's cultural regression in communication and media, while fondly and wistfully recalling the surroundings and memories of his childhood. Concluding that the intent of such progress seems to make people like him feel lost and forgotten, he retreats into the kitchen in tears. Masha realizes that the person Spike is texting is her personal assistant, with whom he has been having an affair. She ends her relationship with him and kicks him out of the house, announcing she no longer intends to sell it. As the play ends, the three siblings, optimistic for the first time in a very long time, sit quietly together and listen to The Beatles' song "Here Comes the Sun".
Vara Vikrayam
This social-reform play addresses the dowry system. Kalindi dies by suicide rather than enter a marriage arranged through borrowed dowry money; when the moneylender refuses to return it, her younger sister Kamala agrees to marry him and takes her father-in-law to court.
Variation on a Theme
Rose, a wealthy woman living near Cannes, has married several men for money before falling for a young ballet dancer. At his choreographer’s urging, she gives him up for the sake of his career; he returns when she is dying of tuberculosis.
Variations on the Death of Trotsky
Across eight scenes, Trotsky repeatedly dies in comic variations on the circumstances of his assassination. The final variation turns toward tragedy as he confronts his impending death and reflects on human life.
Vassa Zheleznova (First Version)
As her husband’s business faces a succession crisis and his relatives seek control of the capital, Vassa calls her daughter Anna into the enterprise while confronting weak heirs and a fracturing household.
Vassa Zheleznova (Second Version)
Merchant matriarch Vassa tries to keep control of her family and business as conflict grows with her husband, relatives, and Rachel, her politically exiled daughter-in-law, who seeks to reclaim her son. Vassa uses family authority and police pressure to keep the child while the household’s rivalries continue around her.
Vatan Yahut Silistre
Set during the 1854 Battle of Silistre, the romantic political drama advances revolutionary ideas about nationhood and patriotism; at its conclusion, the actors invite the audience to join a protest for the homeland and the Ottomans.
Vatzlav
A 77-scene political farce set on an island, where Vatzlav is among a cast of eccentric figures that includes a grown son in diapers who is a bear, a blind Oedipus Rex, and a Genius whose daughter is named Justice.
Vauraddi
Wealthy landowner Leopold falls in love with poor laborer's daughter Carolina and rejects his mother's class prejudice to marry her. After Anjela tries to evict the couple and contracts an illness, Carolina cares for her and apparently dies after becoming infected; the play argues for the dignity of labor across class lines.
Ve státním zájmu
Ve státním zájmu (English: In the National Interest) is contemporary comedy by Czech playwright and actor Antonín Procházka about love and politicians who explain their perfidy national interests.
Venice Preserv'd
Impoverished Venetian nobleman Jaffeir joins his friend Pierre in a conspiracy against the Senate, but his wife Belvidera persuades him to reveal it in exchange for the conspirators’ lives. When the pardon comes too late, Jaffeir’s divided loyalties end in Pierre’s death, his own suicide and Belvidera’s collapse.
Venus
In a nonlinear, self-conscious retelling of Sarah Baartman's life, a young woman from South Africa is taken to London to perform in a freak show and later sold to a Parisian doctor who studies her body. A narrator and chorus expose the spectacle, exploitation and racialized sexualization surrounding her, while a play-within-the-play repeats and revises a French vaudeville plot.
Venus Observed
A duke seeking a third wife asks his son Edgar to choose the bride; both father and son fall for Perpetua, creating a rivalry within the household.
Venus in Fur
Thomas Novachek is the writer-director of a new play opening in New York City; this play-within-the-play is an adaptation of the 1870 novel Venus in Furs by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch (the novel that inspired the term "masochism"). The play begins with Novachek on the telephone, lamenting the inadequacies of the actresses who had shown up that day to audition for the lead character, Wanda von Dunayev. Suddenly, at the last minute, a new actress called Vanda (Wanda) Jordan bursts in. At first it's hard to imagine that she will please this very particular and exasperated writer/director: She's brash, vulgar and unschooled. But she convinces him to let her audition for the part of Wanda von Dunayev, with the director/writer reading the part of Severin von Kushemski. Much happens during this dynamic reading, as lightning flashes and thunder crashes outside. Vanda shows astonishing insights into the novel and her character, and she performs what is in effect a terrific audition. They both become caught up in the characters they are reading. The balance of power is reversed, and the actress establishes dominance over the director, which is similar to what occurs in the novel.
Vera; or, The Nihilists
Vera joins Russian nihilists seeking to overthrow the Czar after her brother's imprisonment. She falls in love with Alexis, the heir to the throne, and when the nihilists order her to assassinate him, she chooses to save his life and the country by killing herself instead.
Verdict
Professor Karl Hendryk’s wife Anya dies after his student Helen murders her and disguises the death as suicide. Karl withholds Helen’s confession; when evidence implicates Lisa, Karl’s cousin, Lisa is tried and acquitted, but leaves him before returning.
Veronica's Room
A middle-aged Irish couple, John and Maureen Mackey, bring a young couple, Susan and Larry, to the suburban Boston home where the Mackeys are caretakers. Susan and Larry have recently begun to date, and the Mackeys approached them at a restaurant due to Susan's resemblance to a dead woman, Veronica. The Mackeys explain that Veronica's elderly, senile sister, Cissie, is now their charge, and Susan agrees to dress up as Veronica in an effort to bring Cissie a sense of closure. The year is 1973, but Cissie believes it to be 1935. Larry and the Mackeys leave Susan alone in Veronica's preserved bedroom to change into a period outfit. The older couple return with completely different appearances and personalities; they appear about twenty years younger and now have Boston accents. They treat the young woman as if she were Veronica, and they represent themselves as her parents, Lloyd and Nedra. They accuse her of having murdered Cissie after Cissie discovered (and threatened to reveal) Veronica's incestuous relationship with their younger brother, Conrad. They also maintain that it is 1935. When the young woman stands by her identity as Susan from 1973, Lloyd and Nedra regard her as insane and call for the family physician, Dr. Simpson. When he arrives, the young woman recognises him as Larry. The young woman is ultimately broken; she acknowledges that she is Veronica and she confesses to Veronica's misdeeds. Nedra then leads the others in murdering her. It is revealed that the older man and woman are in fact Veronica and Conrad, while the younger man is their son, "Boy." This is not the first time the three have carried out such a murder, nor will it be the last; Boy brings Veronica and Conrad young women who resemble Veronica, so that Veronica can experience murdering herself as a catharsis. They give the bodies to Boy, a necrophiliac, to do with as he wishes. Veronica is left alone in her room.
Versailles
Set in the aftermath of the First World War, the play deals with the Treaty of Versailles and its consequences.
Verses pascales de tres Maries
The three Maries visit Jesus’s tomb with spices. In an apocryphal episode they bargain with a merchant for a preservative potion, then encounter an angel who announces the resurrection and sends them to the apostles; the drama closes with the Te Deum.
Versus de pelegrino
Mary Magdalene searches a garden for Christ’s tomb. After mistaking the gardener for the risen Jesus, she returns to tell the disciples of the resurrection; the sung drama closes with a prayer and doxology.
Via Dolorosa
In a solo monologue drawn from his 1997 journey through Israel and Palestine, David Hare recounts encounters with 33 people and reflects on the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.
Via Wireless
The play was never published. This synopsis is compiled from 1908 newspaper reviews. Act I (Library in Home of George Durant, Pittsburgh) Marsh has designed a new marine artillery piece which he brings to Pinckney. Pinckney hires an outsider to pose as the weapons' inventor, as otherwise it would belong to Durant. Pinckney gets the lion's share of the gun's royalties, from which he pays Marsh a small amount. Lt. Sommers visits George Durant to discuss progress on the manufacture of his new cannon. While at Durant's home he meets his wife, and daughter Frances. He and Frances express interest in one another. Sommers learns that another new artillery piece has been produced at Durant Steel, and that Pinckney seems to favor it. (Curtain) Act II (Scene 1:Office of Durant Steel Works.) Frances is told by Lucy Smith that her father is up to something with Pinckney. Frances visits the office, and senses an attempt will be made to wreck Sommers cannon. When Lt. Sommers visits Edward Pinckney to check on the new gun, Frances is already there. Pinckney tries to intimate that he and the girl have an understanding. Later, Pinckney tells Smith to interfere with the oil bath that will temper the new gun. Sommers receives an anonymous message that Smith might try to sabotage his new cannon that night. (Curtain) (Scene 2:Foundry of Durant Steel Works, near midnight.) The scene opens with a noisy cacophony; white-hot metal is poured and trip-hammers reverberate. The workers are bare-chested and sweating in the heat of the works. At midnight, the noise lowers as the workers take their mid-shift meal. Pinckney has left instructions for Smith to work on the new cannon while the others are on break. As Smith works, he is accosted by Sommers, suspecting sabotage. They fight, and Sommers believes he has stopped the sabotage. Later the workers return to their labors and the noise resumes. (Curtain) Act III (Scene 1:Courtyard of Hotel, San Juan, Puerto Rico, several weeks later.) Lt. Sommers and the Durants and their staff had gone to San Juan for a holiday. Word is received that the new cannon exploded, killing seven sailors. Agent Bradley of the Secret Service arrives to question everyone about the weapon's manufacture. Lt. Sommers is ordered to return to Washington for a court-martial. He accepts George Durant's offer to accompany his family, Bradley, Pinckney, Marsh, and Durant's staff on their motor yacht back to Florida. (Curtain) (Scene 2:Wireless Room of Steamship Mongolian.) On board the steamship Mongolian, wireless operator Harling has picked up a distress call from Durant's yacht. It hit a submerged reef during a squall, and is taking on water. Harling informs his ship's officers, who steer the Mongolian towards the endangered yacht. Harling relays that the yacht's lifeboats have been lowered, with all but the wireless operator (Sommers) embarking. (For most of this scene, Harling is the only character speaking, as he continually updates the yacht's condition and location). Frances also stayed behind on the yacht to keep the dynamos powering the wireless dry and running. The Mongolian arrives in time to rescue the lifeboat passengers, and Sommers and Frances from off the foundering vessel. (Curtain) Act IV (Same as Act II Scene 1.) Secret Service agent Bradley has discovered that Marsh really invented the gun Durant pays royalties on. Marsh confesses that Pinckney put him up to it, and that he feels partly responsible for the deaths of the sailors. He kills himself with a gunshot. Bradley arrests Pinckney, and Lt. Sommers is cleared, allowing him to marry Frances. (Curtain)
Vice Reclaimed
Vice Reclaimed is a 1703 comedy play by Richard Wilkinson. It is also known by the longer title Vice Reclaim'd: Or, the Passionate Mistress. It premiered at the Drury Lane Theatre included Benjamin Johnson as Sir Feeble Goodwill, Robert Wilks as Wilding, Joseph Williams as Gainlove, William Bullock as Fondle, Henry Norris as Ralph, Mary Kent as Widow Purelight, Jane Rogers as Annabella and Frances Maria Knight as Mrs Haughty, Jane Lucas as Malapert and Mary Powell as Mrs Rhenish.
Vice Versa: A Lesson to Fathers
A magical stone swaps the bodies of Mr. Bultitude and his school-aged son Dick. Dick enjoys adulthood and sends his father to boarding school, where Bultitude's habits and an unexpected romance complicate his effort to reverse the wish.
Viceroy Sarah
Viceroy Sarah is a 1935 historical play by the British writer Norman Ginsbury. It is based on the relationship between Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough and Queen Anne during the time of the War of the Spanish Succession. Its West End run lasted for a 157 performances, premiering at the Whitehall Theatre before transferring to the Phoenix Theatre. Irene Vanbrugh starred as Sarah Churchill, alongside Barbara Everest as Anne and Robert Rendel as the Duke of Marlborough. The cast also included Harcourt Williams as George, Prince of Denmark, Olga Lindo as Abigail Hill and Ian Fleming as Robert Harley.
Vicious
A drama about Sid Vicious whose depiction of drug users losing their grip also examines the conflict between rock passion and the rock business.
Victims of Duty
In their flat, Choubert and Madeleine are questioned by a detective about the spelling of a former tenant’s name. The interrogation drives Choubert into a confused search of his memory; Nicolas d’Eu challenges the detective’s logic and kills him, after which the group urges Choubert to keep eating bread to fill the gaps in his memory.
Victoria Regina
A biographical play depicting Queen Victoria.
Victoria Station
A minicab controller orders driver 274 to collect a passenger at Victoria Station, but the driver refuses to leave a young woman in his car. Their increasingly tense radio dialogue shifts from comic confusion to ominous threats and loneliness as the controller considers going to find him.
Vieux Carré
In a decaying New Orleans boarding house in the late 1930s, a young writer from St. Louis becomes entangled with the troubled residents, including an aging artist, a dying society woman and her drug-addicted lover. The semi-autobiographical play draws on Williams’s earlier writings.
Vikramōrvaśīyam
King Purūravas rescues the celestial nymph Ūrvaśī from demons, and the two fall in love. After she is separated from him and cursed to become a vine, he searches for her and restores her with a magical jewel; Indra ultimately permits them to remain together on earth.
Village Wooing
On a cruise liner, genteel writer A resists conversation with working-class traveler Z, who persists and tells him about herself. Later, in a village shop, he fails to recognize her; she persuades him to buy the shop. As he settles in and writes reasons to stay, Z challenges whether he is a shopkeeper or poet, and they decide to marry.
Vimonda
Vimonda is a 1787 tragedy by the Scottish writer Andrew Macdonald. After first appearing at the Theatre Royal, Edinburgh in was then staged at London's Theatre Royal, Haymarket on 5 September 1787. The original Haymarket cast included Elizabeth Kemble as Vimonda, Stephen Kemble as Rothsay, John Bannister as Melville, Robert Bensley as Dundore, James Aickin as Barnard and Frances Barnet Woollery as Alfreda.
Vincent River
In real time in a rundown Dagenham flat, Anita, whose son Vincent was killed in a homophobic attack, talks with Davey, who says he found Vincent’s body and wants to learn about him.
Vincent in Brixton
A largely fictional drama about Vincent van Gogh's time in Brixton in 1873, where the young artist falls in love with an English widow.
Vinegar Tom
Alice and her mother Joan are accused of witchcraft by neighbors who interpret their economic, marital, and agricultural misfortunes as evidence of the supernatural. The play uses the 17th-century trials to examine gender, power, and the scapegoating of poor, nonconforming women; contemporary songs interrupt the historical scenes.
Vint
Civil servants pass time by playing vint with personal files; when an official hears his wife's name, he takes an unexpected action.
Virginia
Virginia is a 1754 tragedy by the British writer Samuel Crisp. The play is set in Ancient Rome, and portrays the story of Appius and Virginia. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane with a cast that included David Garrick as Virginius, David Ross as Iclius, Henry Mossop as Appius, Thomas Davies as Claudius, Thomas Mozeen as Rufus, Susannah Maria Cibber as Virginia, Elizabeth Bennett as Plautia and Mary Ann Yates as Marcia.
Virginius
Virginius is an 1820 tragedy in five acts by the Irish writer James Sheridan Knowles. It was part of a crop of plays set during the Roman Republic, part of a revival of interest in the period. The play is based on the story of Verginia. The original cast featured William Macready as Virginius, Maria Foote as Virginia, Harriet Faucit as Servia, William Abbot as Appius Claudius, Charles Connor as Caius Claudius, John Faucit as Titus, Daniel Egerton as Numitorius, Thomas Comer as Lucius, Charles Kemble as Icilius and Daniel Terry as Dentatus.
Virtual Intimacy
An interactive performance examines queer hookup culture, gay men's identities, and how technology shapes relationships. Community participants share experiences with professional performers, while audience members use their phones to respond anonymously and contribute to the event.
Visitatio Sepulchri (Barking Abbey version)
Three nuns dressed as the Marys visit Christ’s tomb and discover it empty. Christ appears to Mary Magdalene, who sings the news to her companions; they announce the resurrection to the apostles.
Visiting Mr. Green
After young executive Ross Gardiner is convicted of reckless driving for nearly hitting 86-year-old widower Mr. Green, he must make weekly visits for six months. Their mutual resentment gives way to family secrets and old wounds.
Visitors
An elderly couple live on a farm on Salisbury Plain, where their relationships with each other, their son and a young carer are examined.
Vivat! Vivat Regina!
Vivat! Vivat Regina! is a play written by Robert Bolt. It debuted at Chichester in 1970 and later at the Piccadilly Theatre London. Principal actors were Sarah Miles and Eileen Atkins. The play was directed by Peter Dews and designed by Carl Toms. Richard Pearson also played a role. Later, the play had a successful run on Broadway in 1972. The play tells the story of two rival monarchs who never met: Scotland's Mary, Queen of Scots and her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I of England. The play's title is Latin for "Long live! Long live the Queen!", and is taken from the acclamation at the Coronation Service. The first act contrasts the personalities of the two monarchs, as they engage in a battle of wiles. Elizabeth is portrayed as a woman who has given up on love and family in order to maintain a firm grasp on power, while Mary is portrayed as a reckless, impulsive woman ready to risk power for love. The second act concentrates on Mary's term as a prisoner of Elizabeth, during which time she reflected on her own pending execution. Eileen Atkins played Elizabeth in the play's British and American debuts. Bolt's wife Sarah Miles played Mary in the original British production, while Claire Bloom played Mary in the play's Broadway debut. The 1972 Broadway production received four Tony Award nominations: Best Play, Best Actress in a Play (Eileen Atkins), Best Featured Actor in a Play (Douglas Rain), and Best Featured Actor in a Play (Lee Richardson). A 1985 off-Broadway revival featured Geraldine Page as Elizabeth and Sabra Jones as Mary. Janet McTeer as Elizabeth and Barbara Flynn as Mary headlined director Roy Marsden's 1995 revival of Vivat! Vivat Regina! which played the Mermaid Theatre from October 23 to November 25. The play was, next to A Man for All Seasons, Bolt's most successful stage production, receiving several Tony nominations for its Broadway production.
Vladimir Mayakovsky
In an avant-garde verse tragedy, a poet-protagonist confronts the urban crowd and its coming revolt of things, presenting himself as a new prophet amid grotesque bodies, electric-age symbols and the poor city's damaged inhabitants.
Volpone
In Venice, the wealthy Volpone pretends to be dying so that Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino will bring him gifts in hopes of inheriting his fortune. With his servant Mosca, he exploits their greed, but his deceptions ultimately unravel and the plotters are punished.
Von morgens bis mitternachts
A bank cashier, stirred by an Italian visitor, leaves his provincial town to test whether money can give him a fuller life. His search ends in disillusionment and death.
Vortigern and Rowena
The story begins as the King of the Britons Constantius offers half his crown to his adviser Vortigern for his loyal service. Vortigern immediately plots the king's murder to take the crown for himself. Meanwhile, the court Fool warns two of Vortigern's children, Pascentius and Flavia, of the bad times ahead and the three of them leave the court with Flavia in drag. Constantius' sons Aurelius (Ambrosius Aurelianus) and Uter (Uther Pendragon), studying in Rome, receive word of Vortigern's treachery and go to Scotland to raise an army against their father's killer. In response Vortigern summons an army of Saxons, led by Hengist and Horsus, to defend him from the Scots. He falls in love with Hengist's beautiful daughter Rowena, and proclaims her his queen, much to the chagrin of his wife Edmunda and his two remaining sons, Wortimerus (Vortimer) and Catagrinus (Catigern), who flee. Vortigern's family eventually all join Aurelius and Uter's army, and Aurelius and Flavia declare their mutual love. In the end the Saxons are routed and Aurelius defeats Vortigern but spares his life, and then marries Flavia. The final speech is delivered by the Fool, who admits that the play is not very tragic, as "none save bad do fall, which draws no tear".
Vražda v salonním coupé
On an international express, celebrated inspector Trachta and a police apprentice investigate after a businessman dies following treatment for a toothache. The detective play also frames the case with lectures debating the fictional Czech detective’s criminal-investigation work.
Vrăjitoarele
A children's dramatic love story told through folk mythology, characterized as more folkloric than its companion play Șarpele Marao.
Věc Makropulos
Famous singer Emilia Marty intervenes in a century-old inheritance dispute, displaying impossible knowledge of the families involved. She reveals that she is Elina Makropulos, who has lived for more than 300 years through a potion of extended youth; as the others debate immortality's value, Emilia explains her apathy and Kristina destroys the formula.
Věrní abonenti
A married couple renews their theatre subscriptions but ends up seated apart. The husband falls for his attractive new neighbour, turning a seating mishap into a crisis that forces him to reconsider his marriage and his own identity.
W;t
The action of the play takes place during the final hours of Dr. Vivian Bearing, a university professor of English, dying of ovarian cancer. She recalls the initial diagnosis of Stage IV metastatic ovarian cancer from her oncologist, Dr. Harvey Kelekian. Dr. Kelekian then proposes an experimental chemotherapeutic treatment regimen consisting of eight rounds at full dosage. Vivian agrees to the treatment. Over the course of the play, Vivian reflects on her life through the intricacies of the English language, especially the use of wit in the metaphysical poetry of John Donne. Throughout the play, she recites Donne's Holy Sonnet X, "Death Be Not Proud," while reflecting upon her condition. (In the revised edition of John Donne's Holy Sonnets, "If Poysonous Mineralls" and "Death Be Not Proud" are sonnets IX and X, respectively.) As a professor, she has a reputation for rigorous teaching methods. She has lived her life alone, is unmarried and without children, her parents are deceased, and she has no emergency contact. Vivian recalls undergoing tests by various medical technicians and being the subject of grand rounds. She remembers sharing a love of language and books with her father. She flashes back to her experiences as a student of Dr. E. M. Ashford, an expert on John Donne. Bearing later finds herself under the care of Dr. Jason Posner, an oncology research fellow who has taken her class on John Donne. At the hospital, she recognizes that doctors are interested in her for her research value and, like her, tend to ignore humanity in favor of knowledge. Gradually, she realizes that she would prefer kindness to intellectualism. Vivian reaches the end stage in extreme pain as Susie Monahan, a nurse at the medical centre, offers Vivian compassion and discusses with her the option of exercising her final option, "do not resuscitate" (DNR), in case of a severe decline in her condition. Vivian decides to mark the DNR option. Dr. Ashford, in town for her great-grandson's birthday, visits the hospital after learning of Vivian's cancer. She comforts her and offers to read a Donne sonnet, but Vivian, scarcely conscious, declines. Instead, Ashford reads from Margaret Wise Brown's The Runaway Bunny, which she had bought for her great-grandson. Dr. Ashford kisses a sleeping Vivian, quotes Hamlet, and leaves. While on a routine visit, Jason notices Vivian has stopped breathing and has no pulse. He immediately calls in a "code blue" and begins CPR, despite the DNR order. Susie enters on hearing the code blue announcement, attempts to stop Jason's efforts, and calls to cancel the code. The resuscitation team arrives with a crash cart and attempts to revive Vivian while Susie tries to intervene, repeating that Vivian is DNR. Jason eventually admits his mistake, and upon examining the chart, the team quickly stops. The play ends as Vivian, unclothed after her death, walks from her hospital bed "toward a little light".
WEER
A one-performer romantic comedy in which Natalie Palamides plays both members of a couple, using her left and right sides for the male and female roles. The title echoes the couple’s repeated “we’re” and a mispronunciation of “deer.”
Waiora Te Ūkaipō - The Homeland
In 1965, a Māori family displaced from its tribal land gathers on a South Island beach to celebrate Rongo's birthday. Their hope that Hone will be promoted collapses when they learn his employer will offer only a bonus; the family tensions deepen as the ancestors' presence, a fire accident, Rongo's crisis and an impending volcanic eruption expose what the family has left behind.
Wait Until Dark
Susy Hendrix is a blind Greenwich Village housewife who becomes the target of three con-men searching for the heroin hidden in a doll, which her husband Sam unwittingly transported from Canada as a favor to a woman who has since been murdered. "Roat" leads his companions into thinking that they are going to be rich and will get the heroin soon enough, but in the end he murders all of his partners after they outlive their usefulness. The trio tries to convince Susy that her husband will be suspected of murdering the woman, and the only way to protect him is to give them the doll, which connects him to her. Little do the men know that Gloria, a little girl in the upstairs apartment, has stolen the doll after finding out it was not a gift for her. One of the men poses as Sergeant Carlino, a strange police detective, while another poses as Mike, an old friend of her husband dropping by for a visit. Susy relies on "Mike", and he eventually begins to feel sympathy for her. "Roat" poses as both the elderly Mr. Roat and his "son", Roat Junior. Roat Senior ransacks Susy's room and steals a wedding photo from the bedroom. He threatens Susy's and her husband's well-being, so she calls the police. Her call is intercepted by "Mike", and Susy is visited by "Sergeant Carlino". Gloria returns and admits her theft of the doll, and Susy hides it. Susy contacts "Mike" to ask for help now that the doll is found. Gloria has been watching the nearby phone booth used by the con-men, and she alerts Susy that all three of the men she has been dealing with are tricking her. Susy sends Gloria to meet her husband on his way home from work, and begins planning to handle the intruders. Roat kills both of his partners after the men discover Susy has the doll in the apartment. He spills gas around the apartment to destroy any evidence. Susy turns off all the lights so that "Roat" cannot see her. "Roat" uses matches to see until Susy douses him with the gasoline. He uses the refrigerator light to see, threatens Susy, and tries to kill her. She ultimately defeats "Roat". Sam bursts in with the police and finds that Susy has already dealt with Roat. He sees that Mike is also dead. Gloria yells at the police when they appear too patronizing to Susy and defends Susy's ability to take care of herself. After the police leave, Susy and Sam embrace.
Waiting for Gillian
Waiting for Gillian is a 1954 play by the English writer Ronald Millar. It is based on the 1951 novel A Way Through the Wood by Nigel Balchin. It was first staged at the Manchester Opera House before transferring to St James's Theatre in London's West End where it ran for 101 performances. The cast included John McCallum, Googie Withers, Frank Lawton and Norman Pierce. The play was staged by the Edinburgh Gateway Company in the autumn of 1955.
Waiting for Lefty
At a meeting of New York taxi drivers, union boss Harry Fatt opposes a strike while workers recount episodes of exploitation, job loss, discrimination, and betrayal. Organizer Agate urges them to act without waiting for their elected chairman Lefty; when they learn Lefty has been shot, the drivers unite and call a strike.
Waiting for the Parade
Five women in wartime Calgary manage volunteer work, family pressures, loneliness, and public expectations while men serve overseas. Their differing experiences expose the emotional costs of maintaining the home front.
Waiting in the Wings
At The Wings, a charity home for retired actresses, May Davenport is furious when her old rival Lotta Bainbridge moves in. Amid a fundraising show, a fire and the residents’ changing fortunes, the women gradually reconcile; when Lotta’s son invites her to leave for Canada, she chooses the community she has made at the home.
Waiting to Be Invited
In Atlanta in summer 1964, a group of Black women test the end of segregation by trying to be served at an all-white lunch counter.
Walden
In a near-future with worsening climate change and refugee crisis, and where synthetic foods, cloning, and war are common, Cassie, a NASA astronaut returned from a year-long lunar mission, visits her estranged fraternal twin sister Stella, and Stella's partner Bryan, at a remote cabin. Stella, a former NASA architect, designed a Mars habitat called Walden while at the agency. Cassie is about to begin training for a mission to Mars, where she will live in the Walden habitat. Stella, while still believing in NASA, now favors prioritizing the Earth, while Bryan is an "Earth Advocate" activist, and they argue with Cassie about space colonization. A love triangle develops.
Walk about the Villages
A writer returns to his home village and becomes entangled in a dispute with his brother and sister over their parents’ house. The dramatic poem is the final part of Handke’s Slow Homecoming tetralogy.
Wall
A monologue about Israel's security barriers in the West Bank and Gaza, conceived as a companion to Hare's monologue Berlin and its discussion of the Berlin Wall.
Wallace
After defeat against the English at the Battle of Falkirk, Scottish war leader Wallace manages to escape to the apparent safety of a glen. There he is betrayed by Montieth who hands him over to the English. As Wallace goes resignedly to his execution, his wife Helen dies of grief in the arms of his ally Douglas
Wallenstein
Schiller’s three-part drama traces General Wallenstein’s defiance of Emperor Ferdinand II during the Thirty Years’ War, the divided loyalties of his commanders and the tragic collapse of his military and personal circle.
Waltz of the Stork
Waltz of the Stork is an American semi-autobiographical play written and originally performed by Melvin Van Peebles. It also featured his son Mario Van Peebles. The play originally ran for four months in 1982. It ran from January 5, 1982, to May 23, 1982. The song "The Apple Stretching", featured in this play, was later covered by Grace Jones, and released as a single. In 2008, a film based on the play, Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha, was released, directed by Van Peebles.
Wang Dan
Five actors portray different stages of Wang Dan’s life at once: childhood, activism during the 1989 movement, imprisonment, exile, and an idealized poetic self. Their dialogue and imagery of a playground and carousel explore the tension between ideals and reality and the lasting emotional effects of exile.
War Horse
A foal is auctioned for sale in Devon, the United Kingdom. Hoping to give it to his son Billy, Arthur Narracott bids on the foal; instead, his brother Ted competes with him and bids 39 guineas—an exorbitant amount that Arthur can't meet – and wins the foal. Ted is the local drunkard and thought to be a coward, for refusing to have fought together with his brother in the earlier Boer War in South Africa. At the auction, Ted used money reserved to pay his farm mortgage. Ted's wife Rose fears they will lose their farm. Their son Albert promises to raise the foal and train him for sale. The boy names the foal Joey, and forms a strong bond with the horse during training. Jealous of his cousin Albert, Billy convinces his father to get Ted drunk and make a bet: if Joey (bred and trained as a hunter, not a plough horse) can be taught to plough within a week, Arthur will pay Ted 39 guineas, the auction price. If Joey won't plough, Billy gets the horse. Albert successfully teaches Joey to pull the plough and gets to keep him. News of the outbreak of World War I reaches Devon. When Ted sells Joey to the cavalry, Albert is crushed. Captain James Nicholls, who often sketched Albert riding the hunter, promises that he will personally look after the fine horse. At the same time, Arthur enlists Billy to fight despite his protests. Arthur gives Billy his grandfather's knife for protection. Joey and Topthorn (another army horse) are shipped to France. The charges of the British cavalry are overwhelmed by the fire from German machine guns, representing their new technology. During the first charge, Nicholls is shot and killed. Billy is assigned to ride Joey into battle and is captured by German troops. Nicholls's sketchbook is sent to Albert, who learns Joey is serving "unprotected" in France. He lies about his age, enlists in the army and goes to France. There he befriends Private David Taylor, a fellow soldier. The Germans have taken Billy to a French farm being used as a makeshift hospital. He is killed brandishing his knife. Emilie, the girl of the farm family, is nearly killed in the altercation. German officer Friedrich Muller is reminded of his own daughter left in Germany. He and Emilie share a love of horses and, with Emilie's mother, they take care of the horses Joey and Topthorn, which are being kept to pull an ambulance for wounded soldiers. When a shell kills most of his comrades, Friedrich switches his coat and identity with an enlisted medic, hoping to survive to return home. His subterfuge is discovered but Friedrich enables Emilie and her mother to escape. When the Germans force the two fine horses to work as draft horses, Joey inspires Topthorn to pull in order to survive. Once enemies, the two horses become friends, but Topthorn dies from exhaustion. As Friedrich mourns the horse, a tank attack hits his group, killing him and causing Joey to flee in escape. He is caught in barbed wire in No Man's Land between the enemy lines. The Germans and British each send out a man under a white flag to aid the horse. Winning a coin toss, the British take the injured Joey back to camp. Albert and David's infantry division encounter Emilie, who is alone and traumatized; they take her to British headquarters. On the way, Albert sees a dead horse with Billy's knife in him. Believing that the horse is Joey, Albert is broken. Recognizing Joey's name, Emilie tries to talk to Albert, but David is shot and killed, and Albert temporarily blinded by tear gas. Emilie does not have the chance to tell him about his horse. Behind the lines, in a British encampment, Albert tells his story to a nurse just as the damaged Joey is brought to the camp by soldiers. The soldiers prepare to kill the injured horse, but Albert whistles and Joey responds to him. Learning the full story, the soldiers agree to let Albert care for Joey during their joint convalescence. The horse and farmboy return home safe to Devon at the end of the war.
War and Peace
A stage adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's novel, collaboratively adapted by Alfred Neumann, Erwin Piscator and Guntram Prüfer.
Warenar
In Amsterdam, Warenar is so obsessed with a pot of inherited gold that he neglects his pregnant daughter Klaartje. A servant’s theft of the treasure throws him into panic, while the young lovers’ future becomes entangled with his eventual release from greed.
Warn That Man!
Warn That Man! is a 1941 comedy thriller play by the British writer Vernon Sylvaine. A comedy-thriller, its plot concerns an attempt to kidnap wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill from an English country house. Having debuted at the New Theatre, Oxford, it then ran for 352 performances at the Garrick Theatre in the West End between December 1941 and September 1942. Amongst its cast were Gordon Harker, Veronica Rose, Basil Radford, Ethel Coleridge and Judy Kelly.
Warp!
David Carson, an everyday bank teller, learns that he is Lord Cumulus, "avenger of the universe". against antagonist Prince Chaos. In this world, he encounters the sage Lugulbanda, who sends him on his quest aided by the leather-clad Amazon warrior Sargon. They battle Valaria the insect sorceress and Chaos' henchman, the purple ape Symax.
Warwick Pageant
This large-scale historical pageant used ten episodes to dramatize Warwick's history from Roman and Briton encounters through Queen Elizabeth's 1572 visit. The outdoor performance combined scenes of rulers, battles, civic events and processions, performed by a large community cast.
Was geschah, nachdem Nora ihren Mann verlassen hatte; oder Stützen der Gesellschaften
Jelinek follows Nora after she leaves her husband, tracing the social roles projected onto her as wife, mother, worker, lover, and businesswoman. Her attempt to escape an upper-class domestic role exposes how a small capitalist elite controls political and economic institutions, while her ambitions also entangle her in exploitation.
Waste
Independent politician Henry Trebell pursues a bill to disestablish the Church of England, but an affair with Amy O'Connell leads to scandal, her death after a botched abortion and his suicide.
Watch on the Rhine
It is 1940, in late spring. For the past 17 years, the German-born engineer Kurt Mueller and Sara, his American wife of 20 years, have lived modestly in Europe and raised three children. He has been deeply involved in anti-Fascist activities in Spain and Germany. The Muellers and their children Joshua, Babette, and Bodo are visiting Sara's wealthy relatives, the Farrellys, her brother David, and mother Fanny, in Washington, D.C. Sara tells the Farrellys she and her family hope to live peacefully in the U.S. The Farrellys have another houseguest, Teck de Brancovis, an impoverished Romanian count "with good manners and odious character" who has been conspiring with the Germans while living in Washington. He searches the Muellers' bedroom and in a locked suitcase discovers a gun and $23,000 intended to finance underground operations in Germany. The Muellers learn that Max Freidank, a member of the resistance, has been arrested in Germany. Because Freidank once rescued Kurt from the Gestapo, Kurt plans to return to Germany to assist Max and those arrested with him. Teck threatens to expose Kurt's plans to the Nazis unless they pay him $10,000 to keep silent. Kurt kills Teck. David and Fanny agree to help him escape capture by the American police. The play ends with Kurt saying goodbye to his wife and children and voicing his hope that they'll all be reunited someday in a freer, better Germany.
Watchlist
Basil Pepper falls for animal-rights activist Delia Dengel, who draws him into confronting climate collapse and his own complicity. As Delia’s plan develops, Basil’s friend and mother try to pull him away, while government agents circle and the characters face choices between dissent, silence, and self-interest.
Water by the Spoonful
Set seven years after Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue, the play features veteran Elliot Ortiz, who was wounded and has returned to his home town of Philadelphia. He works at a sandwich shop and cares for his ailing aunt Ginny, who raised him. He is coping with recurring bouts of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), characterized by visions of an apparition, a man who continually offers a hand and repeats an Arabic phrase. Elliot's cousin Yazmin, a Swarthmore College music professor in the middle of a divorce, introduces him to Professor Aman, from Swarthmore's Arabic Studies department. Elliot wants to decipher the phrase the ghost repeats, but does not want to share its origin. Aman says that he will translate the phrase if Elliot agrees to contact a filmmaker friend of his who is making a documentary about the Iraq War. When Elliot accepts, Aman reveals that the phrase means, "Can I please have my passport back?". Odessa is Elliot's birth mother and Ginny's sister. She had given up her son because of her crack addiction. In recovery, she uses the alias Haikumom to moderate an anonymous online message board for recovering addicts. These include Orangutan and Chutes&Ladders. Haikumom and Chutes&Ladders are delighted by the appearance of Orangutan, who has not logged into the site for three months. She tells them that she is 90 days sober and has moved to Japan to meet her birth parents. Fountainhead, a wealthy Philadelphian addict-in-denial, arrives and sows discord on the message board. Odessa wants to welcome him, but Orangutan and Chutes&Ladders doubt his intentions, especially when he seeks help to avoid telling his wife about his addiction. After Fountainhead and Odessa leave the chatroom, Orangutan encourages Chutes&Ladders to visit her in Japan, but he refuses. He fears that the awkwardness of the meeting and the break from the routine he has built for himself might threaten his 10-year sobriety. When Ginny dies, Elliot and Yazmin have limited funds to pay for her funeral, and they start seeking money from the rest of the family. While this is happening, Odessa meets Fountainhead at a diner to discuss rehab and treatment options. Yazmin and Elliot arrive and confront Odessa for her failure to contribute to her sister's funeral. Elliot reveals to Fountainhead that Odessa had a daughter who died of dehydration from the flu at the age of two. He blames Odessa, claiming that she was too busy getting high on crack to give his sister the "water by the spoonful" she needed to survive. Shamed, Odessa gives Elliot permission to pawn her personal computer for Ginny's funeral expenses. He and Yazmin go to Odessa's apartment to retrieve it. Elliot logs in and poses as Haikumom on the message board, where he insults Orangutan. Yazmin grabs the keyboard to explain it is Haikumom's son using the computer. Orangutan tells them that Haikumom has always spoken very highly of Elliot on the site. She had regretted her absence from his life due to her addiction. Orangutan posts that she plans to visit her birth parents' address, but Chutes&Ladders attempts to dissuade her. He suggests that the emotion of the visit might make her want to use again. Orangutan says that she prefers uncertainty about the future to Chutes&Ladders' strict routine, and leaves for the train to Kushiro, where her birth parents supposedly reside. That night, Odessa relapses and the hospital calls Fountainhead, whom she listed as an emergency contact without his knowledge. In the morning, Orangutan reveals that she did not take the train to her birth parents. Chutes&Ladders says that he has decided to face his fears and has bought a ticket to Japan. Fountainhead enters the chat with the news about Odessa, and Chutes&Ladders convinces him that he now has a duty to care for her. Fountainhead agrees and calls his wife, giving her the credentials to his profile on the message board, so that she can find out about his addiction struggles. Orangutan and Chutes&Ladders meet in person in Japan. Yazmin and Elliot travel to Puerto Rico where they scatter Ginny's ashes. Yazmin plans to purchase Ginny's house there and to start a family. Elliot vows to pursue his acting dream in Los Angeles.
Waterloo Bridge
American chorus girl Myra Deauville is stuck in 1917 London at the height of World War I, unable to find work and book passage home. She resorts to prostitution to support herself. She meets her clients on Waterloo Bridge, the primary entry point into the city for soldiers on leave. There she meets fellow American Roy Cronin, a young soldier in the Canadian Army on convalescent leave after being wounded in France, and impressed by his innocence, invites him to her apartment for tea instead of soliciting his business. Afterwards she sends him away. The next day Myra's friend and neighbor Kitty finds Roy waiting for Myra in her room. Unaware that Kitty is also a prostitute and that their landlady, Mrs. Hobley, has been forced to run her house as a brothel because her husband is a prisoner-of-war, Roy is persuaded that Myra needs his protection. Kitty hints that Roy should ask Myra to marry him and tries to convince Myra to accept a proposal, justifying the idea as an expedient of survival. Rationalizing that Myra will make a soldier happy for a few days, Kitty tells her that she owes it to herself as an honest resolution to a predicament she did not create. Mrs. Hobley learns that Roy is flush with back pay and encourages Myra so Roy will pay her delinquent rent. The gullible Roy is worried that he will be sent to Camp Bramshott at any moment to prepare for return to the front and proposes. Myra accepts, but then sneaks away when she feels guilty. Restored to duty, Roy assigns part of his pay to her and names her as the beneficiary of his life insurance. Mrs. Hobley, in need of self-justification, tells Roy that her "Christian duty" compels her to warn him that Myra is a "harlot". Roy accepts the truth as a reality of the times and rejects her warning. Crossing the bridge on his way to the railway station, he meets Myra again and makes her promise to accept the allotment and sign for the life insurance benefit. After he leaves for Bramshott, Myra remains on the bridge, lighting a cigarette, just as a German air raid begins, and she is killed.
Waters of the Moon
The routine of a modest West Country hotel is disrupted when a car breaks down nearby and the wealthy, vivacious Helen Lancaster, her husband and daughter become snowbound. Their arrival unsettles the hotel's isolated guests and reshapes their relationships.
Watsonville: Some Place Not Here
At a California cannery, workers strike for better wages and rights while the Latino community is divided by anti-immigration legislation. Protest theatre and hunger strikes accompany the struggle, which intertwines labor, immigration, gender, sexuality, and spiritual visions. Moraga draws loosely on a cannery strike, an earthquake, and a reported vision of the Virgin of Guadalupe.
Way Upstream
Set aboard a hired cabin cruiser on an English river, the play follows a power struggle that culminates in a violent overthrow of a tyrannical captain. Alistair and Emma make a new start at the end. Ayckbourn rejected readings that treat the action as a direct political allegory.
Way to Heaven
Set around the 1944 Red Cross visit to Theresienstadt, the play follows the inspector, the camp commandant and Jewish prisoner Gershom Gottfried, whom the commandant forces to stage an opera for the visitors. The staged scenes conceal the deportations and death-camp reality that the prisoners know lies beyond the charade.
Ways and Means
Ways and Means; Or, a Trip to Dover is a 1788 comedy play by the British writer and theatre manager George Colman the Younger. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London with a cast that included John Bannister as Sir David Dunder, John Palmer as Random, James Brown Williamson as Scruple, James Aickin as Old Random, Howard Usher as Paul Peery, Lydia Webb as Lady Dunder and Elizabeth Kemble as Harriet. Its Irish premiere was at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 24 April 1793.
Ways and Means
Heiress Stella Cartwright and her gambling husband Toby face debts and eviction from their French villa. When a disgraced chauffeur breaks in to rob them, Stella turns the encounter into a scheme to rob their guests and recover their money.
Ways and Means; Or, a Trip to Dover
Two young men, Random and Scruple, fall in love with sisters Kitty and Harriet. The sisters’ father, Sir David Dunder, unwittingly brings the couples together, then interrupts their attempt at a double elopement.
We Are Not Alone
A skeptical performer investigates UFO sightings, extraterrestrial encounters, and the communities that believe in them. His journey through conflicting accounts explores the desire for evidence, connection, and a place in the universe.
We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German Südwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915
Actors rehearse a presentation about the Herero genocide in German colonial Namibia, confronting how they represent the violence and how the rehearsal affects their relationships.
We Bombed in New Haven
We Bombed in New Haven is a 1967 play by Joseph Heller. An anti-war black comedy, it is thematically linked in part to Heller's famous novel Catch-22. The play opened on Broadway at the Ambassador Theatre on October 16, 1968, and closed on December 29, 1968, after 85 performances. The play is heavily metatheatrical, being not only staged at but also set at the Ambassador Theatre, the actors playing actors appearing in a play at the Ambassador. This play-within-a-play concerns a strategic bombing squadron; the squadron commander frequently steps out of character to reassure the audience that they are only watching a play. This conceit is carried to the point where the actors themselves exhibit confusion over whether they really are actors playing airmen, or actual airmen. For instance, in the second act, Henderson (played by Ron Leibman) is scheduled to be killed – he knows this, being familiar with the script, and is not worried; but then later, a corporal is killed on a mission, and Henderson is unable to find him offstage. Henderson worries that the corporal really has been killed, and that perhaps the "play" is reality. This "phantasmagoric world in which actors might not know where the grease paint ended and the blood began", where the audience is led to believe in both levels of reality as the borders blend and blur in manner reminiscent of the works of Luigi Pirandello, is used by Heller to satirize and excoriate the moral blindness that leads people to treat war as spectacle, equating the real death and suffering of war with the deaths of actors in war movies. New York Times theatre critic Clive Barnes gave the play a mixed review ("I would call it a bad play any good playwright should be proud to have written, and any good audience fascinated to see"); the New York Post was more enthusiastic ("An exceptional quality of imagination that is at once comic, bitter and moving, and it is immensely effective in dramatic terms"). The title of the play is ironic with a double meaning. In 1967, plays frequently opened in New Haven, Connecticut for a tryout run before moving to Broadway (perhaps via Boston or Philadelphia), and "bombed in New Haven" would describe a play that was found there to be too flawed to make it to Broadway. And the airmen do literally bomb in New Haven (as well as other targets such as Minnesota and "Constantinople") in the course of the play, reason for these seemingly absurd targeting orders from the High Command never being given. Prior to its Broadway opening, the play was premiered in New Haven by the Yale Repertory Theatre in 1967 starring Stacy Keach, Estelle Parsons, and Ron Leibman (who went with the play to Broadway). In the original Broadway production, players included Ron Leibman, Anthony Holland, Jason Robards, Diana Sands and William Roerick. Although its eleven-week run was respectable, the play is generally considered to have not been a success, but a Broadway revival was staged in 1972 at the Circle in the Square Theatre, featuring Steven Keats and James Doerr, and the play has been occasionally staged at various venues throughout the rest of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first.
We Happy Few
A group of women form a professional theatre troupe and tour Shakespeare plays around Britain during World War II, facing the practical and personal challenges of keeping the company alive.
We Interrupt This Program...
During the performance, a group of criminals takes the audience hostage in an effort to force the release of an imprisoned accomplice.
We Swear
Matt and Naomi revisit the promises they made after marrying, as they find themselves back in Toronto facing a corporate gig and a wedding they never planned.
We Thieves Are Honourable
A botched robbery at a suburban home drives this comedy by Enrique Jardiel Poncela.
We Want You to Watch
Pig and Sissy try to eradicate internet pornography, using extreme tactics including kidnapping the Queen to demand a ban and trying to make an American hacker shut down the internet. The play critiques pornography while describing itself as pro-sex.
We Were Dancing
At a dance on a South Pacific island, married Louise falls for Karl and plans to leave with him for Australia. After talking through the night, they realize their feelings were fleeting and part amicably.
We Will Never Die
This dramatic pageant uses narration, actors, prayers and music to call attention to the mass murder of Europe’s Jews. Its sections evoke a roll call, Jews in war, the Battle of Warsaw and the ghetto, concluding with remembrance.
Weapons of Happiness
A strike at a London crisp factory forms the main plot, interwoven with the imagined survival of Czech communist minister Josef Frank in the 1970s and his hallucinations of Stalinist Czechoslovakia. Brenton frames the drama as a British epic theatre work with limited naturalism and long speeches.
Weather Girl
California weather presenter Stacey maintains a cheerful on-screen persona while struggling with alcoholism; as she reports on wildfires, her past begins to upend her present.
Weatherwise
Lady Warple’s trance makes her behave like a dog whenever anyone mentions the weather; a household attempt to cure her ends in fatal violence.
Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White
In 1918 South Carolina, Julia, a Black seamstress, and Herman, a white baker, have been together for ten years but cannot marry under anti-miscegenation laws. When Herman falls ill, racial hostility and fear of legal consequences keep Julia’s neighbors and his family from helping; after his death, Julia gives their planned escape tickets and wedding band to a neighbor facing her own marriage barriers.
Wedding Bells
Wedding Bells is a 1919 comedic play which played on Broadway. The play was written by Salisbury Field and staged by Edgar Selwyn, and opened on Broadway on November 12, 1919 at the Harris Theatre. It played through April 1, 1920, for a total of 168 performances. Prior to opening in New York, initial performances occurred in Washington, D.C. Wallace Eddinger and Margaret Lawrence played the lead roles. The play received generally positive reviews, and Burns Mantle included the play on his list of best plays of the season. It was adapted into a silent film released in 1921 featuring Constance Talmadge. It also was staged in London, and subsequent to a touring production after closing on Broadway, other productions of the play in the United States were mounted into the 1930s. Aside from appearing in editions of Burns Mantle's best play lists, the play has subsequently received little attention.
Wedding at Aulis
As the Greek fleet waits to sail for Troy, Agamemnon faces a demand to sacrifice his daughter, Iphigenia. The promise of a wedding draws her into a conflict between military ambition, family loyalty, and the cost of war.
Wedlock of the Gods
Widow Ogwoma falls in love with Uloko and becomes pregnant before completing the traditional mourning period for her husband, Adigwu. Their relationship clashes with expectations that she marry her late husband’s brother, while both families condemn them; Odibei ultimately poisons Ogwoma, and Uloko kills her before taking the same poison.
Wednesday to Come
In early spring 1934, four generations of a working-class family gather at Mary's home while waiting for Ted. He arrives with a coffin: Ben has died by suicide while working in a Depression-era labour camp. The play follows the women as they confront the loss and the lives history leaves out.
Wednesday's Child
Wednesday's Child is a 1934 Broadway two-act drama written by Leopold L. Atlas, produced by H.C. Potter and George Haight, staged by Potter with scenic design created by Tom Adrian Cracraft. It ran for 56 performances from January 16, 1934, to March 1934 at the Longacre Theatre. The play was included in Burns Mantle's The Best Plays of 1933-1934. It was adapted into the 1934 film Wednesday's Child directed by John S. Robertson and starring Edward Arnold and Karen Morley with Frank Thomas Jr. recreating his role as Bobby Phillips. It was also adapted into the 1946 film Child of Divorce.
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