Subject: Plays, Playscripts
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A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen
Ibsen's classic play about the struggle between independence and security still resonates with readers and audience members today. Often hailed as an early feminist work, the story of Nora and Torvald rises above simple gender issues to ask the bigger question: 'To what extent have we sacrificed our selves for the... read more »
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An Enemy of the People Henrik Ibsen
Dr. Stockmann attempts to expose a water pollution scandal in his home town which is about to establish itself as a spa. When his brother, the mayor, conspires with local politicians and the newspaper to suppress the story, Stockmann appeals to the public meeting - only to be shouted down and reviled as 'an enemy of... read more »
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Arms and the Man George Bernard Shaw
Arms and the Man was George Bernard Shaw's first commercially successful play. It is a comedy about idealized love versus true love. A young Serbian woman idealizes her war-hero fiance and thinks the Swiss soldier who begs her to hide him a terrible coward. After the war she reverses her opinions, though the tangle... read more »
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A Woman of No Importance Oscar Wilde
Wilde's audacious drama of social scandal centres around the revelation of Mrs Arbuthnot's long-concealed secret. A house party is in full swing at Lady Hunstanton's country home, when it is announced that Gerald Arbuthnot has been appointed secretary to the sophisticated, witty Lord Illingworth. Gerald's mother... read more »
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Belinda A. A. Milne
Plot: Three men are competing for a woman; a humorous play with many funny moments - an enjoyable play. read more »
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Caesar and Cleopatra George Bernard Shaw
Set in Egypt, Caesar and Cleopatra, is a drama in which the 50-year-old Roman general meets the childish young Queen and exerts a fatherly influence on her. read more »
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Chantecler Edmond Rostand
Chantecter is a fantasy play about bird and animal life, with the characters being denizens of the farmyard and the woods. read more »
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Cyrano de Bergerac Edmond Rostand
Since its premier in 1897, Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac has remained a classic of the world stage. With a heart as big as his nose, the poet-swordsman lends his words and wit to the handsome but tongue-tied Christian to win the hand of the fair Roxane. But, who does she truly love in the end? read more »
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Down the Chimney Shepherd Knapp
One of a series of plays set at Christmas time intended for young boys and girls. It is intended, not only for acting, but also for reading. What sort of a Christmas play do the boys and girls like, and in what sort do we like to see them take part? It should be a play, surely, in which the dialogue is simple and... read more »
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Echoes of the War J. M. Barrie
J. M. Barrie wrote plays to promote support for the war to end all wars. Yet they are not plays about war, but rather about parents and the children they send off to war. Though intended to foster support for WWI, from today's vantage point they can just as easily be interpreted as anti-war. In this play, two old... read more »
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Geneva George Bernard Shaw
All that is generally known about the League of Nations is that it holds assemblies in Geneva at which the nations which belong to it confer with one another from time to time. But there is more than this in it. There is a Committee for International Cooperation which is so little known, and so neglected and starved... read more »
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Ghosts Henrik Ibsen
In this drama Ibsen has touched issues that were severely sensitive. The characters drawn in detail are deeply embedded in the plot. The themes of infidelity, illegitimate children and incest have been touched upon that were taboo topics of the time. He proved his mettle as a brilliant and bold writer as he delves... read more »
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Hedda Gabler Henrik Ibsen
Despite premiering the next year to negative reviews, the play since been hailed as a classic work of realism, with the character Hedda being considered by some critics as one of the great dramatic roles; a female Hamlet. Gabler is actually the character's maiden name rather than her name by marriage (which is Hedda... read more »
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Henry IV William Shakespeare
Shakespeare's drama tells the story of a young man who can only come into his own upon his father's death and the father who longs for immortality. Using only Shakespeare's words, this adaptation tells the deeply personal story of Prince Hal's coming of age and his relationships with two father figures: the... read more »
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In Good King Charles's Golden Days George Bernard Shaw
A wonderful restoration comedy written by the great George Bernard Shaw, the play is set as a discussion on the nature of power and wealth between King Charles II and Isaac Newton, George Fox and Godfrey Kneller. The kings three mistresses intervening along with his queen. read more »
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Lady Windermere's Fan Oscar Wilde
Centering around the arrival of a mysterious woman hoping to break into London's society, this was Wilde's first great stage success. Lady Windermere learns from a friend that Lord Windermere is spending a great deal of time with a Mrs. Erlynne, and fearing that he is being unfaithful to her, she decides that their... read more »
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L'Aiglon Edmond Rostand
L'Aiglon is a play in six acts based on the life of Napoleon's son, Napoleon II of France, Duke of Reichstadt. The title comes from a nickname for Napoleon II, the French word for 'eaglet' (a young eagle). The title role was created by Sarah Bernhardt in the play's premiere on 15 March 1900 at the Théàtre Sarah... read more »
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Lazarus and his Beloved Kahlil Gibran
The garden outside of the home of Lazarus and his mother and sisters in Bethany Late afternoon of Manday, the day after the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth from the grave. At curtain rise: Mary is at right gazing up towards the hills. Martha is seated at her loom near the house door, left. The Madman is seated... read more »
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Macbeth William Shakespeare
One of the great Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth is a dark and bloody drama of ambition, murder, guilt, and revenge. Prompted by the prophecies of three mysterious witches and goaded by his ambitious wife, the Scottish thane Macbeth murders Duncan, King of Scotland, in order to succeed him on the throne. This foul... read more »
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Major Barbara George Bernard Shaw
When a Salvation Army officer learns that her father, a wealthy armaments manufacturer, has donated lots of money to her organization, she resigns in disgust but eventually sees the truth of her father's reasoning that social iniquity derives from poverty; it is only through accumulating wealth and power that people... read more »
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Man And Superman George Bernard Shaw
After the death of her father, Ann Whitefield becomes the joint ward of two men: the respectable Roebuck Ramsden and John Tanner, author of 'The Revolutionist's Handbook'. Believing marriage would prevent him from achieving his higher intellectual and political ambitions, Tanner is horrified to discover that Ann... read more »
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Maxims and Reflections Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Geothe's fourteen hundred Maxims and Reflections reveal some of his deepest thought on art, ethics, literature and natural science, but also his immediate reactions to books, chance encounters or his administrative work. Although variable in quality, the vast majority have a freshness and immediacy which vividly... read more »
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Mrs. Warren's Profession George Bernard Shaw
Middle-aged Mrs. Warren is a madam, proprietress of a string of successful brothels. Her daughter, Vivie, is a modern young woman, but not so modern that she's not shocked to discover the source of her mother's wealth. The clash of these two strong-willed, but culturally constrained Victorian women, is the spark... read more »
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On the Rocks George Bernard Shaw
The P.M. in On the Rocks did not win over anybody. The proletarians attacked and repudiated him at once; and the Conservatives, though quite approving of the items in his program which favored their private affairs, deserted him and followed their Die Hard leader the moment he called them to heel. As to militant... read more »
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Plays for Earth and Air Lord Dunsany
Though the first four plays in this book were written for earth and the rest for air; the rest have all been done in their appropriate element. Probably the future of plays for the air lies with television. At present every character has to be slightly exaggerated, so that the audience shall have no doubt as to who... read more »
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Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw
This play is based on the Greek myth of Pygmalion. It tells the story of Henry Higgins, a professor of phonetics (based on phonetician Henry Sweet), who makes a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering that he can successfully pass off a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, as a refined society lady by teaching her... read more »
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Quality Street J. M. Barrie
This four-act comedy is an adult fairy tale of sorts, brought to life by Barrie's charming imagination and ability to weave between reality and fantasy. Pheobe Throssel and Valentine Brown are a young couple separated by the Neopoleonic wars for ten years, only to find themselves the unfortunate victims of time and... read more »
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Saint Joan George Bernard Shaw
Shaw reaches the height of his fame as a dramatist with the release of Saint Joan. Fascinated by the story of Joan of Arc (canonized in 1920), but unhappy with "the whitewash which disfigures her beyond recognition," he presents a realistic Joan: proud, intolerant, naïve, foolhardy, always brave-a rebel who... read more »
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The Admirable Crichton J. M. Barrie
The English production of this play in 1902 starred Henry Irving. In 1903, the play was produced on Broadway by Charles Frohman, starring William Gillette. The story of the play concerns an aristocratic English family who revert to the state of Nature when shipwrecked on a desert island. While there, they are... read more »
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The Apple Cart George Bernard Shaw
The Apple Cart is Shaw's comedic play in which the King defeats an attempt by his popularly elected Prime Minister to deprive him of the right to influence public opinion through the press: in short, to reduce him to a cipher. read more »