What You Will
The comedy contrasts the bitter satirist Lampatho Doria with the genial poet Quadratus through comic debates and vignettes; a subplot has boy pages tricking and humiliating fools.
Plays
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Clear filtersWhat a Life
What a Life is a 1938 Broadway play by Clifford Goldsmith. What a Life is set in Central High School, with action primarily occurring in the principal's office. The main character, Henry Aldrich, "thinks he is dumb because his father won a Phi Beta Kappa key at college." During the play, Aldrich faces charges that he caused a disturbance in class and that he stole brass instruments from the band. He also has to deal with a student who bullies him. It languished for more than one year, but things changed when producer George Abbott took charge.
What the Butler Saw
Characters Dr Prentice Geraldine Barclay Mrs Prentice Nicholas Beckett Dr Rance Sergeant Match The play consists of two acts – though the action is continuous – and revolves around a Dr Prentice, a psychiatrist attempting to seduce his attractive prospective secretary, Geraldine Barclay. The play opens with the doctor examining Geraldine in a job interview, during which he persuades her to undress. The situation becomes more intense when Mrs Prentice enters, causing the doctor to hide Geraldine behind a curtain. His wife, however, is also being seduced and blackmailed, by Nicholas Beckett. She therefore promises Nicholas the post as secretary, which adds further confusion, including Nicholas, Geraldine and a police officer dressing as members of the opposite sex. Dr Prentice's clinic is also faced with a government inspection, led by Dr Rance, which reveals the chaos in the clinic. Dr Rance talks about how he will use the situation to develop a new book: "The final chapters of my book are knitting together: incest, buggery, outrageous women and strange love-cults catering for depraved appetites. All the fashionable bric-a-brac." A penis ("the missing parts of Sir Winston Churchill") is held aloft in the climactic scene.
What the Constitution Means to Me
Heidi Schreck performs as both her present self and her 15-year-old self, a Constitutional debate contestant, using her family history and personal experiences to examine women's rights, abuse, immigration, and constitutional protections. The performance ends in a debate with a local high-school student over whether the Constitution should be replaced, with the audience acting as jury.
What's Done in the Dark (Will Come to the Light)
When Mr. Brown faints before a trip, Cora rushes him to an emergency room where patients and staff face their secrets: a single mother's son is shot, a nurse learns her doctor-lover is married, and a patient couple discovers an STI. The eccentric Mr. Brown is revealed to have faked his illness.
What's Wrong with Angry?
Set against unequal age-of-consent laws and restrictions on discussion of homosexuality in schools, the play tells a love story between two British schoolboys, Steven Carter and John Westhead.
What's in a Name?
At dinner with his sister, brother-in-law and childhood friend, expectant father Vincent is asked to reveal the name he has chosen for his child. His answer plunges the family gathering into chaos.
Wheelbarrow Closers
In the present at the Grant household, a tough sales executive comes to grips with the problem of his own retirement.
When Angels Wept
A small group of survivors of the Our Lady of the Angels School fire confronts how the tragedy has affected their lives over the decades that follow.
When Dad Married Fury
Two brothers are upset when their father marries Fury, an American fundamentalist Christian half his age. The marriage ignites family conflict involving old resentments, including one daughter's belief that the father contributed to her own father's suicide.
When Knighthood Was in Flower
When Knighthood Was in Flower is a play in four acts by Paul Kester. It is based on the 1898 novel of the same name by Charles Major. The work premiered on Broadway at the Criterion Theatre on January 14, 1901. It ran for a total of 176 performances; closing in June 1901. The original production was produced by Charles Frohman and used sets by Ernest Albert, Frank E. Gates and Edward A. Morange. The costumes were designed by Mrs. Charles Hone and Harper Pennington. The cast was led by Bruce McRae as Charles Brandon and Julia Marlowe as Mary Tudor among others. Marlowe, however, was initially criticized for taking on a non-Shakespearean role as critics thought the work inferior to her usual repertoire. The play, however, was a huge popular and financial success for Marlowe and the show's producers both in New York and on national tour, and was subsequently revived on Broadway at the Empire Theatre in 1904.
When Knights Were Bold
British officer Guy De Vere returns from service in India to inherit an estate and baronetcy, encountering village eccentrics while his cousin Rowena falls in love with him.
When We Are Married
Alderman Joseph Helliwell and his wife, Maria, are joined at their house in Clecklewyke in the West Riding of Yorkshire by Councillor Albert Parker and his wife, Annie, together with Herbert Soppitt and his wife, Clara. They are celebrating their silver weddings, all three couples having been married on the same day in the same nonconformist chapel in Lane End, Clecklewyke. Their characters quickly become clear: Helliwell and his wife are easy-going, but he is self-satisfied and inclined to infidelity; Parker is a narrow-minded and parsimonious bully and his wife is under his thumb; Soppitt, contrariwise, is bullied by his domineering wife. The men are all prominent elders of Lane End chapel, and after the celebrations in the dining room, they gather in the sitting room, replete with port and cigars, to confront the chapel organist, Gerald Forbes, whom they intend to sack, because he has been seen walking out with young women, and, worse, is a southerner. Gerald turns the tables by revealing that on holiday he met a church minister, the Rev Francis Beech, who confided that thirty years ago, as a young minister at Lane End, he conducted four marriages – three of them on the same day – under the impression that he was qualified to do so, but, he later discovered, he lacked the requisite licence for it. The three men are horrified. Their marriage services, conducted by Beech, were invalid. They foresee a scandal, and dread the reaction of Maria, Annie and Clara: "Then t'balloon goes up properly. Talk about a rumpus. You'll 'ear 'em from 'ere to Leeds". Their anxiety is intensified by the discovery that a domestic servant, Mrs Northrop, has been eavesdropping and knows what Gerald has revealed. Worse, a reporter and photographer from the regional paper, Fred Dyson and Henry Ormonroyd, are on the premises, having come to report on the anniversary and take pictures of the three couples. The three men agree that Mrs Northrop must be bribed to secrecy, and the newspaper men bluffed and kept in ignorance. Mrs Northrop tells Maria, Annie and Clara what she has learned. The couples slowly adjust to finding themselves unmarried. The two downtrodden partners, Herbert Soppitt and Annie Parker, seem on the verge of rekindling the romantic feelings they had for each other before they paired off with Clara and Albert. Herbert rounds on the domineering Clara and asserts himself. Annie does the same to Albert. A convivial barmaid, Lottie arrives. It quickly emerges that she has in the past had an affair with Helliwell, and thinks she can assert the right to become his wife. She is an old flame of Ormonroyd, who tells her and the others that he is married, although he wishes he were not. The ceremony, he says, was at Lane End conducted by Beech. His wife – equally keen as he to become unmarried – has investigated and established that the four weddings conducted by Beech were legally valid because in those days nonconformist weddings had to be certified by a registrar, and this had been duly done. Finding they are married after all, the three couples look forward to a future without domestic tyranny or extramarital infidelity. Ormonroyd takes a group photograph of the three couples and looks forward to life as proprietor of a photographic shop, with the backing of Helliwell and his colleagues.
When We Dead Awaken
Sculptor Arnold Rubek reunites with Irena, the former model whose image made his masterpiece, while his wife Maia seeks independence with the hunter Ulfheim. Rubek and Irena attempt to revive their artistic bond, but their ascent into the mountains ends in an avalanche.
When Winston Went to War with the Wireless
Jack Thorne’s play concerns the BBC during the 1926 general strike.
When You Comin' Back, Red Ryder?
The story starts out in a neat but rundown little diner just off the highway in the middle of nowhere, New Mexico. The protagonist, Stephen "Red" Ryder, is sitting at the counter after finishing his shift. He is smoking a cigarette and drinking coffee from a paper cup. Angel enters to start her shift. Red and Angel discuss various subjects including Angel's bumpy relationship with her mother, Red's aspirations of getting out of town, and how they'd both like to tell off their boss, Clark. Red claims he can't leave town as of yet since his stepfather has just left his mother. Lyle, the gas station attendant across the street, enters and offers to lend Red some money so he can buy a car to leave town. Red rejects the offer, haughtily. Richard and Clarisse, a white collar couple who are clearly not from these parts, enter and take a seat at the counter. Lyle leaves to help fill their car. Richard emphasizes that Clarisse is a classical violinist and talks about subjects well out of the realm of understanding for the local folk, much to Clarisse's discomfort. Teddy, a foreboding man dressed in fatigues, and his much younger girlfriend, Cheryl, enter and tell everyone their car needs a new part. Lyle offers to take a look but Teddy insists he not look in the trunk. Teddy states they're on their way to Mexico while taking on an obvious and badly-mimicked southern accent which comes and goes. He comes off as incredibly abrasive as he orders his food and makes small talk, prodding Angel, Red and Richard with increasingly uncomfortable questions, and his threats are often veiled by a joking manner. Richard, put off by Teddy, hurries Clarisse out only to return moments later because their keys are missing. Lyle approaches Teddy and admits he saw what was in his trunk (suggesting smuggled drugs). Teddy tells him he shouldn't have done that and Lyle agrees, but suggests that if Teddy were to have taken Richard's keys it would be a bad move since no one here wants any trouble. He pushes him to just take Cheryl and leave. Instead, Richard begins accusing Teddy of stealing his keys outright which Teddy answers by pulling out a gun. Teddy demands they empty the register and tells Richard to give him Clarisse's violin as well. Richard refuses and tells Teddy he'll just have to shoot him. The stage goes black as Teddy fires. Act two begins with the diner attendees tending to Richard's flesh wound. He's only been grazed in the arm. Teddy admonishes Red and Lyle for staring at Cheryl's breasts. He gives her his keys and tells her to follow Lyle to the car with the gun and make sure he repairs the car. In the meantime, Teddy begins to question the moral fiber of everyone there. He can see Clarisse and Richard's marriage is on the rocks and asks if she's happy with her husband parading her around and demanding she perform. Richard protests but makes no move to silence Teddy. Teddy then moves on to Angel, suggesting that her weight and lack of smarts will land her in the same spot for the rest of her life; unmarried and spending her evenings watching TV with Lyle. When Red protests, Teddy attacks his spinelessness. He pokes fun at Red for sporting 1950s greaser garb and "Born Dead" tattoo and suggests if he were a real man he would've gotten a tattoo with a girl's name on it and been out of this town a while ago. Teddy even becomes enraged at Red's self-appointed nickname, insisting that the real Red Rider would've knocked him flat. He then begins a series of demands for the others to reenact a scene from a cowboy TV show, which gets more and more uncomfortable. He threatens Red with violence if he doesn't pretend to ride around on a horse, "slap leather", and kiss his "best gal", (played by Angel), on the lips. Teddy even goes so far to demonstrate what a real kiss is on Clarisse, in front of a helpless Richard. Lyle comes back with Cheryl to let Teddy know the car is fixed. When Teddy suggests Red have sex with Angel, the others protest. Instead, Teddy insists they all dance along to the jukebox, forcing them to occasionally change partners. Teddy himself starts to dance which turns into a frenzy as he rips open Clarisse's shirt and roughly shoves her in front of the men, suggesting they ogle her like they previously did to Cheryl. Red attacks him only to be taken down immediately. Teddy tells Red to tape everyone's hand and wrists. He steals the money from Richards wallet before he leaves, but Cheryl is now seriously hesitating to follow him out. Teddy leaves without her. A little while later, Clark, the diner owner enters, frees the others, and tells Richard to call the police while he keeps Cheryl from running. He demands to know why Red let his diner get robbed. Red finally tells him off before accepting Lyle's loan and hitching a ride with Richard and Clarisse to leave the diner, and the town, for good. Lyle asks Angel if she'll be over to watch TV tonight and she says she should stay home and make amends with her mom. The play closes with her resuming her duties behind the counter.
When You See Me You Know Me
A selective history of Henry VIII emphasizing his conflict with Cardinal Wolsey and the birth and education of Edward VI; the king also goes among his subjects in disguise, with comic scenes involving his jester Will Summers.
When the Rain Stops Falling
Across four generations and two continents, an Australian family confronts abandonment, betrayal and inherited secrets. Gabriel York awaits his estranged son in a rain-soaked Alice Springs of 2039; the nonlinear action shifts among family members and earlier generations in Australia and London as they try to understand their shared past.
When the Robbers Came to Cardamom Town
In the peaceful town of Cardamom, three robbers repeatedly steal what they need. After they are arrested and treated kindly, they reform and become town helpers, saving the day by putting out a fire.
When the Spaniards Were Here
During the Spanish troops’ 1808 stay in Denmark, Hermania falls for Spanish officer Don Juan de Molina. When he loses a silver image of his mother, her Danish admirer Carl finds it; Don Juan ultimately betrays Hermania and returns to Spain.
When the World was Green (a Chef's Fable)
An Old Man imprisoned for a murder rooted in an old family feud is interviewed by a young woman claiming to be a reporter. Their eight conversations are interspersed with childhood-memory monologues by both characters.
Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?
Tommy Flowers, a socially misfit young man and dangerous rebel, is portrayed amid divisions between youth and age, rules and freedom, with commentary on the era's sexual liberation. His homosexuality emerges over the course of the play.
Where Trouble Sleeps
In the 1950s near Travelers Rest, South Carolina, a carjacker targets Blaine’s Store in search of a hidden treasure chest. The play opens with the robber’s earlier hits in other cities, setting up the theft and the pursuit of the concealed prize.
Where the Blood Mixes
After more than twenty years away, Christine returns to her First Nations community to see her father, Floyd. Their reunion forces a family to face grief, separation, and the continuing effects of residential schools.
Where the Rainbow Ends
Four children and a lion cub travel by magic carpet in search of their parents. With help from Saint George, they face dangers in Rainbow Land, a fantasy world of talking animals, mythical creatures, and a white witch.
Where to Find a Friend
Where to Find a Friend is a comedy play by the British writer Richard Leigh. It premiered on 20 May 1811 at the Lyceum Theatre in London, which was being used the Drury Lane company while their own theatre was being rebuilt after a fire. The original cast included Henry John Wallack as Sir Harry Morden, George Bartley as General Torrington, William Dowton as Heartly, Edward Knight as Jack Bustle, John Henry Johnstone as Barny, William Oxberry as Timothy Scamp, Joseph Ebsworth as Servant to General, Maria Rebecca Davison as Lady Morden, Frances Maria Kelly as Maria and Sarah Sparks as Mrs Bustle. It was Leigh's second play performed by the Drury Lane company following Grieving's a Folly in 1809.
Which Way to the Stage
At the Richard Rodgers Theatre in New York City, Judy and Jeff wait outside the stage door during a performance of If/Then, hoping to meet Idina Menzel. She didn't come out the day they saw the show, and its closing has been announced. Both of them are aspiring actors. Judy has recently begun auditioning again after establishing a career in real estate, while Jeff works as a drag queen. Jeff admonishes Judy for using the word "faggot" to insult Jeff's ex-boyfriend, and Judy is surprised that he has taken offense given her allyship bona fides. It then starts to rain and they assume Menzel will not come out. Judy attends a callback for the roles of Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut in a production of Avenue Q to be staged in Maine. An actor, Mark, flirts with Judy and another actress, giving them both his phone number. Judy is intimidated by the other actress, who is voluptuous and conventionally beautiful, but that actress hears Judy sing and is likewise intimidated. At the stage door that night, Judy tells Jeff she didn't get the part, and is offended when Jeff offers advice about femininity. Mark arrives, Judy having told him where she'd be. He booked the role of Princeton in Avenue Q. Mark, who has an Ivy League business degree, describes how he left his job in finance to pursue acting. Jeff has developed a new drag act based on Menzel, and Judy and Mark decide to attend as their first date. They learn that Menzel's understudy is performing in her place that night. At the drag club, Judy and Mark enjoy each other's company. They nearly kiss, but Judy pulls away as Jeff's performance starts. A drunken bachelorette interrupts the show, and Judy is troubled when Jeff shuts down the heckler by insulting her vagina. The performance continues, but Judy soon leaves, telling Mark she doesn't feel well. After the show, Mark stays to talk to Jeff after the patrons have all left. Jeff tells Mark that Judy's voice is incredible, but she always restrains herself to her detriment. Mark kisses Jeff, who physically pushes Mark away out of respect for Judy. At a callback for Spamalot, Judy sees the same actress again and smiles privately on learning that Mark never called her back. The actress is surprised Judy didn't book Avenue Q, but reveals the director sexually harassed her when they worked together before. She praises Judy's voice and encourages her to perform enthusiastically. At the stage door, the tension between Judy and Jeff comes to a head. She tells him that his performance was misogynistic and appropriative of femininity, and would have offended Menzel. He argues that none of the great musical theatre roles are for men; rather, they were written by gay men who created female characters because they couldn't express their authentic selves. He tells her that Mark kissed him, and she admits that she felt too insecure to let Mark kiss her. Judy storms off and Jeff leaves in tears. Jeff and Mark see each other at a callback. Jeff has been ignoring Mark's texts, but after Jeff reveals he and Judy are no longer friends and Mark unreservedly expresses his romantic interest in Jeff, they kiss passionately and agree to date. But on learning that Mark dropped out of Avenue Q because he didn't want to leave the comfort of his life in New York and thinks he can get other roles easily, Jeff decides that Mark is unserious in pursuing theatre and does not authentically share his values. Jeff tells Mark not to come back to the stage door. Some time later, Judy has reached out to Jeff after a period of noncontact, to ask for a slot in his show. She gives a bravura drag performance of "Rose's Turn."
Which is the Man?
Which is the Man? is a 1782 comedy play by the British writer Hannah Cowley. The original Covent Garden cast included John Henderson as Fitzherbert, William Thomas Lewis as Beauchamp, Richard Wroughton as Belville, John Quick as Pendragon, Charles Lee Lewes as Lord Sparkle, Isabella Mattocks as Sophy Pendragon, Sarah Maria Wilson as Kitty, Mary Morton as Clarinda, Harriet Pitt as Tiffany, Elizabeth Satchell as Julia and Elizabeth Younge as Bloomer.
Whig and Tory
Whig and Tory is a 1720 comedy play by the British writer and actor Benjamin Griffin. Griffin himself starred as Sir John Indolent with Mrs Gulick as Charlotte. John Harper played Sir Roland Heartfree, Christopher Bullock was Ned Indolent, Lacy Ryan was Reynard and William Bullock was Coblecause. It was revived at the Drury Lane Theatre in 1729.
While Parents Sleep
Two brothers invite their girlfriends to their house, causing major disruption in their parents' lives.
While the Sun Shines
The action takes place over three acts in an apartment at Albany where the wealthy Earl of Harpenden, serving in wartime as an ordinary seaman, is about to marry his long-standing fiancée. Complications are caused by the arrival of two rival suitors an American airman and a Free French officer, Harpenden's prospective father-in-law and an old girlfriend.
Whirlwind, the Bushranger
A melodrama about a fictional bushranger and his brother, among the Australian bushranging plays of the 1900s.
Whiskey
A Houston television show follows the Lush Thrushes, a cowboy troupe whose five performers are named after American liquor brands, and their horse, Whiskey. The drunken performers burn to death in a hotel fire, while the bad-tempered horse survives and inherits the show; in an epilogue the cowboys and cowgirls lament this from heaven.
White
In a white world where Cotton and Wrinkle care for eggs that fall from the sky and discard anything colored, a red egg prompts Cotton to disobey the rule; the friends discover that all their eggs have changed color and celebrate the change.
White Australia, or the Empty North
A Japanese invasion of Australia, aided by some Northern Territory Aboriginal people and a white traitor, is thwarted by a Northern Territory squatter, who destroys the Japanese fleet.
White Biting Dog
A despairing lawyer believes a small white dog has given him a mission to save his dying father. Back at the family home, fragile alliances and buried resentments take on unsettling, surreal forms.
White Justice
A group-devised political dance drama based on the Pilbara strike by Aboriginal workers in northwestern Australia.
White Noise
Leo, out walking one night, is assaulted by police. To regain a sense of safety, he asks his friend Ralph to buy him as a slave for forty days, positing that he will be safer as a white man's property. Ralph, initially terrified of being white, male and straight, agrees. Their new relationship corrupts Ralph and releases his inner "whitey", and he joins a club exclusively for whites. In the second act, Ralph makes Leo wear a slave collar.
White Rabbit, Red Rabbit
A performer encounters the script for the first time on stage, without rehearsal, a director or a set. Written while its Iranian author could not travel, the solo theatrical experiment examines the experience of isolation and the workings of power.
White's Lies
Some guys are scared stiff at the prospect of settling down, getting married, having kids...and Joe White is no exception. He’s a divorce lawyer, representing one of his many ex-girlfriends, and above all else, he’s a bachelor who wouldn’t have it any other way. So when his mother desperately wants him to start a family, he’ll do the next best thing: make one up. What could go wrong?
Who Goes There!
Who Goes There! is a 1950 comedy play by the British writer John Dighton. The action takes place entirely around St James's Palace. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Windsor in September 1950. It then ran for 222 performances in London's West End between 4 April and 13 October 1951, initially at the Vaudeville Theatre before transferring to the Duke of York's Theatre. The cast included Nigel Patrick, Beatrice Campbell, Anthony Sharp, Trevor Reid, Frances Rowe and Geraldine McEwan, making her West End debut.
Who Is Sylvia?
A man spends the rest of his life searching for the image of a woman he met when he was seventeen; the play offers a thinly veiled portrait of Terence Rattigan’s philandering father.
Who Shall Die
During the Burgundian siege of Vaucelles, starvation forces the city's all-male council to consider casting women and children into the ditch to preserve food. Jean-Pierre returns and challenges the decision, while the d'Avesnes family confronts betrayal, power and threatened relationships.
Who Wants a Guinea?
Who Wants a Guinea? is an 1805 comedy play by the British writer George Colman the Younger. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 18 April 1805. Less successful than his previous work John Bull, it lasted for nine performances. The original cast included John Philip Kemble as Barford, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Torrent, William Chapman as Heartly, Charles Kemble as Henry, John Waddy as Hogmore, John Fawcett as Solomon Gundy, Samuel Simmons as Jonathon Oldskirt, William Thomas Lewis as Sir Larry Mac Murragh, John Emery as Andrew Bang, George Davenport as Carrydot, Maria Gibbs as Fanny and Isabella Mattocks as Mrs Glastonbury. The Irish premiere was at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 25 May 1805.
Who'll Come A-Waltzing
The Eldred family move to a large house in an outer Sydney suburb. When money is tight, Mrs Eldred takes in boarders, passing them off as family friends to avoid her husband's disapproval.
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
George is an associate professor of history, and his wife Martha is the daughter of the president of the college where George teaches. After they return home from a faculty party, Martha reveals she has invited a young married couple she met at the party over for a drink. (Also cut in the definitive edition: Just before the couple—Nick and Honey—arrive, George gives a vague warning about "the bit with the kid" that Martha appears to understand.) As the four drink, Martha and George engage in scathing verbal abuse of each other in front of Nick and Honey. These interactions embarrass the younger couple, but they stay. At one point, Honey lets on that Martha told her about their son, which appears to unnerve George. After this, Martha's taunts and George's passive aggression only increase. When Martha launches into an embarrassing story about how she humiliated him with a sucker punch at a backyard party, George disappears. The story continues, with Nick and Honey laughing, until George appears with a rifle and fires at Martha. To their surprise, a Chinese parasol pops out of the gun barrel. Everyone finds this extremely funny, but Martha quickly resumes her taunting of George, which culminates in Martha relating how her father had thought that George would eventually rise to lead the college, but George's lack of ambition has made him pathetic to Martha, who calls him a "great big fat flop". George reacts violently by breaking a bottle. Honey, who has grown more and more deliriously drunk, quickly runs to the bathroom to vomit, leaving George alone with glass all over the room. (Traditionally, "Walpurgisnacht" is the name of an annual witches' meeting, satiric in the context of the play.) Nick returns to find George alone. As they talk about their wives, Nick reveals that Honey once had a "hysterical pregnancy". George tells Nick about a time he went to a gin mill with some boarding school classmates, one of whom had accidentally killed his mother by shooting her. This friend was mocked for ordering "bergin" (bourbon). The following summer, the young friend was driving with his father and suddenly swerved to avoid a porcupine, accidentally killing his father. The boy was then sent to an asylum and became mute. As the story concludes, George and Nick discuss children, but the conversation turns insulting before Martha and Honey return. Honey calls for music, so they put on a record. Because George refuses to dance, Martha dances with Nick, taunting George by making the dance very sensual while she tells another embarrassing story about George: his efforts to publish a novel about a boy who accidentally killed both of his parents (with the insinuation that the deaths were actually murder), but Martha's father would not let it be published. Nick begins detecting the novels resemblance to the story George shared with him about his boarding school classmate, right as Martha mentions that he had written the novel to be autobiographical, quoting George on how he'd informed her father that it recollected events that had happened, personally, to him. George attacks Martha, but Nick separates them. Clearly not satisfied, George launches into a new "game" called "Get the Guests", in which George begins telling a story about a "mousie" that is a thinly veiled retelling of everything Nick told George about Honey, including her alcoholism and her "hysterical pregnancy", implying that Honey "trapped" Nick into marrying her by pretending to be pregnant. Honey, devastated, again runs to the bathroom to vomit. Martha begins to openly seduce Nick in the living room right in front of George, who blithely smiles and pretends to read a book. This greatly annoys Martha, who tells George that if he does nothing to stop her, she'll have sex with Nick. George is unmoved, so Martha goes upstairs with Nick. Immediately, an enraged George throws his book against the house's doorbell chimes, which ring out as he promises to make Martha "regret this." In some productions until 2006, Honey then returns, wondering who rang the doorbell. George then interrogates Honey about her pregnancy, then openly tells Honey that he is going to inform Martha that their son has died. In a 2006 revision by the author of the script, however, this scene is cut. (Exorcism is the expulsion or attempted expulsion of a supposed evil spirit from a person or place.) Martha enters an empty living room and shouts for the others to come out of hiding. Nick joins her. The doorbell rings, and George enters carrying snapdragons and making literary jokes that Martha seems to actually enjoy. Martha and George then argue about whether the moon is up, an odd game whose metaphors reveal that Nick was too drunk to have sex with Martha upstairs. George asks Nick to bring Honey back for the final game, "Bringing Up Baby". Nick and Honey sit helplessly as George, at last, talks openly about his and Martha's son. As he accuses Martha of being overbearing to their son, she protests, leading George to ask for her "recitation". Martha agrees, and begins to recall their son's beauty and talents and accuses George of ruining his life. As she speaks, George recites sections of the Libera me (part of the Requiem Mass, the Latin mass for the dead) and Kyrie eleison (ancient Greek: "Lord, have mercy"). This continues until George informs Martha that the doorbell earlier was a messenger from Western Union arriving with a telegram that George says informed him that their son was dead, having been killed in a car crash when he swerved to avoid a porcupine—the exact wording that George earlier used in a story about a completely different person. Martha demands proof, but George insists on the reality of the situation. Martha, distraught, collapses. It slowly dawns on Nick that the son George and Martha have been talking about is not real. The fictional son is a "game" the two have been playing since discovering early in their marriage that they are infertile. George has decided to "kill" him because Martha broke the game's single rule: not to mention the boy to anyone else. Overcome with pity, Nick and Honey leave. Martha suggests that they could invent a new imaginary child, but George insists they cannot. The play ends with George singing "Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?", a joke song someone sang that night at the faculty party. Martha weakly replies, "I am, George. I am."
Who's the Dupe?
Who's the Dupe? is a 1779 comedy play by the British writer Hannah Cowley. A two-act farcical afterpiece, it premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 10 April 1779. The original cast included William Parsons as Doiley, James Aickin as Sandford, John Palmer as Granger, Thomas King as Gradus, Priscilla Brereton as Elizabeth and Mary Ann Wrighten as Charlotte. The Irish premiere was at the Smock Alley Theatre in Dublin on 8 February 1791. Cowley had enjoyed success with her debut play The Runaway and followed it with the tragedy Albina and this farce. It became one of her most popular works.
Whodunnit?
A country-house party gathers eccentric guests, each with a motive to kill the blackmailing Andreas Capodistriou. After the apparent murder, the second act reveals that the guests are actors hired for a role-playing mystery by the house’s owner, who is himself found to be the murdered man’s theatrical agent. Inspector Bowden must untangle the actors’ concealed relationships and identify the killer.
Whores
In the hallucinating mind of Raoul de Raoul, a former Central American general living in Florida after amnesty for atrocities, four women he had raped and murdered in a death squad assume roles in his imagined world. The play criticizes dictatorships, U.S. foreign policy, and the Catholic Church.
Whorl Inside a Loop
Whorl Inside a Loop is a play written by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott. The playwrights spent several weeks working with inmates at a medium-security prison on a theater project, and then subsequently wrote a play depicting similar events. The play premiered Off-Broadway on August 27, 2015 at the Second Stage Theatre, directed by Scalan and Michael Mayer. (Scott, Scalan and Mayer previously collaborated on Everyday Rapture.)
Whose Life Is It Anyway?
Set in a hospital room, the action revolves around Ken Harrison (Claire Harrison in some later productions), a sculptor by profession, who was paralysed from the neck down (quadriplegia) in a car accident and is determined to be allowed to die. Clark presents arguments both in favour of and opposing euthanasia and to what extent government should be allowed to interfere in the life of a private citizen. In portraying Ken as an intelligent man with a useless body, he leaves the audience with conflicting feelings about his desire to end his life.
Why Did I Get Married? (He Proposed to Me)
At an annual cabin retreat, friends’ marriages are tested when Mike cruelly rejects his wife Sheila and begins an affair with her friend Trina. Sheila is devastated, but with support from Diana and the widowed host Poppy she rebuilds her life through faith and work, eventually marrying her longtime admirer Troy. The other couples also revisit the reasons for their marriages.
Why Do You Smoke So Much, Lily?
Lily, a frustrated young woman who smokes constantly, is hounded by her mother.
Why I Stuck A Flare Up My Arse For England
Inspired by the image of a football fan inserting a flare into his buttocks, the solo play explores English football fan culture, belonging, tribalism, and toxic masculinity through the fictional character Billy Kinley.
Why Marry?
During a weekend at a country house, family and friends debate marriage and divorce. Jean was raised to marry, while her sister Helen rejects marriage despite being sought by many; the clergyman Cousin Theodore and host John oppose divorce, Judge Everett supports it, and scientist Ernest rejects both marriage and divorce. The discussion unfolds as a satirical comedy.
Why Men Leave Home
Tom Morgan is lonely after his wife Fifi spends the summer traveling through Europe without contacting him. Her return initially delights him, but she brings two traveling companions and their neglected husbands for a weekend of bedroom farce and infidelity.
Why She Would Not: A Little Comedy
Tramp Henry Bossborn rescues Serafina White, heir to a timber business, and asks for a job on his own terms. He transforms the company and replaces her family home with an efficient modern house, expecting to marry her; she rejects the changes and refuses marriage.
Why We Have a Body
There are only four characters in the play. Lili, a private detective, is attracted to Renee, a straight paleontologist who is having trouble with her marriage. Lili's sister, Mary, has schizophrenia and as a result, she robs 7-Eleven stores. Mary lives with Lili briefly, until their mother, Eleanor, returns from Central America, and Lili starts an affair with Renee. While this is happening, Mary is arrested for robbery. There is a focus on how their mother's constant traveling has affected the lives of the two sisters.
Whylah Falls
The poet X returns to Nova Scotia hoping to win Shelly’s love. Her brother Othello becomes entangled in an employer’s political schemes and a fatal quarrel, bringing racism and injustice into a drama of love, betrayal and survival.
Wibbel the Tailor
In French-occupied Düsseldorf, the tailor Wibbel is jailed for insulting Napoleon. He persuades his journeyman to serve the sentence, but when the man dies in prison, Wibbel hides and later returns claiming to be his own twin.
Wicked Is the Vine
In 1918, sisters Sarah and Ellie Vinson come into conflict that results in murder.
Widowers' Houses
Harry Trench, an idealistic young doctor, becomes engaged to Blanche Sartorius. He objects to her father's income from slum housing, then learns his own income is similarly compromised; after losing his moral certainty, he returns with others to plan a questionable business venture and reunites with Blanche.
Wife to James Whelan
Ambitious James leaves his Irish town for a Dublin job, returning seven years later as a successful bus-service owner. His childhood sweetheart Nan, widowed and raising a child, seeks work from him; after he has her jailed for theft, she explains the coercion and debt behind it. As James’s relationships with Nan, Kate, Nora and rival Bill collide, he must confront the difference between ambition and contentment.
Wights
A Yale academic gathers friends to prepare for a crucial job interview on Halloween, just before the 2024 American election. A dinner party exposes unstable loyalties and increasingly disturbing forces.
Wild Dogs
Six people gather at the edge of a forest, calling dogs that have abandoned them for a wild pack. Their vigil creates an uneasy community whose need for connection is tested by unexpected violence.
Wild Heather
Wild Heather is a 1917 play by the British writer Dorothy Brandon. A woman looking to marry has to choose between two very different men. After debuting at the Gaiety Theatre in Manchester in August 1917, it transferred for a West End run at the Strand Theatre lasting 79 performances between October 1917 and January 1918. The cast included Lyn Harding and Helen Haye. Noël Coward had one of his earliest roles in the production.
Wild Honey
Michael Frayn adapts Chekhov's untitled early five-hour drama, commonly known in English as Platonov after its central character, Mikhail Platonov, a disillusioned provincial schoolmaster.
Wild Horses
Wild Horses is a 1952 stage farce by the British writer Ben Travers. It was first performed at the Manchester Opera House in August 1952 before moving on to the Aldwych Theatre in the West End, lasting for 179 performances between November 1952 and April 1953. The plot revolves around the sale of a valuable painting. It starred Robertson Hare and Ralph Lynn who had previously appeared together in the Aldwych farces, written by Travers in the 1920s and 1930s. Other members of the cast included Robin Hunter, Cyril Smith, Colin Douglas, Frank Thornton, Joan Haythorne and Ruth Maitland.
Wild Oats
The naval captain Sir George Thunder and his valet and bosun John Dory arrive at an unknown country house on their hunt for deserters. They soon discover that it is the home of Thunder's niece Lady Amaranth, who has been left a legacy on the condition that she live as a Quaker – with another Quaker, Ephraim Smooth, on hand to make sure she sticks to this. Hearing his son Harry has left the naval academy at Portsmouth, he sends John to bring him back to woo Amaranth. Harry has been playing truant with a travelling theatre troupe, where he has made friends with another actor called Jack Rover. However, he decides to leave the troupe and return to the academy. Rover arrives near Amaranth's house in a storm and seeks shelter with the miserly Farmer Gammon. Gammon refuses and instead he takes shelter with his neighbour Banks and his sister Amelia. Gammon is trying to impoverish Banks to encourage Amelia to marry him and the following morning Rover pays off a debt Banks owes Gammon. Rover then sets off for the London coach, but realising he has no money left, instead takes employment with a new troupe. He then meets Dory, who mistakes him for Harry, then meets Amaranth, with the two falling in love. He and the troupe then end up performing at Amaranth's house, with Amaranth playing Rosalind to Rover's Orlando in As You Like It. Sir George Thunder hears that 'Harry' (actually Rover) is already wooing Amaranth as hoped. He then meets with the real Harry, who is non-plussed and goes to meet Rover. They keep up the deception, even when Thunder arrives. Thunder then continues his pursuit of the deserters and is saved from them by Rover, who also ends up defending Amelia from Gammon's bailiffs. Amelia then goes to Amaranth to explain how she and Banks became poor – years ago, a young naval officer tried to trick her into a sham marriage. However, her brother Banks was then a naval chaplain and performed the ceremony, making it valid. She had a child but the officer then left her – she ended up travelling to the East Indies and then back to England. Ephraim is angered at the play being put on, but tries to use it as a cover to woo Amaranth's new handmaid, Gammon's daughter Jane. Overhearing this, Amaranth denounces Ephraim's hypocrisy, renounces her Quakerism and reveals her love for 'Harry'. Rover reveals his true identity and it is revealed that George was the naval officer and Rover their son. However, this invalidates George's second marriage and makes Harry illegitimate, but Rover makes over the Thunder family estate to Harry, asserting that Amaranath and her fortune are enough for him.
Wildwoman
At the court of Henry II of France, Catherine de Medici struggles to secure her future alongside a maidservant and the king's mistress. Their encounters with a man kept as a court curiosity expose the violence beneath ideals of beauty, power, and civility.
Wilhelm Reich in Hell
In a fictional afterlife trial, psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich is prosecuted by the Marquis de Sade and Sacher-Masoch, while the American Medical Association appears as a punk-rock group delivering his insanity diagnosis. A circus ringmaster demands that Reich prove everyone else insane; the play critiques social boundaries between sanity and madness, good and evil, and restrictions on freedom.
Will Any Gentleman?
Will Any Gentleman? is a 1950 stage farce by the British writer Vernon Sylvaine. The play was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in Liverpool in July 1950. It then went on to the West End, running for 364 performances at the Strand Theatre between September 1950 and July 1951. It starred Robertson Hare, who appeared in several plays by Sylvaine. Hare plays a mild-mannered bank clerk who, after a night out, is hypnotized into a much more assertive lifestyle.
Will Mr. Merriwether Return from Memphis?
In early-twentieth-century Bethesda, widowed landlady Louise waits for her former boarder and lover, Mr. Merriwether, who has left for Memphis and may never return. She and her neighbor Nora hold séances, while Louise’s daughter discovers first love; ghosts, fate-weaving figures and musical interludes mingle with the town’s romantic and social life.
Will Rogers' USA
A solo performance uses Will Rogers quotations and commentary on current events to evoke Rogers's public wit and social observations.
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Fan magazine writer George MacCauley visits Hollywood's reigning sex goddess Rita Marlowe in her swank New York hotel and confesses that this is only his second interview, the first having been titled 'Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?' Arriving moments later is the hottest new playwright in town, Michael Freeman (author of 'No Hiding Place Down Here'), quickly followed by literary agent Irving 'Sneaky' LaSalle (inspired by real-life agent Irving 'Swifty' Lazar) and Hollywood mogul Harry Kaye, who is apoplectic about having paid $350,000 for the rights to Mike's play. LaSalle tries to convince the playwright to sign with his agency and write a second play, but Mike is reluctant to write what might be a flop. George, left alone with LaSalle, is persuaded to sign up instead. LaSalle's fee for each of his services is the usual ten per cent, but what George does not realise is that he'll be selling off pieces of his soul in ever-increasing increments. George's first wish is for a million dollars; he gets it. Then, when he fantasises about having a woman like Rita Marlowe love him, the suddenly love-struck Rita re-enters and Act One ends with George carrying her into the bedroom. In Act Two, the scene shifts to the Hollywood office of Rita Marlowe Productions, where Mike flirts with Rita's pert secretary, Miss Logan. George has learned that Rita's not-yet-divorced husband, football star Bronk Brannigan, is none too happy about her new relationship. Worse, George has been engaged to write his first screenplay, an adaptation of Mike's psychological drama about a prostitute and a psychiatrist, and after four weeks he still has no idea how to go about it. With an all-important story conference due any minute, LaSalle increases his hold on George by giving him the requisite 'inspiration' to satisfy the increasingly impatient Harry. In Act Three, a year has passed and George has won an Oscar. When Bronk shows up and begins to pummel George, LaSalle (exacting another ten per cent) enables George to get the better of Bronk; in fact, George tosses the astonished athlete through a window in a shower of broken glass. Soon afterwards, however, George decides he must get out of town before LaSalle takes complete control of him on reaching the full 100 per cent. His penultimate wish is to give Mike a ready-made Pulitzer Prize-winning play, but Mike suddenly realises that he could never pass off as his own a play he did not write. When LaSalle reappears, George selflessly releases Rita from his control and Mike convinces LaSalle to take him on as a client instead, even agreeing to start with the 90 per cent share already pledged. When LaSalle grabs the offer, Mike explains that it was a bad trade, because he's completely happy with his life and has no intention of selling off the remaining ten per cent. LaSalle petulantly grabs George's Oscar and departs. As the play ends, Mike and George are on their way back to New York, Mike not forgetting to grab his typewriter on the way out.
William Tell
In Schiller's drama, Swiss peasants rebel against the Habsburg governor Gessler. Tell is forced to shoot an apple from his son's head, then escapes custody during a storm and later kills Gessler. The signal of Gessler's death launches a revolt; the people free Bertha and win Ulrich's support. Tell refuses to praise the assassin John, but helps him escape on condition that he atone.
William Tell
William Tell is an 1825 historical play by the Irish writer James Sheridan Knowles. It portrays the legendary 14th-century Swiss folk hero William Tell in his battle against the Habsburg authorities. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The original cast starred William Macready as Tell and included Thomas Archer, Henry Gattie, Edward Knight, Elizabeth Yates, Clara Fisher, Charles Mayne Young and Margaret Agnes Bunn. Knowles dedicated the play to the Spanish opposition leader General Francisco Mina, then living in exile in England. The play was a success and established Knowles as the leading dramatist of the period. Revived frequently, it became a standard in both Britain and North America.
Willie Rough
Set in a Greenock shipyard around the outbreak of the First World War, the play presents a revolutionary socialist view of events. Socialist leader John Maclean is discussed but never appears.
Wine in the Wilderness
During the 1964 Harlem riots, painter Bill Jameson is creating three portraits intended to represent Black womanhood. His friends introduce him to Tommy as a possible model, but her presence challenges the class and gender assumptions behind his work.
Winged Victory
A large ensemble of Army Air Forces recruits struggles through pilot training, with the drama emphasizing their work, camaraderie, families and sweethearts. Music and a chorus play a substantial role in the production.
Wingfield Lost and Found
During a record drought, Walt searches for a new well with the help of an eccentric water witch, confronting whether farming can continue for him and Maggie.
Wingfield Unbound
Newly married Walt tries to preserve the old rural community by turning the crumbling, reportedly haunted Hollyhock Mill into a museum.
Wingfield on Ice
With Maggie expecting their first child, Walt tries to mend community feuds as winter and an approaching ice storm threaten the farm and its neighbours.
Wingfield's Folly
After two unprofitable farming seasons, Walt tries a closed local economy with his neighbours, prints his own currency, and falls in love.
Wingfield's Inferno
After a devastating fire destroys the Orange Hall, Walt leads the effort to rebuild it and struggles to rally the community committee.
Wingfield's Progress
In his second farm season, Walt confronts urban development and tries to mobilize the neighbourhood to preserve Larkspur's rural character.
Wings
After a stroke leaves Emily Stilson with a language disorder, she struggles to make sense of the world and rebuild her speech. The play presents her shifting psychological perspective as she works toward recovery.
Wings Over Europe
Wings Over Europe was a 1928 Broadway three-act play written by Robert Nichols and Maurice Browne, produced by the Theatre Guild and directed by Rouben Mamoulian. It opened on December 10, 1928 at the Martin Beck Theatre and then moved to the Alvin Theatre on February 6, 1929, running for 90 total performances. Young British genius Francis Lightfoot has discovered how to make terrible bombs using the atom. He's soon dismayed by the greed and militarism of the British cabinet members.
Winners and Losers
Two friends classify people and ideas as winners or losers. Their apparently playful contest turns personal, exposing differences in wealth, values, and the competitive assumptions beneath their friendship.
Winter Solstice
A family’s tense Christmas gathering is disrupted by a stranger invited home from a train journey. His apparently reasonable conversation gradually exposes political sympathies that unsettle the household.
Winterset
Winterset is a play by Maxwell Anderson. A verse drama written largely in poetic form, the tragedy deals indirectly with the Sacco–Vanzetti case, in which two Italian immigrants with radical political beliefs were executed. Its plot follows Mio Romagna's quest to prove his father's innocence in the years after Bartolomeo Romagna is executed for a robbery and murder that he did not commit. Mio's quest is complicated by his love for Miriamne Esdras and the difficult ethical decisions that result from his connection with her family. A highly political play, with reflections on faith, truth, justice, love, and duty, it frequently alludes to William Shakespeare and Judaic philosophies. The Broadway production, produced and directed by Guthrie McClintic, opened on September 25, 1935, at the Martin Beck Theatre, where it ran for 195 performances. The cast included Burgess Meredith, Margo, and Eduardo Ciannelli. It won the first New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Play (Best American Play). Meredith, Margo, and Ciannelli were joined by John Carradine, Stanley Ridges, and Mischa Auer in the film adaptation in 1936, directed by Alfred Santell. Anderson initially offered the play to The Group Theater with the stipulation that Meredith, a non-member, play the lead. Meredith wanted to join the group, but when asked during his interview by the three directors "do you love the Group Theater above yourself?", he said no. He was rejected, causing the playwright to withdraw his offer to the Group Theater. This incident became a source of contention among the group's actors. Members often cited it as an example of "ill-advised dogma".
Wisdom
In this morality play, the Soul and its faculties are drawn between Wisdom, personified as Christ, and Lucifer. After Lucifer tempts Mind, Will and Understanding into sin, Wisdom returns; the figures repent, receive mercy and hear a closing sermon on sin and grace.
Wisdom of a Fool
A one-person biographical play about Norman Wisdom's early life and career, performed by Jack Lane as Wisdom and using the entertainer's own Gump suit.
Wise Child
The play concerns orphaned Jerry Artminster, who blackmails a criminal named Jock Masters by promising he will not reveal his identity if Jock agrees to impersonate the boy's mother in the Reading, Berkshire, (England) hotel where the boy lives. Others involved are Mr. Booker, the gay hotel manager who fancies the boy, and Janice, a black woman who works in the hotel.
Wishful Drinking
Carrie Fisher recounts her Hollywood childhood, Star Wars fame, relationships, and experiences of addiction and mental illness in an autobiographical solo comedy.
Wishing Well
Wishing Well is a comedy play by the British writer Eynon Evans. It was first staged at the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton in 1946. It ran for 44 performances at the Comedy Theatre between 4 September and 11 October 1952. The West End cast included Evans, Lupino Lane, Glyn Houston, Douglas Argent and Patsy Smart. The owner of the Wishing Well inn tries to solve various people's problems.
Wit & Wisdom
Wit & Wisdom is a play conceived and put together by Vivian Gornick and Nora Eisenberg and done by the Colleagues Theatre Company which premiered at the Off-Broadway Arclight Theatre in New York City, New York. It ran from March 5 to March 30, 2003.
Wit Without Money
Young gentleman Valentine has mortgaged his estate and refuses to marry for money, while his younger brother Francisco loves Isabella, daughter of wealthy widow Lady Hartwell. Valentine’s verbal attacks on women provoke Lady Hartwell into matching his wit; both couples ultimately marry.
Wit at Several Weapons
Wittypate Oldcraft is cast out by his father to live by his wits and joins a group of con artists who fleece the old knight. Meanwhile the knight’s heiress niece resists an arranged marriage, helps secure a match with her preferred suitor and outmaneuvers the foolish Sir Gregory.
Wit's End
Two sisters navigate courtship and their father’s expectations: Aurora struggles to learn until love awakens her confidence, while the intellectual Marisa seeks an equal rather than a poet who treats her as his muse. Their changing command of language helps them take control of their futures.
Witch
A devil offers the residents of an English village their deepest desires in exchange for their souls. Elizabeth Sawyer, ostracized as a witch, refuses his bargain, unsettling both the visitor and the community around her.
With the Colours
A British captain sentenced to death for alleged cowardice entrusts his possessions to a fellow officer, who betrays him and robs his widow and orphan; a Boer attack interrupts the execution and turns the scene into a battle.
With the People from the Bridge
A narrator joins an improvised ritual performance beneath a derelict railway station. Among its voices, LG seeks his dead companion and tries to remain with her as the living and dead approach a crossing.
Within the Law
In the first act, department store owner Edward Gilder learns that one of his former sales clerks, Mary Turner, has been convicted for stealing and given a three-year prison sentence. Gilder is pleased because he had asked the judge to make her an "example" to other employees. Turner asks to speak with Gilder before she goes to prison. While Gilder waits for her arrival, his store detective detains another woman, a customer, for stealing. This woman is the wife of a prominent banker, so rather than have her arrested, Gilder apologizes to her and lets her go. Turner arrives and tells Gilder she has been wrongly convicted. Although she says she never stole, she pleads with Gilder to increase the wages of his clerks, so no one who works there will be forced to steal. Gilder rejects her arguments, and she leaves for prison swearing revenge on him for his treatment of her. After being released from prison, Turner sets up a gang that engages in shady activities that are just within the boundaries of the law. She also marries Gilder's son. A member of the gang attempts to rob the home of Turner's new father-in-law at the urging of a police stooge attempting to entrap the gang. When the stooge reveals the plot, the gang member kills him, leaving Turner and her new husband at the scene to be found by the police. It seems that Turner may go to prison again, but she is saved when the guilty party confesses that she had no involvement in the crimes.
Withnail and I
In 1969 London, two unemployed actors share a squalid Camden flat. Withnail and Marwood borrow Uncle Monty’s country cottage for a holiday, hoping a break will revive their spirits and stalled careers.
Without Skin or Breathlessness
A white mother reflects on the childhood of her biracial, half-Black child in this one-woman performance piece.
Without Witness
The wife of a brutal, alcoholic businessman is accused of poisoning him and struggles to prove her innocence.
Without a Dowry
After her romance with wealthy shipowner Paratov ends, Larisa agrees to marry the vain Karandyshev, hoping to escape her unhappy circumstances. Paratov returns and rekindles her feelings, only to reveal that he is betrothed to someone else. Humiliated, Larisa rejects the offers of two wealthy men; Karandyshev shoots her, and she forgives him as she dies.
Witness
A man plans to assassinate the President of the United States from a building window while keeping a gagged, bound victim as a witness to his sanity; loneliness is one of the play’s major themes.
Witness for the Prosecution
A murder trial at the Old Bailey alternates with scenes that reveal the lawyers' private reactions. Just as the case appears resolved, new testimony leads to a further reversal, turning the verdict into the beginning of another twist.
Wits Led by the Nose
Wits Led by the Nose; Or, A Poet's Revenge is a 1677 comedy play by the English writer William Chamberlayne. It was first staged by the King's Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The original Drury Lane cast included Cardell Goodman as Antellus, Edward Lydall as Oroandes, Carey Perin as Zannazarro, Marmaduke Watson as Arratur, Martin Powell as Vanlore, Joseph Haines as Sir Symon Credulous, John Coysh as Dick Slywit and Elizabeth Boutell as Glorianda.
Wives as They Were and Maids as They Are
Wives as They Were and Maids as They Are is a 1797 comedy play by the British writer Elizabeth Inchbald. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London on 4 March 1797. The original London cast included John Quick as Lord Priory, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Sir William Dorrillon, Alexander Pope as Sir George Evelyn, William Thomas Lewis as Mr Bronzeley, John Waddy as Mr Norberry, John Fawcett as Oliver, James Thompson as Nabson, Charlotte Chapman as Lady Priory, Tryphosa Jane Wallis as Miss Dorrillon and Isabella Mattocks as Lady Mary Raffle. The Irish premiere was at the Crow Street Theatre in Dublin on 12 June 1797.
Woe from Wit
In post-Napoleonic Moscow, returning idealist Chatsky confronts the conservative Famusov household and its social circle, while discovering that his beloved Sofya favors the calculating Molchalin.
Wogs Out of Work
Sketch comedy draws on the experiences of young Greek and other Mediterranean Australians navigating work, family and Anglo-Australian culture. Its performers reclaim a racial slur while satirising ethnic mockery and the pressure to assimilate.
Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
A fictionalized biography follows Thomas Cromwell's rapid rise at the court of Henry VIII from 1500 to 1535, through the political upheavals surrounding the death of Thomas More.
Wolf Play
"Wolf", the play's narrator, greets the audience with a monologue on the nature of theater and reality. He tells the audience to imagine he is a wolf, before revealing an Asian boy puppet. The puppet, whom Wolf operates, is the adopted son of Peter, who has also named this child "Peter" after adopting him from Korea. Due to disagreements with his wife, the elder Peter has connected with Robin via an online forum to transfer custody of the child to her and her spouse. After signing the contract, however, Peter is incensed to learn Robin is married to another woman, Ash, protesting as he leaves that his son will not have a father. Despite her own reluctance to accept the adoption, Ash quickly connects with the boy, whose real name is Jeenu, after recognizing they share an aggressive spirit: Jeenu in imagining himself as a wolf (which the narrator "Wolf" represents as his inner voice, largely invisible to the other actors) and Ash's own background as a boxer. Conflict arises within Jeenu's extended family as his new parents disagree over Jeenu's occasionally violent behavior, his reluctance to bond with Robin yet easy connection with Ash, and Peter's attempts to regain custody of Jeenu. Additionally, Robin's brother and Ash's trainer Ryan is suspicious of the boy and believes him a distraction from Ash's boxing career. Peter soon becomes friendly with Ryan and plants in his mind the idea that Ash and Robin are not fit to be parents. When Ash loses a boxing match due to being distracted by Jeenu trying to enter the ring, she tells Ryan of her intention to quit boxing and focus on raising Jeenu. Ryan tries to remove Jeenu from Ash's life by helping Peter to try to get the child back, eventually taking Robin and Ash to court. At the trial, Peter argues that the initial custody transfer was not legal, but Robin and Ash argue Peter is not fit to be a parent given he tried to sell Jeenu online in the first place. Jeenu/Wolf initially cheers on Robin and Ash but soon becomes overwhelmed at the legal language that he does not understand, and when directly asked by the judge who he wants to have custody of him, he is unable to answer, with Wolf leaving the play. In the aftermath, it is revealed that neither families got custody, and that Jeenu is to be taken by the state. The trial has had devastating consequences: it has destroyed Peter's own marriage, Ryan is now estranged from his sister, and Ash tries to share breakfast with an unresponsive Jeenu on their last morning together. Robin makes one last attempt to connect with Jeenu, addressing the lifeless puppet by repeating Wolf's monologue back to it while assuring that she will fight to get him back with all her being. Wolf returns, drawn by her words, and Robin appears to see him for the first time.
Wolf's Clothing
Wolf's Clothing is a comedy play by the British writer Kenneth Horne. It premiered at the New Theatre in Bromley in 1958, and the following year enjoyed a run of 61 performances at the Strand Theatre in London's West End. The cast included Derek Farr, Muriel Pavlow, Ronald Adam, Patrick Cargill, Angela Browne, Elspet Gray and Viola Lyel.
Wolves and Sheep
In a provincial Russian town, wealthy widow Kupavina becomes the target of landowner Murzavetskaya, who schemes to seize her property and marry her to a nephew. Neighbor Berkutov outmaneuvers the plotters while pursuing Kupavina and her fortune.
Woman Is a Riddle
Woman Is a Riddle is a 1716 comedy play by the British actor Christopher Bullock. Sometimes its title is written as A Woman Is a Riddle. Richard Savage may have assisted with the writing of the play, which draws inspiration from a seventeenth century Spanish work The Phantom Lady by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. In 1788 Woman Is a Riddle was reworked as an afterpiece called The Invisible Mistress performed at Drury Lane. The original Lincoln's Inn Fields cast includes John Leigh as Colonel Manly, Christopher Bullock himself as Sir Amorous Vainwit, Thomas Elrington as Charles Courtwell, William Bullock as Vulture, James Spiller as Aspin, John Ogden as Butler, Jane Rogers as Lady Outside and Letitia Cross as Miranda.
Woman in Mind
Susan awakes to a man tending to her speaking apparent gibberish, actually misheard English (such as "Squeezy cow, squeezy" really meaning "Easy now, easy"). He is Dr. Windsor (or "octer bin sir"), and Susan suggests she's died and gone where no-one speaks English, and when Bill says "December bee" ("Remember me"), Susan retorts that there are no bees in December. When Bill's language starts to make sense, he explains she knocked herself out with a garden rake. After Bill leaves to fetch a cup of tea, Susan's husband (Andy), lovingly tends to her, joined by daughter Lucy and brother Tony, fresh from the tennis courts. All show concern for her welfare and tease her about the rake. Lucy and Tony fetch the ice, and Andy goes to cancel the ambulance Bill has ordered. When Bill returns, however, it is apparent something is not right. Bill sees a tiny garden, whilst Susan insists her garden is massive, complete with rose-beds, swimming pool, tennis courts and lake. Susan also denies having a sister-in-law or son and becomes more confused when Bill says that her husband has not yet come home. When her real husband (Gerald) and sister-in-law (Muriel) enter, Susan faints. The following day, Susan, dozing in the garden, is woken by Gerald. Now back in tune with the real world, she openly discusses the deadness of their marriage, something Gerald insensitively glosses over. Muriel serves "coffee": ground coffee prepared as one would do instant. Indignantly Muriel points out she tended to her late mother, then late husband (or finished off, as Susan sees it) before digressing into her deluded conviction that her late husband's ghost will return with a message. When Gerald reminds Susan that their son, Rick, is coming for lunch, it transpires that he joined a sect two years ago that forbids members from talking to their parents. He writes, but only to Gerald. Susan, hurt by this, blames this (and Rick's fear of women) on the public school scholarship Gerald bullied him to take. Susan is momentarily distracted by glimpses of Tony and Lucy, before Bill returns to check on Susan, only to be drawn into Gerald's account of the book he's writing on the history of the Parish. Susan therefore takes the opportunity to talk to Lucy, who praises her for her status as a historical novelist, and then informs her (naturally Susan is the first to know) that she is getting married. In the real world, Bill agrees to stay for lunch (Muriel's "omelette surprise", where she mistakes the tea tin for herbs). Gerald makes excuses for the sect, until confessing that Rick is coming to sell the possessions in his room – something that horrifies Susan as this is all she has left of him. Bill offers to act as a go-between so that Gerald and Susan can communicate with their son. When Rick arrives, even Gerald has trouble bringing himself into the house. But before Susan can enter, her imaginary family brings her a sumptuous outdoor banquet and persuades her to dine with them instead. Rick then comes into the garden and, to Susan's surprise, asks her to come inside. As she goes to her son, she collapses again. Susan wakes to find Rick still speaking to her, explaining that he has left the sect he and now has a girlfriend. Her joy, however, is short-lived when she learns they are already married and they are moving to Thailand – her to do nursing, and him to do "odd jobs". He will not even allow Susan to see her, because Rick is embarrassed by the way she acted around past girlfriends. Rick leaves a stung Susan to explain this to Gerald, who says "it's not fair to lay all the blame at your door". They get into a fierce argument, with Susan egged on by Tony and Lucy (by now sitting in on most of Susan's conversations). Lucy tries to console Susan by praising her status as a brilliant heart surgeon. This time, Susan snaps at Lucy to shut up. Lucy runs off in tears, and Susan tries to apologise only for it to be accepted by Gerald. In the sunset of her imaginary world, Andy caresses Susan and forgives her for being angry with Lucy. Susan, now worried by the increasing influence that Lucy, Tony and Andy have on her real life, tries to ask Andy to leave her alone. Andy says they will go when she asks but stays when Susan does so, suggesting she didn't really mean it. The scene becomes unreal, with Andy anticipating everything Susan says, then the voices of Susan and her imaginary family coming out of both their mouths. Back in reality, Susan finds Bill beside her (who fled on mention of a dessert but has now returned). Susan confides to Bill about her hallucinations, and when asked about Rick, tells him a semi-fantasy where he is getting married, and she has met her daughter-in-law to be. Having previously hinted over his own family life – two daughters married to wheeler-dealer stockbrokers and a wife probably cheating with another doctor – Bill reveals how he feels about her, and is about to kiss her when Susan points to Lucy. Bill tries to humour Susan by talking where Susan pointed, but Lucy has already moved away. Tony and Andy arrive, and suddenly, Bill becomes part of her fantasy – now a wheeler-dealer stockbroker poaching rabbits. His is thrown into the lake, leaving Andy and Susan to reminisce on their own wedding day. As he kisses her, Susan weakly protests "Oh dear God! I'm making love to the devil!” At an indeterminate time overnight, Gerald and Rick find Susan sprawled out in the middle of the lawn during a thunderstorm. Gerald tries to bring Susan inside, but she mocks him with an offer of a quiet divorce. It appears that Susan has burnt Gerald's precious book of the Parish, something Susan has no memory of. Then Muriel comes out screaming, having read a message of "Knickers off Muriel". She refuses all pleas to come inside, denouncing Gerald for narrow-minded meanness, Rick as a priggish brat, and Muriel for wanting a phantom pregnancy. Tony appears and opens an umbrella and the storm ends in time for what initially appears to be Lucy's wedding, but Tony and Andy appear to be some sort of race stewards, and Lucy, although dressed as a bride, seems to be taking part in a "brides race". Meanwhile, Bill becomes a clichéd bookie, Muriel is a heavily pregnant French maid, Gerald is an archbishop and Susan's real son Rick (now an odd-job man), to her horror, seems to be the groom for her imaginary daughter Lucy. All kinds of snippets relating to her real-life mesh together as a surrealistic nightmare. Ignoring Susan's protests, they all toast her, acclaiming Susan as precious to them all, demanding a speech. The final shred of reality is when Muriel says "The ambulance is on its way", and a blue light flashes. Susan's speech descends into the same gibberish Bill used at the beginning of the play, and, with a desperate request to "December bee", she collapses a final time.
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