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Brutus
Titus, son of Rome's first consul Lucius Junius Brutus, falls in love with Tullie, daughter of the last Etruscan king, and is drawn into betraying Rome. The Senate hands Titus to his father, who forgives him but orders his execution to protect the Republic.
Brutus
The Tragedy of Brutus; or, The Fall of Tarquin is an 1818 historical tragedy by the British-based American writer John Howard Payne. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London on 3 December 1818. The original cast included Edmund Kean as Brutus, David Fisher as Titus, Henry Kemble as Sextus Tarquin, Charles Holland as Valerius, William Penley as Aruns, Julia Glover as Tullia and Sarah West as Tarquinia. It draws heavily on Richard Cumberland's The Sibyl, published in 1813. It depicts the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, with Lucius Junius Brutus leading a plot against Lucius Tarquinius Superbus to establish the Roman Republic. James Northcote produced an 1819 painting Edmund Kean as Brutus, inspired by the play.
Brutus of Alba
Brutus of Alba; Or, The Enchanted Lovers is a 1678 tragedy by the Irish writer Nahum Tate. It was first performed by the Duke's Company at the Dorset Garden Theatre in London. The name's of the original cast are unknown. The published version was dedicated to the Duke of Dorset. It was based on the fourth book of the Aeneid by Virgil, and was produced in the context of the Exclusion Crisis. Tate was at the time a supporter of James, Duke of York and the play is strongly propagandistic about the Stuart monarchy. Tate later took elements of the play for the libretto of Dido and Aeneas, scored by Henry Purcell.
Buffalo Bill, or the Five of Hearts
An open-air bushranger drama about an Indian woman who refuses to marry a cowboy. During a test of courage, daggers are thrown around her; the cowboy tries to kill her, but Chief Wild Friday intervenes and frees her.
Bug
In a seedy motel room, lonely cocktail waitress Agnes becomes involved with Peter, a Gulf War veteran whose escalating conspiratorial delusions about UFOs and government experiments begin to consume them both.
Bug
An Indigenous mother and daughter, both struggling with addiction and unsure of its causes, are played by the same performer but never interact. The work addresses intergenerational trauma, colonial and racial violence, and queer and two-spirit leadership.
Bugles at the Gates of Jalalabad
Four buglers outside Jalalabad keep watch for survivors of Elphinstone's army while Lady Florentia Sale reads from her diary.
Buhez Sante Barba
This Middle Breton verse mystery play dramatizes Saint Barbara’s conversion to Christianity, her conflict with her pagan father Dioscurus, her miraculous escape and eventual martyrdom.
Bulldog Drummond
Bulldog Drummond is a 1921 play by H.C. McNeile and Gerald du Maurier. It is based on McNeile's 1920 novel of the same title featuring the gentleman adventurer Bulldog Drummond. Its original run at Wyndham's Theatre in London's West End lasted for 430 performances between 29 March 1921 and 1 April 1922. Du Maurier played Drummond alongside Ronald Squire as Algy Langworth, Claud Allister as Hiram G. Travers and Alfred Drayton as the villain Carl Peterson. It was revived in London on several occasions. The title role was played on Broadway by A.E. Matthews in a run lasting 162 performances.
Bullshot Crummond
In a prewar comic adventure, the villainous Otto and Lenya Von Brunno try to wreck the diamond market by kidnapping Professor Fenton. Hero Bullshot Crummond and the professor’s daughter pursue them through deliberately inept stage recreations of film effects and escalating comic mishaps.
Bully Boy
A wheelchair-using officer injured in the Falklands War confronts a young private accused of throwing an eight-year-old boy down a well during a Middle East raid. The play examines their relationship and criticizes politicians who launch wars without regard for their consequences.
Bunny
A 35-year-old woman who ‘gets around’ is the focus of this comedy by Norman Krasna.
Buoyant Billions
A young would-be world betterer falls for the daughter of an elderly billionaire while her family debates how to protect the fortune from the new Labour government. The billionaire ultimately chooses to leave his wealth to the couple and disinherit his other children.
Burgtheater. Posse mit Gesang
A dramatic series of scenes from the lives of famous actors at Vienna’s Burgtheater portrays them as shallow, petty tyrants and charges the theatre’s past with collaboration with the Nazi regime.
Buried Child
In an old farmhouse on a failed plot of land in Illinois, the characters Dodge (in his 70s) and Halie (in her 60s), an old married couple, are introduced. The scene begins with the couple having a conversation with one another, discussing events of their past. Halie is not visible in the scene as she is yelling from upstairs, while Dodge is sitting on the basement sofa. He occasionally sneaks drinks from a bottle hidden in the couch; it is evident that he is an alcoholic. They talk about their beloved son Ansel, who was purportedly murdered years earlier by his wife on their wedding night. They also talk about another son, Bradley, an amputee who comes to cut Dodge's hair forcefully while he sleeps; Dodge is wearing a baseball cap to ward off this inevitability. Halie leaves for church dressed in black and tells the oldest son, Tilden, to look after Dodge. Tilden then enters the scene with an armful of corn, which he claims grew in the field outside. Dodge states that nothing has grown in the field since the Dust Bowl, and accuses Tilden of stealing from a neighbor. Dodge and Tilden then begin to discuss Tilden's past; they speak of how he "got into trouble" in New Mexico, and how in failing his attempt to leave the family home for a new life, Tilden was forced to flee following this incident. Tilden is evidently mentally unwell as he sits, shucking corn into a bucket. When Dodge falls asleep at the end of their conversation, Tilden covers him with the corn husks, creating a blanket, before he goes outside into the rain. Bradley enters the room shortly after and shaves Dodge's head while he sleeps. The scene begins with the introduction of Vince and Shelly. Vince was headed to meet his father Tilden in New Mexico but has decided to stop over at his grandparents' house on the way there; Shelly is just tagging along for the ride. Vince is surprised when he enters the house as Dodge does not recognize him at all. Shelly then believes they have entered the wrong house and tries to convince Vince to leave, but he does not budge. Tilden then enters the room with a bundle of carrots and is uninterested in Shelly and Vince. Vince then gets Tilden's attention, but Tilden also does not recognize Vince. Vince tries different methods to convince Tilden and Dodge of his identity, while Shelly helps Tilden with the carrots. Dodge then motions to Vince and tells him to go buy him alcohol, and he does so. While he is gone, Shelly talks to Tilden and asks him questions about Vince. Tilden goes on saying that he does not recognize Vince but he does look familiar. Tilden also talks about a son he once had, whom Dodge killed and buried in the backyard. The text implies, though never states explicitly, that this child may have been conceived with Halie. Bradley then re-enters the scene and begins to harass Shelly by sticking his hand in her mouth. He then takes her fur coat and places it over Dodge and blacks out. The scene begins with Dodge presuming that Vince has run away and left Shelly. He also tells Shelly not to fear Bradley as he only has one leg. After some time, Halie enters the house with Father Dewis, with whom, the audience later learns, she is having an affair. Halie sees Dodge lying on the ground and Bradley lying shamelessly on the sofa and smiles in embarrassment to Father Dewis. She then starts a yelling match with Dodge and Bradley, and they exchange several words until Shelly intervenes. In frustration, Shelly grabs Bradley's wooden leg and waves off the rest of the family, expressing her anger with them and Vince. Father Dewis tries to calm Shelly down and places the wooden leg onto the table. Soon after, Vince returns drunk and hurls beer bottles at the house. He then climbs through the door's netting and states that he has to stay at the farmhouse with his family. Halie and Dodge then recognize Vince, and Dodge hands him the ownership of the house and land. With the land now his, Vince decides to stay at the house, while Shelly tries to convince him to leave. Shelly gives up on Vince and leaves, and Vince grabs the wooden leg and throws it outside the house; Bradley goes crawling for it. Father Dewis leaves the house and Halie heads upstairs to her room. Vince realizes that Dodge has died and places a blanket and rose on his body. Halie then begins to yell out that corn has bloomed in the backyard, while Vince sits motionless on the sofa. In the final scene, Tilden walks around the room with the corpse of a baby in his hands.
Burlesque
Burlesque performers Skid Johnson and Bonny King try to advance their careers as Skid’s Broadway success strains their marriage; after an affair, divorce plans and a lost job, they reconcile and return to performing together.
Burn This
After the funeral of Robbie, a gay dancer killed in a boating accident alongside his lover Dom, his roommates Anna and Larry are joined in Robbie’s loft by Anna’s longtime boyfriend Burton and Robbie’s brother Pale. As the four confront their grief and conflicting relationships, Anna gains confidence, pursues choreography, and begins a relationship with Pale.
Burn Your Bookes
A play examining the relationships among John Dee, Edward Kelley, and Edward Dyer.
Burning Blue
Best friends Lieutenants Daniel Lynch and Will Stephensen are U.S. Navy fighter pilots flying the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, hoping to become the youngest pilots to be accepted into the space program. After two accidents, one of which is due to Will's failing eyesight, their unit is subject to an NCIS investigation led by John Cokely. At the same time, a third pilot, Matt Blackwood, arrives on the carrier and quickly develops a close friendship with Dan, driving a wedge between Dan and Will. Cokely's investigation leads to him uncovering rumours about Dan and Matt's relationship just as they both begin to fall in love. When Matt decides to leave his wife and move in with Dan, there is a third accident and Cokely's investigation ramps up the pressure on Dan.
Burst of Summer
In a small town, a young Aboriginal girl’s brief success as a film actress intensifies racial tensions as white residents plan to move Aboriginal people from “The Flats” into new houses.
Bury Fair
Bury Fair is a 1689 comedy play by the English writer Thomas Shadwell. It is part of the tradition of Restoration Comedy that flourished during the era. It was first staged by the United Company at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London. The original cast included Thomas Betterton as Lord Bellamy, William Mountfort as Wildish, Cave Underhill as Oldwit, James Nokes as Noddy, John Bowman as Trim, Anthony Leigh as Le Roch, William Bowen as Valet, Charlotte Butler as Charles, Katherine Corey as Lady Fantast, Elizabeth Boutell as Mrs Fantast, Susanna Mountfort as Mrs Gertrude. Shadwell dedicated the play to the Whig politician the Earl of Dorset.
Bury the Dead
Bury the Dead (1936) is an expressionist and anti-war drama by the American playwright Irwin Shaw. It dramatizes the refusal of six dead soldiers during an unspecified war—who represent a cross-section of American society—to be buried. Each rises from a mass nameless grave to express his anguish, the futility of war, and his refusal to become part of the "glorious past". First the Captain and the Generals tell them it is their duty to be buried, but they refuse. Even a Priest and a Rabbi try to convince them to no avail. Newspapers refuse to print the story in fear it will hurt the war effort. Finally they bring in the women who have survived them, wives, sister and even mother. None succeed in the end. Bury the Dead was first staged in New York City in 1936 to great acclaim. It received its British premiere in 1938 at London's Unity Theatre.
Bus Stop
The play is set in a diner about 25 miles west of Kansas City in early March 1955. A freak snowstorm has halted the bus, and the eight characters (five on the bus) have a weather-enforced layover in the diner from approximately 1 am to 5 am. Romantic or quasi-romantic relationships include Grace and Carl, Professor Lyman and Elma, and Cherie and Bo. Virgil and Will are the older authority figures outside the relationships.
Business Is Business
In this comedy of manners, unscrupulous businessman Isidore Lechat seeks money and power through his children's lives, but he cannot command death or love: his son dies and his daughter rejects the marriage he arranged.
Business Is Business (Sydney Grundy version)
An English-language stage adaptation of Mirbeau's comedy of manners about businessman Isidore Lechat, whose pursuit of money and power puts his family at risk.
Busiris, King of Egypt
Busiris, King of Egypt is a 1719 tragedy by the British writer Edward Young. It is set in Ancient Egypt during the reign of Busiris. It was considered a success, enjoying a good run and was subsequently published by Jacob Tonson. The work was dedicated to the Duke of Newcastle who as Lord Chamberlain oversaw the theatres. The original Drury Lane cast included Thomas Elrington as Busiris, Barton Booth as Myron, John Mills as Nicanor, Robert Wilks as Memnon, Thomas Walker as Rameses, John Thurmond as Syphoces, William Mills as Auletes, Sarah Thurmond as Myris and Anne Oldfield as Mandane.
Busman's Honeymoon
A stage drama featuring characters from Dorothy L. Sayers's Lord Peter Wimsey novels; Sayers and M. St. Clare Byrne wrote the stage script, which was later adapted into the final Wimsey novel.
Bussy D'Ambois
Impoverished soldier Bussy enters the service of Monsieur, brother of France’s king, but his violent independence makes him a poor instrument for the prince’s ambitions. After a bloody duel and an affair with the Countess of Montsurry, her husband tortures her and lures Bussy into an ambush where he is killed.
Bussy D'Ambois
Tamira has been forced by her parents to marry the wealthy Montfurry, despite her love for the Bussy D'Ambois. Teresia, Tamira's governess, preaches the virtues of temperance, but Tamira feels unable to heed her advice as she has an intense desire to give herself to D'Ambois. Tamira tells Teresia to give the impoverished D'Ambois, who being heartbroken, now spends a life in solitude, a purse of money, in part because he spent much of his expenses on gifts for Tamira during their courtship. Tamira also asks that Teresia tell D'Ambois of her esteem for him. Teresia agrees to do so, as charity. Tamira then enjoins Teresia to lead D'Ambois to a secret chamber in her apartments; Tamira plans to explain to D'Ambois that she married Montfurry against her will. Teresia, once again, gives her friend her approval and her assent. In a solitary grove, a bedraggled D'Ambois expounds the meaningless of pomp and status and the importance of virtue. He is soon joined by the king's brother (known only as "Monsieur") and his page. The gentleman plans to revolt against the King of France, and take his place on throne. He has followed D'Ambois with the intention of using him as muscle in his bid for the throne, thinking D'Ambois will be sufficiently motivated by poverty to aid him. Monsieur flatters D'Ambois, encouraging him to become part of courtly life. D'Ambois, seeing through his manipulation, refuses his offers. The gentleman leaves, but promises to send D'Ambois a gift. Although D'Ambois suspects that Monsieur will try to tempt him with money, he remains loyal to the king. Monsieur Masse, steward to Monsieur, enters, with instructions to give D'Ambois one thousand crowns. D'Ambois insults Masse, who then decides to save 900 crowns for his wife and give 100 to D'Ambois. D'Ambois perceives that Masse is cheating him out of money, and says as much. The two continue to exchange insults before D'Ambois pulls on his nose and spins him around. D'Ambois' behavior sufficiently intimidates Masse into handing D'Ambois the money. D'Ambois then physically assaults Masse and leaves. Masse, embarrassed by the incident, resolves to keep it a secret. At court, Tamira tells her maid, Charlotte, of her surprise and excitement at the news that the gentleman, referred to only as "Monsieur", has brought D'Ambois to court. Tamira hopes that Teresia will fulfill her promise. The two are then joined by King Henry III, the Duke of Guise, and an array of followers and attendants. Brissac, who numbers among the retinue, suspects that the newly gained peace between the King and the Duke is sure to be temporary. The King expresses his disapproval of the decadent French court, comparing it unfavorably to that of England. The Duke of Guise disagrees, and two clash. Suddenly, Mellinel spots Monsieur approach, along with the Bussy D'Ambois. The King sings D'Ambois' praises and commiserates with Monsieur as Teresia furtively approaches D'Ambois.
But for the Grace of God
But for the Grace of God is a play by the British writer Frederick Lonsdale. A murder melodrama, different from his standard light comedies, it ran for 203 performances at St James's Theatre in the West End between 3 September 1946 and 1 March 1947. The original cast included Michael Gough, A. E. Matthews, Mary Jerrold and Yvonne Owen.
Butley
Butley is a play by Simon Gray set in the office of an English lecturer at a university in London, England. The title character, a T. S. Eliot scholar, is an alcoholic who loses his wife and his close friend and colleague – and possibly male lover – on the same day. The action of the dark comedy takes place over several hours on the same day during which he bullies students, friends and colleagues while falling apart at the seams. The play won the 1971 Evening Standard Award for Best Play.
Butterflies Are Free
Butterflies Are Free is a play by Leonard Gershe. The plot revolves around a blind man living in downtown Manhattan whose controlling mother disapproves of his relationship with a free-spirited hippie. Directed by Milton Katselas, the original Broadway production opened on October 21, 1969, at the Booth Theatre, where it ran for 1,128 performances. The original cast consisted of Keir Dullea, Blythe Danner, Eileen Heckart, and Paul Michael Glaser. In 1972, it was adapted into a film starring Edward Albert and Goldie Hawn. Silent film star Gloria Swanson, well known for her role of Norma Desmond in the film Sunset Boulevard, played the mother role (Mrs. Baker) in Butterflies Are Free in 1971–72 in the national tour and on Broadway.
Buy Me Blue Ribbons
Ex-child film star Jordan Sable finances a Broadway production of Sounding Brass, written by Professor Oscar Nimrod, to buy himself a role. His chaotic behavior becomes so disruptive that he is fired from his own production.
Buy the Bi and Bye
At a theatre, mostly Black actors read a fictional play by a white writer-director with schizophrenia, in a satire about race and the theatre.
Buyer & Cellar
The play is a one-man comedy that follows Alex More, a struggling gay actor working in Los Angeles, who is down on his luck after being recently fired from Disneyland. He lands a job curating the Malibu basement of Barbra Streisand. (The real-life Streisand constructed a series of "Main Street" storefronts beneath her Malibu barn inspired by the Winterthur Museum in Delaware in order to house her collection of dolls and other trinkets). More at first does not meet his employer, but eventually Streisand comes down to peruse her collection, and the two strike up a friendly relationship. The play chronicles the fictional exchanges between More and his idol, the source of both admiration and frustration on More's part. The entire play is narrated from More's point of view and is presented as a story told to his screenwriter boyfriend Barry.
By George
A dramatic portrait of George Bernard Shaw based on his writings.
By Wireless Telegraphy
A melodrama dramatizing the sensational Hawley Harvey Crippen case while Crippen was still on trial, retaining much of the real names and circumstances.
By the Bog of Cats
On an Irish bog, Hester Swane refuses to leave her home when her former lover Carthage plans to marry a wealthy farmer’s daughter. As the wedding approaches, ghosts and family secrets surface; Hester’s fight to remain with her daughter ends in a fire, murder and her own death.
By the Sea, By the Sea, By the Beautiful Sea
A three-part beachside triptych: in Dawn, a husband, wife and his sister scatter their mother's ashes; in Day, a gardener is seduced by a young woman before his girlfriend arrives; in Dusk, two women long for a handsome young man.
By the Way, Meet Vera Stark
A headstrong African-American maid and aspiring actress in 1930s Hollywood navigates her relationship with her white star employer while seeking a film career. Later scenes revisit Vera's legacy through a 1973 talk show and a modern academic seminar.
Bye Bye London
A wealthy Gulf Arab man visits London for leisure and adventure, but his misreadings of British customs and encounters with local society expose tensions between traditional Gulf values and Western life. The satire also targets the excess, privilege and cultural pretensions of wealthy Arab visitors abroad.
Byron
A historical drama depicting the life of the early nineteenth-century writer Lord Byron.
Bystander 9/11: A Theatre Piece Concerning the Events of September 11, 2001
A documentary theatre testimony follows the September 11 attacks from moments before impact through New York City's immediate aftermath, including the return to work in Financial District offices. A narrator and New Yorkers share and divide the text among the performers.
Byzantium
On the final day of the Byzantine Empire, Emperor Constantine XI and his Genoese mercenaries attempt to defend Constantinople. Superior Ottoman forces, internal conflict, and betrayals lead to the city's fall.
Bánk bán
Bánk’s effort to fulfill his political duties pulls him away from his wife and children. His tragedy turns on the collision between public responsibility, moral judgment, and the bonds of love that sustain his private world.
Bébé
The indulged Gaston, nicknamed Bébé, pursues affairs while engaged to marry an heiress. His eccentric tutor encourages the exploits, and overlapping infidelities lead to farcical confusion before Gaston’s father forgives him and the marriage is approved.
Bürger Schippel
When a quartet’s tenor dies shortly before a music festival, the members recruit Paul Schippel, a socially disdained clarinet player with an exceptional singing voice. He wins the contest but is cast aside, then faces a duel after revealing the Prince’s affair with Thekla; surviving the duel earns Schippel acceptance into the middle class.
Cactus Flower
Cactus Flower is a farcical play by Abe Burrows. It played for years on Broadway before being adapted by I.A.L. Diamond into a 1969 feature film directed by Gene Saks. Based on the play Fleur de cactus by Pierre Barillet and Jean-Pierre Gredy, the comedy focuses on the relationship between young, wild Toni and her older, married lover Julian, a dentist. Convinced the two have no future together, Toni attempts suicide, and a guilt-ridden Julian rashly proposes he leave his wife so the couple can be together. However, Julian has never revealed to Toni that his "marriage" is actually an elaborate lie concocted to keep Toni at arm's length. Toni refuses to break up his household without first meeting and talking with Julian's soon-to-be-ex, so Julian enlists the aid of his shy spinster assistant Stephanie to pose as his non-existent wife. Complications arise when Toni decides the two must find her a new beau so everyone concerned can live happily ever after. After two previews, the Broadway production, directed by Burrows, opened on December 8, 1965, at the Royale Theatre. There it ran for two years and nine months before transferring to the Longacre, for a total run of 1,234 performances, ending on November 23, 1968. The original cast included Lauren Bacall, Barry Nelson, Brenda Vaccaro, and Burt Brinckerhoff. Lloyd Bridges, Kevin McCarthy, and Betsy Palmer were replacements later in the run. Both Vaccaro and Brinckerhoff were nominated for Tony Awards for their featured performances. The play was adapted for film several times: first in 1969 as the Egyptian movie Half an Hour of Marriage, (Arabic: نص ساعة جواز"); then, the same year, as Cactus Flower with Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman and Goldie Hawn (for which Hawn won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress); in 2005 as a Bollywood movie Maine Pyar Kyun Kiya? (Why did I fall in love?) with Salman Khan, Sushmita Sen and Katrina Kaif; and again in 2011, as Just Go With It starring Adam Sandler, Jennifer Aniston and Brooklyn Decker.
Caelia
Caelia, or, The Perjur'd Lover is a 1732 comedy play by the British writer Charles Johnson. The play's epilogue was written by Henry Fielding. The original Drury Lane cast included Jane Cibber as Caelia, John Mills as Meanwell, Thomas Hallam as Bellamy, Roger Bridgewater as Lovemore, William Mills as Wronglove, James Oates as Keeper of Prison, Edward Berry as Gentleman, John Harper as the Constable, Frances Cross as Wag and Charlotte Charke as Mrs Lupine.
Caesar
Welles's modern-dress adaptation recasts Shakespeare's Roman tragedy as an anti-fascist political melodrama. A bare stage and stark lighting evoke contemporary dictatorships, and Cinna the Poet is killed by secret police rather than a mob.
Caesar Antichrist
An apocalyptic sequence of distorted Christian images gives way to Père Ubu, who appears as the new Messiah and Antichrist. The work's symbolic, book-oriented form resists conventional staging, though a student production was mounted in Melbourne in 1978.
Caesar Borgia
Caesar Borgia, Son Of Pope Alexander The Sixth is a 1679 tragedy by the English writer Nathaniel Lee. It was first staged at the Dorset Garden Theatre by the Duke's Company. The prologue was provided by John Dryden. The original cast included Thomas Betterton as Cesar Borgia, Joseph Williams as Palante, William Smith as Machiavel, Thomas Gillow as Paul Orsino, Anthony Leigh as Ascanio Sforza, Thomas Percival as Vitellozzo, Mary Lee as Bellamira and Emily Price as Adorna. The published version was dedicated to the Earl of Pembroke.
Caesar and Cleopatra
In Shaw’s fictionalized account of Roman intervention in Egypt, Caesar encounters a young Cleopatra, helps her secure joint rule with her brother, and navigates a palace siege and political intrigues before departing for Rome.
Caesar and Pompey
Chapman’s tragedy depicts the conflict between Julius Caesar and Pompey that ended Rome’s First Triumvirate, emphasizing their antagonism and Pompey’s pupil-master relationship with the Stoic Cato.
Caesar in Egypt
Caesar in Egypt is a 1724 tragedy by the British writer Colley Cibber. It is inspired by Pierre Corneille's 1642 French play The Death of Pompey about Julius Caesar's intervention in the Egyptian Civil War between Cleopatra and her brother. Cibber also incorporated elements of Plutarch and John Fletcher's The False One. The Drury Lane company invested lots of resources to make it a particularly extravagant production in the traditional style of a Restoration heroic drama. The cast included Barton Booth as Julius Caesar, Robert Wilks as Antony, Theophilus Cibber as Ptolemy, Charles Williams as Decius, John Mills as Photinus, Colley Cibber as Achoreus, John Roberts as First Centurion, John Thurmond as Second Centurion, Mary Porter as Cornelia and Anne Oldfield as Cleopatra. The play was not well-received, its style increasingly regarded by audiences as old-fashioned. This effectively ended Cibber's career as a playwright.
Caesar's Wife
In Cairo, young Violet is married to the much older British consular agent Sir Arthur Little but falls in love with his secretary, Ronald Parry. As Arthur must decide whether to recommend Parry for a post in Paris, Violet struggles with her feelings and with her husband’s uncompromising sense of public duty.
Cafe Crown
A close-knit group of Yiddish theatre people—amiable squatters and regulars at a Second Avenue restaurant—conducts business in bursts of temperament. Their cafe community is clannish, emotional, cultivated, and loyal to Second Avenue.
Cahoot's Macbeth
Under the watch of a secret-police officer, actors perform a shortened Macbeth in a living-room setting; the play's coded language evokes artistic dissent in communist Czechoslovakia.
Cain
Cain refuses to thank God for life and resents his mortality. Lucifer takes him on a journey through space and a vision of Earth's violent natural history; Cain returns disillusioned and kills Abel, ending in banishment.
Caius Gracchus
Caius Gracchus is a tragedy by the Irish playwright James Sheridan Knowles. It is based on the life of Gaius Gracchus, a politician in Ancient Rome. The play premiered at the Belfast Theatre in 1815 and enjoyed a good reception. It debuted in London's West End at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on 18 November 1823, following the success of the author's Virginius. The London cast included William Macready as Caius Gracchus, William Penley as Licinius, Alexander Pope as Drusus, Daniel Terry as Titus, Charles Mayne Young as Vettius, George Yarnold as Fulvius Flaccus, Thomas Archer as Opimius, Mrs. West as Licinia and Margaret Bunn as Cornelia.
Calendar Girls
After Annie’s husband dies of leukaemia, she and Chris persuade fellow Yorkshire Women’s Institute members to pose for a charity calendar to fund a hospital waiting-room settee. Their unexpected publicity brings fame that strains the friends’ relationships.
Caliban by the Yellow Sands
In a community masque loosely inspired by The Tempest, Caliban represents humanity's curious, passionate drive toward knowledge and art. The work alternates scenes from Caliban's symbolic journey with anachronistic vignettes from other Shakespeare plays, combining poetry, pageantry, song and dance.
Caliban: Sequel to The Tempest
After Prospero returns to Milan, a female Ariel follows him, while Caliban leads a coup against his former master. Once the revolt succeeds, Caliban begins imitating Prospero’s virtues, extending Shakespeare’s island conflict into a political sequel.
California Suite
In "Visitor from New York", Hannah Warren is a Manhattan workaholic who flies to Los Angeles to retrieve her teenage daughter Jenny after she leaves home to live with her successful screenwriter father William. The bickering, divorced couple is forced to decide what living arrangements are best for the girl. Conservative, middle-aged businessman Marvin Michaels is the "Visitor from Philadelphia", who awakens to discover a prostitute named Bunny unconscious in his bed after consuming a bottle of vodka. With his wife Millie on her way up to the suite, he must find a way to conceal all traces of his uncharacteristic indiscretion. The "Visitors from London" are British actress Diana Nichols, a first-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Actress, and her husband Sidney, a once-closeted antique dealer who increasingly has become indiscreet about his sexual orientation. The Oscar is an honor that could revive her faltering career, but Diana knows she doesn't have a chance of winning. She is in deep denial about the true nature of her marriage of convenience, and as she prepares for her moment in the spotlight, her mood fluctuates from hope to panic to despair. The "Visitors from Chicago" are two affluent couples who are best friends. Stu Franklyn and his wife Gert and Mort Hollender and his wife Beth are taking a much-needed vacation together. Things begin to unravel quickly when Beth is hurt during a tennis match, and Mort accuses Stu of causing her injury.
Caligula
After the death of his sister and lover Drusilla, Emperor Caligula pursues an absolute freedom through murder and the systematic overturning of values, ultimately arranging his own assassination.
Call It a Day
Call It a Day is a play by the British writer Dodie Smith first staged in 1935. Her most successful play, its initial West End run at the Globe Theatre lasted for 509 performances. The original cast included Owen Nares, Fay Compton, Austin Trevor, Muriel George, Patricia Hilliard, Valerie Taylor and Marie Lohr. The play was produced by the impresario Basil Dean. In 1936 it transferred to Broadway where it ran for 194 performances at the Morosco. In 1937 it was adapted into a film of the same title by the Hollywood studio Warner Brothers. Archie Mayo directed a cast featuring Olivia de Havilland, Ian Hunter, Roland Young and Anita Louise. A 1956 German film The First Day of Spring was also inspired by the play.
Call Me By My Cousin’s Name
William plans a surprise in an attempt to save his marriage to Tara, enlisting a colleague who needs a favour of his own. The arrival of Tara’s estranged cousin forces the women to confront the roles expected of them and consider different futures.
Call Me Izzy
The one-woman play follows Izzy, a creative writer in rural Louisiana hiding her passion for poetry from her abusive husband, forced to write on toilet paper in the bathroom with an eyebrow pencil. As she longs for freedom, she remarks on the cost of following your dreams and the barriers that prevent you from doing so.
Call Me Vicky
Based on the writers’ family history, the play follows Vicky’s life from 1980 to 1985: a transgender woman works in Soho’s club and sex-work scenes to save for surgery, faces imprisonment after a client encounter goes wrong, and builds a life with Sid while repairing her relationship with her mother.
Call Me by My Rightful Name
Two Columbia University roommates, one Black and one white, become entangled in a love triangle over a white woman. The three-act play is based on S. F. Pfoutz’s novel The Whipping Boy.
Call Up Your Ghosts
The ghosts of Australian writers return to disrupt a bookshop where their books are being used to prop up table legs, satirizing the publishing industry's neglect of Australian writers.
Calpurnia
Julie, a Black screenwriter living with her Afro-Caribbean judge father, researches a film about Calpurnia from To Kill a Mockingbird. Her conversations with her brother and the family's Filipina housekeeper at dinner raise conflicts over racial identity, prejudice, and who can retell canonical stories.
Cambro-Britons
Cambro-Britons is a 1798 historical play by the English writer James Boaden. It premiered at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in London on 21 July 1798. The original cast included William Barrymore as Llewellyn, Joseph Shepherd Munden as Shenkin, Robert Palmer as Wadwall, Richard Suett as Gwyn, John Henry Johnstone as O'Turloch, Henry Erskine Johnston as Bard, William Davies as King Edward, Charles Kemble as Prince David, Thomas Caulfield as Mortimer, George Davenport as Hereford, George Wathen as Doorkeeper, Maria Theresa Kemble as Elinor, Maria Gibbs as Lady Griffith's Shade and Maria Bland as Winifred.
Cambyses, King of Persia
Cambyses, King of Persia is 1671 tragedy by the English writer Elkanah Settle about Cambyses II. It was staged by the Duke's Company at the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre in London. The original cast included Thomas Betterton as Cambyses, Henry Harris as Prexaspes, John Crosby as Otanes, William Smith as Darius, Henry Norris as Artaban, Matthew Medbourne as Smerdis, Samuel Sandford as Parasithes, John Young as Theramnes, Mary Betterton as Mandana, Elinor Dixon as Orinda and Jane Long as Osiris.
Camino Real
Kilroy, a young American visitor, fulfills some of the functions of the play's narrator, as does Gutman, (named after Sydney Greenstreet's character from The Maltese Falcon, but bearing more resemblance to Signor Ferrari, Greenstreet's character in Casablanca) manager of the hotel Siete Mares, whose terrace occupies part of the stage. Williams also employs a large cast of characters including many famous literary characters who appear in dream sequences. They include Don Quixote and his partner Sancho, Marguerite "Camille" Gautier (see The Lady of the Camellias), Casanova, Lord Byron, and Esmeralda (see The Hunchback of Notre-Dame), and others. The play has one location — the plaza at the end of the road — Camino Real. On one side of the plaza is the dining area of the Siete Mares hotel, on the other side is Skid Row. The town is near the sea, and is tropical, mythic, and sometimes dream-like. It isn’t named, though it suggests Mexico or Louisiana. According to the author, the play exists "outside of time in a place of no specific locality". It is a place of refuge for the quirky misfits that turn up there, and find their illusions crumble. Characters include Lord Byron, Gypsy and her sex-driven daughter, Esmerelda, La Madrecita, a blind singer, and Casanova at an advanced age. Taking place in the main plaza, the play goes through a series of confusing and almost logic-defying events, including the revival of the Gypsy's daughter (Esmeralda)'s virginity and then the loss of it again. A main theme that the play deals with is coming to terms with the thought of growing older and possibly becoming irrelevant. The division of the play includes a prologue followed by 16 scenes or “blocks” and monologues. Sancho Panza has left Don Quixote, who then falls asleep, and Quixote's dream, which ensues, becomes the play. Quixote needs someone to replace Panza, so he selects Kilroy, a dispirited American soldier, who had appeared on the plaza. Kilroy has been courageous in his boxing career, but now he feels lost, and needs to sell his golden gloves. The cruel Gutman, builds The Seven Seas Hotel above the town's water source. Other characters appear in dreams, including Camille, Lord Byron, Esmeralda, La Madrecita (a blind singer), and Baron de Charlus, the sexual seeker who is murdered. Some characters find partners and some do not. Resurrections occur: Esmeralda regains her virginity, the singer’s eyesight is restored, Kilroy and Lord Byron are transformed. Marguerite tells Casanova that she has outlived the tenderness of her heart, and that "tenderness, the violets in the mountains—can't break the rocks!" Casanova falls in love and has the last line of the play: "The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks."
Camp Siegfried
The play follows two American teenagers in 1938 attending a German-American summer camp, Camp Siegfried in Yaphank, New York ahead of World War II, where they're taught Nazi ideology. The two, separated by gender at camp, fall in love. The play is inspired by the real-life camp in the United States during this era, dealing with themes of anti-semitism and fascism.
Campaign
A British foreign-policy adviser seeks a new strategy for Afghanistan and consults Professor Khan about reviving a neglected civil-service plan. Their discussion tests whether lessons from Afghan history can guide present policy.
Campaspe
In Athens, Alexander falls in love with Theban captive Campaspe and commissions Apelles to paint her portrait. Apelles and Campaspe fall in love, and Alexander relinquishes her so they can be together. Alexander also debates with Diogenes and other philosophers while his distractedness affects military discipline.
Can You Hear Their Voices?
A political play intercuts the hardship of tenant farmers in rural Arkansas with Washington, D.C., responses to their plight. It redirects the source story's armed resistance toward a nonviolent farmers' protest and ends with an unresolved question.
Can the Leopard...?
Can the Leopard...? is a 1931 comedy play by the British writer Ronald Jeans. The title refers to the expression "Can the leopard change its spots?" and features a husband forlornly attempting to reform his wife's reckless ways. The New Statesman review considered the plot to be weak, and relied for its success on the acting quality of the cast. It ran for 164 performances at the Haymarket Theatre in London's West End between 5 December 1931 and 7 May 1932. The original cast included Ian Hunter, Gertrude Lawrence, Kay Hammond, Kim Peacock, Joan Swinstead and Kathleen Harrison.
Can't Pay? Won't Pay!
In a political farce about consumer backlash, Antonia and Giovanni confront soaring prices and rent, along with employers cutting jobs, wages, and benefits. Fo's original Italian text also challenges the Italian Communist Party's policy of asking workers to accept lower living standards for the national interest.
Canace
A Senecan-modeled verse tragedy based on the Greek legend of Canace, whom her father forces to commit suicide after she falls in love with her brother Macar. The work was composed for Padua’s Accademia degli Infiammati and later sparked debate about tragic form and theatrical morals.
Canaries Sometimes Sing
Canaries Sometimes Sing is a comedy play by the British writer Frederick Lonsdale that was first staged in 1929 at the Globe Theatre in the West End. It represented the breakthrough role as a solo performer of the French comedienne Yvonne Arnaud.
Candida
Candida, wife of clergyman James Morell, returns home with young poet Eugene Marchbanks, who is in love with her and believes she deserves more than domestic routine. When she must choose between the two men, she chooses Morell, whom she sees as the weaker one.
Candle in the Wind
1940s France. The gardens at Versailles, the concentration camp and Madeline's hotel suite. The play takes place during the German occupation of France in World War II. September 1940. Fargeau, Henri and Deseze are talking about the war, Charlotte and Mercy are visiting from America and are trying to rebuild the past. They want to see Versailles as it was in Marie Antoinette's time. They are upset because the land and history changed too much. Madeline is avoiding Maisie because she has fallen in love and doesn't want to go back to America. She tells Maisie all about Raoul St. Cloud. Moments later he appears in the distance and tells Madeline about his adventures in the war, how his ship sank and he helped hijack a plane. He and Madeline pick up where they left off in their relationship. German soldiers enter and seeing Raoul in a French uniform, ask for his papers. Raoul, unable to produce them, saying they are lost at sea; gets arrested and taken to a concentration camp. At the concentration camp, Colonel Erfurt allows the Fleury family to see their son only if they agree to help gather information for the German party. They hesitate, but ultimately give in because they want to see their son. They are mortified by what they see in the camp. He denies Madeline access to Raoul because he has Sterben written on his file. He says “This is a camp of dead men.” Madeline vows that she will see Raoul again. Exactly one year later. Cissie and Maisie talk about France's condition in Madeline's hotel room. Maisie is hungry and nervous about German soldiers barging in on them. Cissie reassures her that they will not come. Madeline and Colonel Mueller talk about plans to break Raoul out and the three women will leave for London the next afternoon after the plan unfolds. The plan fails. Madeline tells the girls to unpack, they are staying. Maisie tells her that the best way she can help Raoul is by going back to America, back to work and get more money. Lieutenant Schoen arrives saying that he knows a fool proof way to get Raoul out of the camp. Maisie and Cissie leave to get Cissie a visa. Madeline and Lt. Schoen talk about the plan and she gives him her ring to pawn for money as a gift for helping her and Raoul. Lt. Schoen leaves his number, saying that if he can get Raoul out the following day, he will call. The next day, back at the gardens. Henri reads the executed list in the paper and sees Fargeau's name on the list. He always said that he'd rather be who he is and die for it than live as someone the Germans want him to be. Fargeau died trying to buy a gun, the shop didn't have any so he killed a German officer for one. Henri and Deseze mourn him for a moment as Madeline enters. Lt. Schoen never called but meets her at the gardens. He delivers good news that the plan worked and Raoul will be there any moment. Raoul arrives and Madeline is delighted. They immediately embrace, still as in love with each other as they were a year ago. She tells him to go to London and wait for her. But after he leaves, German soldiers arrive at the gardens and begin questioning Madeline. She obliges, thinking that the longer the soldiers are with her, the further away Raoul will get from France. Col. Erfurt and Madeline argue and he ends up confiscating Madeline's passport, leaving her to be a prisoner in France. Madeline and Raoul do not end up together. The idiom Candle in the Wind means something fragile which could finish at any time, a constant fight against all odds. Madeline and Raoul's love is a candle in the wind: the constant fight to free Raoul, even after a year, and the hope that he still loves her.
Candles to the Sun
In an Alabama coal-mining town, miners struggle to form a union while their families face the difficult conditions of life in the community.
Canopy of Stars
Two British soldiers guarding Kajaki Dam discuss military life and the justification for intervention in Afghanistan.
Cantique des Cantiques
In a Paris café in 1935, the President waits for his young lover Florence. When she arrives, she tells him she plans to marry Jerome, a young man she has just met, bringing their affair to a bittersweet end.
Capricornia
Louis Nowra adapts Xavier Herbert's novel about early-twentieth-century life in the Northern Territory, including its interracial relationships and abuses, for the stage.
Captain Brassbound's Conversion
Captain Brassbound plans revenge against Sir Howard Hallam, whom he blames for his mother's death and the loss of an inheritance. Lady Cicely argues him away from vengeance, and later persuades a court of inquiry to release him; he leaves before accepting her marriage proposal.
Captain Carvallo
Smila Darde, the wife of a farmer and partisan, is asked to billet enemy officer Captain Carvallo. Her husband and fellow partisan Professor Winke are ordered to kill him, but they find they like the captain too much.
Captain O'Blunder
A naive Irish officer’s adventures in London form this comedy, which reworks Squire Trelooby by William Congreve and John Vanbrugh, itself based on a Molière farce.
Captain Swift
Australian bushranger Captain Swift escapes to England and lives in London society under the name Wilding. When a wealthy squatter he once robbed and a Queensland detective arrive, Wilding's identity is exposed; he falls for Stella Seabrook, and, after betrayal, takes his own life.
Captain Swing
Set during the 1831 Bristol Riots, the play follows radical schoolmaster Matthew Dinely as he fails to control the mob's violence and struggles to reason with military officer Devoran, who resists using force against an oppressed crowd.
Captivi
War captives Philocrates and his slave Tyndarus switch identities so Philocrates can travel to exchange himself for Hegio's captured son. After their deception is exposed, Tyndarus is sent to the quarries, but the return of Hegio's other son and a confession reveal Tyndarus is the child stolen from Hegio years earlier.
Caramba
In Darwish and Williams’s British adaptation, a playwright’s struggle with a national-theatre director over changes to his play becomes a satire on control of the past and future. The version emphasizes Orwellian Room 101 imagery and changes the original insult to a harsher obscenity.
Caramba (1979–1980 version)
A Yorkshire miner’s son arrives in the capital to discuss his first play with a national-theatre director. In this expressionistic reworking, the writer turns a play about miners and their strike into a musical about a Mexican bordello, while the director’s assistant becomes a whip-wielding dominatrix.
Cardboard Piano
In a Ugandan church on New Year's Eve 1999, American missionary's daughter Chris and Ugandan teenager Adiel attempt to marry before child soldier Pika interrupts and kills Adiel. In 2014, Chris returns to bury her father's ashes and learns that Pika has become pastor Paul; a conflict over the church's rejection of a gay young man brings the past into the present.
Cardinal Beaton
A historical drama about the life of Scottish cardinal David Beaton.
Cardinal Lambertini
In 1739 Bologna, Cardinal Lambertini must manage tensions between the occupying Bourbon Spanish forces and local nobles planning a revolt. The historical comedy follows the future Pope Benedict XIV before his election.
Cards on the Table
Agatha Christie’s mystery about a dinner party hosted by Mr Shaitana, who gathers four people he suspects of murder, and the subsequent investigation into his killing was adapted for the stage without Hercule Poirot.
Career
Career is a 1956 comedy play by James Lee. It was later turned into the 1959 movie Career, also written by Lee.
Carine ou la jeune fille folle de son âme
On her wedding night at her uncle’s château, idealistic Carine encounters a decadent household where her mother tries to trade her innocence for her lover’s favor. A masked party and revelations about Frédéric’s past undermine her faith in their absolute love, and Carine dies after fleeing in despair.
Caroline Chisholm
A biographical play about Caroline Chisholm’s efforts to help immigrant women in Sydney find work and establish themselves, and her struggle to win cooperation from Governor George Gipps while balancing her public work with her family obligations.
Carol’s Eve
On Christmas Eve, which is also her 30th birthday, Carol plans to jump from a Los Angeles high-rise balcony. Partygoers interrupt her attempt, and she meets Michael, a former biker and New Ager who says he experienced death during a coma.
Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights
A Jewish civil rights worker, Seymour Levin, plagued by white guilt, he offers his services to a Black law student, Willie Nurse, as a slave as recompense for American slavery. Levin is more and more exploited by Nurse until Levin is chained to a radiator and Nurse's fiancée sexually assaults him. Carry Me Back to Morningside Heights is a three-act comedy play. It takes place at an apartment in Morningside Heights, Manhattan.
Carry Nation
A chronological dramatization of temperance leader Carry Nation, from her Kentucky childhood and marriages through her campaign against alcohol, saloon raids and final 1910 public appearance.
Cartography
A small group of refugees recounts their experiences through a nonlinear sequence that moves from a waiting room and interviews to an inflatable raft. The audience is invited to add family migration journeys to a map onstage before performers discuss their own migrant backgrounds.
Carving a Statue
In a South London studio, a father spends sixteen years carving a large stone statue of God while his son repeatedly fails to connect with him and tries to form relationships with women who visit the studio.
Casa Valentina
Casa Valentina is a small hotel in the resort area of the Catskill Mountains in New York. In the early 1960s, Casa Valentina has, as guests, heterosexual men who dress and act as women. They are faced with a decision whether to become an official organization.
Casablan
In a detective play, Kazablan is accused of attempted murder by stabbing. The actual attacker is an Ashkenazic Jew, exposing how readily the community assumes the Mizrahi protagonist's guilt; his love for Rachel is portrayed as hopeless amid the cultural divide.
Cascando
Opener alternates Voice and Music as Voice struggles to finish a story about Woburn’s journey toward the sea.
Casey Jones
Railroad engineer Casey Jones treats his locomotive as an escape from a world he does not understand. As he loses his sight, neglects his family, and is forced to retire, his loyalty to the railroad leaves him confronting a life spent in its service.
Casey and Diana
Residents and caregivers at Toronto’s Casey House prepare for a visit from Princess Diana during the AIDS crisis.
Casina
An Athenian father and son both seek the enslaved Casina as a concubine and each arranges for her to marry a favored slave. The father's wife outmaneuvers him by disguising the son's armour-bearer as the bride, humiliating the would-be lovers and exposing the father's scheme.
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