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By: Aristophanes (446-389 BCE)

Book cover Frogs

Athens is in a sorry state of affairs. The great tragedian, Euripides, is dead, and Dionysus, the god of the theater, has to listen to third-rate poetry. So, he determines to pack his belongings onto his trusty slave, Xanthias, and journey to the underworld to bring back Euripides! Hi-jinks ensue.

Book cover Clouds

Strepsiades is an Athenian burdened with debt from a bad marriage and a spendthrift son. He resolves to go to the Thinking Shop, where he can purchase lessons from the famous Socrates in ways to manipulate language in order to outwit his creditors in court. Socrates, represented as a cunning, manipulative, irreverent sophist, has little success with the dull-witted Strepsiades, but is able to teach the old man's son Phidippides a few tricks. In the end, the play is a cynical, clever commentary on Old Ways vs. New Ways, to the disparagement of the former.

By: E. L. Blanchard (1820-1889)

Book cover Whittington and his Cat

Whittington and his Cat, or Harlequin Lord Mayor of London was the 26th Grand Comic Christmas Annual, written by E. L. Blanchard for performance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London in 1875. Pantomimes are a favourite Christmas entertainment in England, and in Victorian times were usually written in rhyming couplets. They featured a Principal Boy (played by a girl) and a Dame (played by a man). Over the years they became ever more elaborate with fantastic costumes, huge casts and spectacular transformation scenes...

By: Edmond Rostand (1868-1918)

Book cover Romancers

By the author of Cyrano de Bergerac, this comic-romance formed the basis for the long-running 1960's musical "The Fantasticks". - Summary by WendyKatzHiller Persons in the Play: Sylvette: Jenn Broda Percinet: Joanna Michal Hoyt Straforel: Larry Wilson Bergamin: ToddHW Pasquinot: Wayne Cooke Blaise : Rebecca Brown Stage Directions: WendyKatzHiller Edited by: WendyKatzHiller Proof-listened by: sanved23, WendyKatzHiller and Rapunzelina

By: Molière (1622-1673)

Book cover Miser

The Miser is a comedy of manners about a rich moneylender named Harpagon. His feisty children long to escape from his penny-pinching household and marry their respective lovers. Although the 17th-century French upper classes presumably objected to the play's message, it is less savage and somewhat less realistic than Molière's earlier play, Tartuffe, which attracted a storm of criticism on its first performance.

By: Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681)

Book cover Keep Your Own Secret

"Love and perseverance will at last vanquish every obstacle. Today I have kept out of the way of every possible hindrance... and at this moment I actually behold myself in her house.... I have, as you know, spent all the day in concealment, and I have got into the house unseen by any one. What cross event can now happen to disappoint my hopes?" Anybody want to bet that all will go as planned in this comedy? - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Alexander Farnese, Prince of Parma: fluffbemeal Don Caesar,...

Book cover Fairy Lady

Don Manuel and Cosmo are visiting town to stay with Don Manuel's friend Don John de Toledo for the young Prince's christening, when suddenly a a veiled lady begs for their aid and protection. "My honour and my life are forfeit if I am overtaken or discovered by the person that comes yonder in pursuit of me." And so the intrigue of this farce begins.... - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Don Manuel Enriquez: Adrian Stephens Don John de Toledo: Greg Giordano Don Lewis de Toledo, his brother: ToddHW Cosmo,...

By: William Davenant (1606-1668)

Book cover Law Against Lovers

The Law Against Lovers was a dramatic adaptation of Shakespeare, arranged by Sir William Davenant and staged by the Duke's Company in 1662. It was the first of the many Shakespearean adaptations staged during the Restoration era. Davenant was not shy about changing the Bard's work; he based his text on Measure for Measure, but also added Beatrice and Benedick from Much Ado About Nothing — "resulting in a bizarre and fascinating combination." He made Angelo from the former play, and Benedick from the latter, into brothers.

By: Alfred Sutro (1863-1933)

Book cover Mollentrave on Women

Mollentrave has written a “Love Doctor” book for men entitled “Mollentrave on Women” which purports to give any man the “Midas Touch” with the fairer sex. But as King Midas could’ve told us, these things have a way of backfiring… - Summary by Son of the Exiles Cast list: Mr. Mollentrave: azureblue Sir Joseph Balsted, K.C., M.P.: Mike Manolakes Everard Swenboys: Ethan Hurst Lord Contareen: Adrian Stephens Mr. Dexter: ToddHW Mr. Noyes: Alan Mapstone Peters, Sir Joseph’s Butler: Cavaet Martin, Mollentrave’s Butler: David Purdy Lady Claude Derenham: JennPratt Margaret Messilent: Nichole James Miss Treable: Joanna Michal Hoyt Mrs...

By: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-1892)

Book cover The Princess

The Princess is a serio-comic blank verse narrative poem, written by Alfred Tennyson, published in 1847. The poem tells the story of an heroic princess who forswears the world of men and founds a women's university where men are forbidden to enter. The prince to whom she was betrothed in infancy enters the university with two friends, disguised as women students. They are discovered and flee, but eventually they fight a battle for the princess's hand.

By: Alice Gerstenberg (1885-1972)

Book cover Alice in Wonderland (Drama)

A dramatization of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass for the stage. In this version, Alice goes through the looking glass and encounters a variety of strange and wonderful creatures from favorite scenes of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland the Through the Looking Glass. Including a conversation with the Red and White Queens, encounters with Humpty Dumpty, the Mock Turtle, the Cheshire Cat, and the Caterpillar, and of course everyone's favorite Mad Tea Party.

By: Anonymous

Irish Wit and Humor by Anonymous Irish Wit and Humor

Excerpted anecdotes from the biographies of Swift, Curran, O'Leary and O'Connell, relating humorous snippets of politics in 18th and 19th century Ireland. For some these may be poignant in addition to being humorous and for others they may be humorous in addition to being poignant. (

By: Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov The Cherry Orchard

The Cherry Orchard is Russian playwright Anton Chekhov's last play. It premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre 17 January 1904 in a production directed by Constantin Stanislavski. Chekhov intended this play as a comedy and it does contain some elements of farce; however, Stanislavski insisted on directing the play as a tragedy. Since this initial production, directors have had to contend with the dual nature of this play. The play concerns an aristocratic Russian woman and her family as they return to the family's estate (which includes a large and well-known cherry orchard) just before it is auctioned to pay the mortgage...

Book cover Ivanov

Nicolai (anglicised Nicholas in this translation) Ivanov, a middle-aged public servant, is unhappy. His wife Anna, disinherited by her family after converting from Judaism, is dying of tuberculosis. He is deeply in debt. And his best friend’s daughter is infatuated with him. Comedy and tragedy ensue in truly Chekhovian fashion. An example of the young Chekhov’s maturing style, Ivanov is an early harbinger of themes that would recur throughout his work.

By: Antonio de Solís (1610-1686)

Book cover One Fool Makes Many

"I will discuss this matter in an allegory: ... There was once upon a time a man, and he had a sister; and this said sister, she had a brother; and so this sister fell in love with another brother, and he had another sister; and one day what should she do, but take it into her head to run away with him? So then, after that, the brother, from whom the sister had been stolen, stole the sister of the thief. Now will you be pleased to tell us whether it would be best, in such a case, that each man should...

By: Aristophanes (446BC - 385BC)

Lysistrata by Aristophanes Lysistrata

Lysistrata read by the Classics Drama Company at DePaul. The Classics Drama Company at DePaul is a new gathering of Thespians and Classicists dedicated to performing and understanding ancient literature. If you live in Chicago and attend DePaul University, we welcome new additions to our group. Contact Dr. Kirk Shellko (kshellko@depaul.edu), if interested.First performed in classical Athens c. 411 B.C.E., Aristophanes’ Lysistrata is the original battle of the sexes. One woman, Lysistrata, brings together the women of all Greece, exhorting them to withhold sexual contact from all men in order that they negotiate a treaty...

By: Arnold Bennett (1867-1931)

The Grand Babylon Hotel by Arnold Bennett The Grand Babylon Hotel

Theodore Racksole, a rich American multi-millionaire, buys the Grand Babylon Hotel, a luxurious hotel in London, as a whim – and then finds out there are strange things going on – a German prince is supposed to arrive but never turns up, someone is found murdered in the hotel, but then the body disappears. With the help of his independent daughter Nella and another German prince, Racksole sets out to solve the mystery.Bennett wrote this as a 15-part serial, for a lark, in 15 days, and sold it for 100 pounds. It first appeared in The Golden Penny in 1902, which described it as “the most original, amusing, and thrilling serial written in a decade”.

By: Arthur Law (1844-1913)

Book cover Country Mouse

You could be forgiven upon reading that title, not to mention auditing the opening scene, for thinking that this is a play of a simple country girl fallen among aristocratic Victorian-era swingers in the big city. But this Country Mouse is anything but innocent. - Summary by Son of the Exiles Cast list: The Duke of St. Kitts : Alan Mapstone Lord Robert Wyckham : Greg Giordano John Bowlby, M.P. : ToddHW The Hon. Archibald Vyse : ksb013 Jephcot : Wayne Cooke Servant: James R. Hedrick Lady Sylvia Bowlby : Matea Bracic Violet Aynsley : Jenn Broda Angela Muir : TJ Burns Mrs. Cropper : WendyKatzHiller Stage Directions: Michele Eaton Editing: Michele Eaton

By: Arthur Lewis Tubbs (1867-1946)

Book cover Miss Buzby's Boarders

Who knows what might be going on in Miss Buzby's boarding house, where she accepts theatrical types? - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Jerome Townsend, a lover somewhat in the background: Tommy Hersant Felix Marden, who is not afraid to come to the front: Adrian Stephens Mr. Smith, a mysterious individual: ToddHW Alexander Pettifer, a worm that finally turns: Alan Mapstone Jimmie Spangler, a song and dance artist: David Purdy Marguerite Marr, a star in vaudeville: JennPratt Lillian Wendale, by the villian still pursued: ashleighjane Pansy Purple, Jimmie's professional partner: Kelly S...

By: Arthur Shirley (1853-1925)

Book cover Three Hats A Farcical Comedy in Three Acts

By: Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934)

The Amazons: A Farcical Romance by Arthur Wing Pinero The Amazons: A Farcical Romance

This 1895 farce inspired by the outlandish idea of women wearing pants, centers around the predicament of the three daughters of the eccentric Marchioness of Castlejordan, who determined to have sons, raised them like boys. She encouraged them to dress and act like boys at home, yet dress like ladies when out. As the girls come of age, they are conflicted. They want to please mother by acting as her sons, but, suddenly smitten with three gentlemen, they are compelled to grow up and be ladies. When their suitors secretly come to woo, they aren’t sure what to do……and what will mother do if she finds out?

Book cover Wife Without A Smile

Mr. Rippingill can not get his wife to relax her stony features and smile. Maybe even laugh. "Avis - Lady Whitstable and the pickled salmon. Now consider for a moment, my pet - reflect. What a grotesque contrast! A fine, crusted specimen of our English aristocracy and - pickled fish! The mere contemplation of two images so violently opposed in itself makes for mirth. Doesn't it dearest?" But it is tough going. So he tries to.... - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Seymour Rippingill: Greg Giordano Haynes Webbmarsh: Alan Mapstone Vivian Trood: Tomas Peter John Pullinger: ToddHW Foley: James R...

Book cover Freaks: An Idyll of Suburbia

When Mrs. Herrick's brother Charlie dies, he leaves his money in trust for members of the circus he used to own under the name of "Segantini's World Renowned Mammoth International Hippodrome and Museum of Living Marvels". When five of the Extraordinary Mortals of the circus show up to visit with the Ordinary Mortals at Mrs. Herrick's country house, there is a clash of cultures.... - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Ordinary Mortals: Mrs. Herrick, nee Smith : Linda Webster Ronald : Adrian Stephens Sheila : Matea Bracic Lady Ball-Jennings : Sonia Sir Norton Ball-Jennings : Alan Mapstone Reverend Stephen Glyn : Greg Giordano Mr...

Book cover Princess and the Butterfly

The English-born Princess Pannonia had spent the twenty years of her marriage isolated in the Prince's remote Hungarian castle. Now widowed, she returns to London to re-engage with former friends, all fearfully facing middle-age. Can romance be rekindled with a former flame? Or will it be found with someone new or perhaps someone overlooked before? - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Princess Pannonia: awonski Sir George Lamorant, Bart.: Greg Giordano Fay Zuliani: Jenn Broda Edward Oriel: Tomas Peter Blanche Oriel: Michele Eaton Lady Ringstead: Sonia Mr...

Book cover Sweet Lavender

"Sweet Lavender" must be regarded as one of the most successful stage-plays of modern times, and there can be no question that it has proved so far the most popular of Mr. Pinero's works. Its representations may be counted by the thousand, and its popularity has extended over many latitudes. The reason of this is not far to seek: it proclaims itself in the gentle humanity and genial humour of the play. ... a sort of modern fairy tale." - Summary by Malcom C. Salaman, October 1893 Cast list: Horace Bream : Matthew Reece Geoffrey Wedderburn : ToddHW Clement Hale : Karsus Richard Phenyl : Andrew James Dr...

Book cover Hobby-Horse

A man's wife is caught up in Philanthropy, generously supporting all sorts of good causes. But that does not include her husband's interests in "the Turf or the Stable - no feeling except one of positive distaste." So what is he to do? How about somehow getting her to "endow a Home for about twenty decayed jockeys and stablemen ... who have outlived their chances on the turf and fallen on bad days?" Sounds very noble, but of course that is not quite what he has in mind.... - Summary by ToddHW Cast...

Book cover Money-Spinner

When his younger brother incurs a large betting debt, what could be easier than for a man to borrow the money to save him from the factory he runs while his employers are away. Whoops; his employers are coming back before he has repaid the money. Ah, perhaps his wife can get the money from a friendly Lord who was once her suitor.... A friendly card game perhaps. What could go wrong? - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Lord Kengussie: Son of the Exiles Baron Croodle: ToddHW Harold Boycott: Mark Nelson Jules Faubert: Alan Mapstone Millicent Boycott: Sonia Dorinda Croodle: Jenn Broda Margot: Adrian Stephens Stage Directions: MichaelMaggs Editing: ToddHW

Book cover Rocket

Gentlemen out away from London, looking for wives. "I'm going to settle down, hearthrug and slippers and all that sort of thing." "So a lot of us have made up our minds to marry and retire from public life, and as I couldn't find any suitable partie in London - ." Add lost relatives, over protective fathers, a rich widow or two, and you have all the ingredients for a first rate farce. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Lord Leadenhall: Adrian Stephens The Chevalier Walkinshaw: Rob Marland John Mable:...

Book cover In Chancery

Subtitled "An Original Fantastic Comedy in Three Acts", this should be another enjoyable farce by Pinero, including memory loss, mistaken identity, crime and detection, romance, and many other of life's various complications. "Your husband?" "My husband!" "Begorra! It's not bigamy, but trigonometry, he's been attempting". - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Captain Dionysius McCafferty : Larry Wilson Dr. Titus : Steven Fellows Montague Joliffe: ToddHW Mr. Hinxman: alanmapstone John : Tomas Peter Mr. Buzzard : Adrian Stephens Mr...

By: Augustin Daly (1838-1899)

Book cover Night Off; or A Page From Balzac

There are a number of subplots going on in this play. The Professor has unearthed a play that he wrote back in his University days. He has read it to his housekeeper while his wife was away at the expensive spa ... she disapproves of the theatre ... and said housekeeper was so fascinated by it that when a travelling dramatic troupe manager lobs into town, the Professor is receptive to the manager's manipulative and unscrupulous offer to put on his play. Meanwhile, one of the Professor's daughters has chanced across a page from Balzac which states "Every bride that lives if she could but know the past and secret life of her husband would renounce him even at the steps of the altar...

By: Barry Pain (1864-1928)

Marge Askinforit by Barry Pain Marge Askinforit

A rollicking parody of the Margot Asquith memoirs, in which Pain’s character, Marge, beguiles us with the most personal details of her dysfunctional family, and delights in relating every cringing, if not wholly accurate, minutiae of her exciting private life.

By: Ben Jonson (1572-1637)

The Alchemist by Ben Jonson The Alchemist

An outbreak of plague in London forces a gentleman, Lovewit, to flee temporarily to the country, leaving his house under the sole charge of his butler, Jeremy. Jeremy uses the opportunity given to him to use the house as the headquarters for fraudulent acts. He transforms himself into 'Captain Face', and enlists the aid of Subtle, a fellow conman and Dol Common, a prostitute. In The Alchemist, Jonson unashamedly satirizes the follies, vanities and vices of mankind, most notably greed-induced credulity...

Book cover Volpone, or, The Fox

Volpone is a comedy by Ben Jonson first produced in 1606, drawing on elements of city comedy and beast fable. A merciless satire of greed and lust, it remains Jonson's most-performed play, and it is among the finest Jacobean Era comedies. Volpone is a Venetian gentleman who pretends to be on his deathbed, after a long illness, in order to dupe Voltore, Corbaccio, and Corvino, three men who aspire to inherit his fortune. In their turns, each man arrives to Volpone’s house bearing a luxurious gift, intent upon having his name inscribed to the will of Volpone, as his heir...

Book cover Every Man in His Humor
Book cover Epicoene: Or, the Silent Woman
Book cover The Poetaster
Book cover Every Man In His Humour

Knowell, an old man - rumor says Shakespeare originally played this part - tries to spy upon the doings of his potentially wayward son. Meanwhile, Kitely, a merchant, worries so much about being cuckolded by his wife that perhaps it has to happen. All this while a swarm of other interesting characters surround them. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: KNOWELL, an old Gentleman: ToddHW EDWARD KNOWELL, his Son: Rob Marland BRAINWORM, the Father's Man: Zames Curran GEORGE DOWNRIGHT, a plain Squire: Algy...

By: Benito Pérez Galdós (1843-1920)

Book cover Heath's Modern Language Series: Mariucha

By: Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Book cover Androcles and the Lion
Book cover How He Lied to Her Husband
Book cover John Bull's Other Island
Book cover Augustus Does His Bit
Book cover Great Catherine
Book cover The Inca of Perusalem
Book cover Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress
Book cover O'Flaherty V.C. : a recruiting pamphlet

By: Bill Nye

Comic History of the United States by Bill Nye Comic History of the United States

For American journalist and humorist Edgar Wilson Nye who wrote under the pen name Bill Nye in the late 19th century, facts are not to be presented in their newborn, bare state. They should be properly draped and embellished before they can be presented before the public. Hence, in the Comic History of the United States published in 1894, he gives his readers the facts. But in a bid to make the historical figures more human he describes them as “people who ate and possibly drank, people who were born, flourished and died, not grave tragedians posing perpetually for their photographs...

By: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910)

Book cover Three Comedies

By: Booth Tarkington (1869-1946)

Gentle Julia by Booth Tarkington Gentle Julia

Penrod for girls in the form of Florence, the bratty younger cousin of luminous Julia Atwater, enlivens this romantic comedy set in Tarkington's Indiana of the early 20th Century.

Book cover Intimate Strangers

"Beginning with the girl of yesterday and a lawyer of uncertain age, stranded in a railway station, half starved and uncertain of the future, because a hurricane wrecked railway hopes on both the main and branch line, it carries the audience to the home of the girl, where, with delicious comedy, the blasé lawyer is tortured into submission, after he has dared doubt the age of the girl whose hand he kissed the night before. Having expressed a sharp opinion of "brazen young huzzies in breeches," he is subjected to the siege of a young woman "in breeches", who longs for an adventure with an elderly man...

By: Byron Ongley (1876-1915)

Book cover Brewster's Millions

Monty Brewster has just inherited a million dollars from the grandfather he has never met. The newly acquired wealth staggers young Monty Brewster, and he is about to launch into his new life when an attorney in the west advises him that his uncle, George Brewster, has left him seven million dollars, contingent upon his getting rid of the million dollars left him by his grandfather. "He mistreated your mother and father and I do not want you to touch a dollar of his money. If you spend the million...

By: C. J. Dennis (1876-1938)

The Glugs of Gosh by C. J. Dennis The Glugs of Gosh

First published in 1917, The Glugs of Gosh satirizes Australian life at the start of the twentieth century – but the absurdities it catalogs seem just as prevalent at the start of the twenty-first. The foolishness of kings, the arrogance of the elite, the gullibility of crowds, the pride of the self-righteous, the unthinking following of tradition – all find themselves the targets of C. J. Dennis’ biting wit.

By: Cal Stewart (1856-1919)

Book cover Uncle Josh's Punkin Centre Stories

A collection of comedic short stories from the perspective of an old country man.

By: Carlo Goldoni (1707-1793)

Book cover Mistress of the Inn (La locandiera)

Mirandolina runs an inn in Florence alone with only the help of her loyal employee Fabricius, and all of her guests are in love with her. The wealthy but only newly aristocratic Count D’Albafiorita and the impoverished but noble Marquis di Forlipopoli vie for her affections while debating the respective value of wealth and nobility (and insulting each other a good deal along the way). The misogynistic Cavalier di Ripafratta scoffs at their shared infatuation and ridicules the idea of love, but will he too fall victim to the beautiful innkeeper’s charms? And can any of them win the heart of the independent Mirandolina?

By: Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

The Strange Gentleman by Charles Dickens The Strange Gentleman

Before he became a novelist, Dickens wrote several successful plays. This one from 1836, his first, he called, "A Comic Burletta in Two Acts". Characters arrive at a village inn called "The St. James Arms" and much confusion ensues.

Book cover Village Coquettes

Before he started writing novels, Charles Dickens tried his hand at theater. The Village Coquettes is a two act musical. Sadly the music was lost long ago so this will be a spoken version. This play completes the recording of the relatively unknown plays of Dickens in celebration of his 200th birthday!

By: Charles Lamb

Book cover Mr. H

Mr H is a farce that was first performed at Drury Lane in 1806. The plot is slender and revolves around a single rather feeble joke, but the characters are skilfully drawn and the sharp observations of contemporary fashion do much to divert the listener from the weakness of the central theme. More a comedy of manners rather than a true farce, this short play is best enjoyed as a gentle romp through the eccentricities of the Regency period.

By: Charlotte Endymion Porter (1859-1942)

Book cover Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies

By: Clare Kummer (1886-1958)

Book cover Rollo's Wild Oat

Rollo Webster, slightly eccentric, has a consuming ambition to play Hamlet. Escaping the restraining influences of his family, he spends his own money in engaging a company, hiring a theater and staging a production of the tragedy. His Ophelia is Goldie MacDuff, who would have been a success in a midnight frolic if she could only keep awake after twelve o’clock. It seems he has everything to finally bring his lifelong ambitions to fruition: a troupe of actors, a gamesome leading lady, a somewhat unscrupulous stage manager, and buckets upon buckets of cash...

By: Clyde Fitch (1865-1909)

Book cover Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines

Captain Robert Jinks has formed a marching club with some friends to promote a political candidate, earning him the moniker Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines. When they discover that opera diva Madame Trentoni is arriving from Europe, Jinks and his buddies go down to the dock to meet her. Jinks bets his pals a large sum that he can romance her, but when Jinks finally encounters Madame Trentoni, he is so taken by her that he immediately concedes the bet and gives his friends his IOU for the wager money so he can court her without what he now sees as an unseemly wager...

By: Dion Boucicault (1820-1890)

Book cover London Assurance

This fast-paced Victorian farce is at heart a comedy of manners. Dion Bouciault’s witty dialogue ridicules the pretensions of society as the plot sets up the unpleasant initial situation of the aging, vain Sir Harcourt Courtly being set by a special provision of her father’s will to marry 18-year-old Grace Harkaway. The situation quickly escalates upon their arrival at Oak Hall to seal the engagement as more increasingly zany minor characters are added and romantic complications ensue. Double courtship and comic deception abound in this high-spirited comedy...

By: Douglas William Jerrold (1803-1857)

Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures by Douglas William Jerrold Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures

First serialized in Punch magazine in 1845, and officially published in book form in 1846, Mrs. Caudle's Curtain Lectures presents a collection of 37 lectures delivered by Mrs. Caudle to her husband as a means of reproach for his trivial infractions. Also, the author marvelously incorporates typical elements responsible for disagreements between spouses including the antipathetic mother-in-law, the ne’er-do-well friends, and the jealous outbursts. Jerrold’s charming piece of satire introduces the Victorian married couple, Mr...

By: Edith Œnone Somerville (1858-1949)

Some Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Edith Œnone Somerville Some Experiences of an Irish R.M.

This is the first of three novels which Edith Somerville and her cousin Violet Martin wrote about the English Major Sinclair Yates who leaves the army to take up a position of Resident Magistrate in the West of Ireland in about 1895. The tales tell in a humorous way of his struggles with a new job, new culture, and with his landlord and neighbour Mr. ‘Flurry’ Knox whose prime, if not only, interest is in hunting, which forms the background to all the stories. Miss Somerville was herself the first woman anywhere to become an M.F.H.

By: Edna Ferber (1885-1968)

Roast Beef, Medium by Edna Ferber Roast Beef, Medium

This book follows the adventures of Emma McChesney, a smart and savvy divorced mother who travels the Midwest as a sales representative for a large skirt and petticoat manufacturer. Her many adventures with people, (including predatory salesmen and hotel clerks), are funny and poignant. She is hardworking and able to outsell the slickest of the men salesmen. She has learned to focus on her work and her seventeen-year-old son, Jock. Experience has taught her that it is usually best to stick to roast beef, medium and not get stomach ache with fancy sauces and exotic dishes...

By: Edward Sharpham (1576-1608)

Book cover Cupid's Whirligig

Cupid's Whirligig is a city comedy: a play in colloquial language dealing with the everyday life of London's citizens. A knight, Sir Timothy Troublesome, suspects his wife of cheating on him and, to prove that any children she bears are not his own, decides to 'geld' himself. Meanwhile, the young Lord Nonsuch dreams of bedding the knight's wife, and in disguise enters the Troublesomes' employ as a servant. Cupid descends from the heavens to cast a love spell on the citizens of London and, by the last act, one character loves another, who loves another, and so on until the last loves the first: a "Cupid's whirligig"...

By: Elizabeth von Arnim (1866-1941)

The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight by Elizabeth von Arnim The Princess Priscilla's Fortnight

The Princess Priscilla of Lothen Kunitz finds court life stifling and runs away to England with the elderly court librarian. Her intention is to live a pure and simple life filled with good works. But life among ordinary people in an English village is not what she expects it to be... (Introduction by Tabithat)

By: Emily Eden

The Semi-Detached House by Emily Eden The Semi-Detached House

If you're a Jane Austen fan, you'll enjoy Emily Eden's comic novels of manners, The Semi-Detached House (1859) and The Semi-Attached Couple (1860). At the opening of The Semi-Detached House, the beautiful (but rather petulant) Lady Blanche Chester, newly married and pregnant, is being installed in a suburban house while her husband is away. Her encounters with her neighbors, and the intrigues of the neighborhood, soon come to absorb and annoy her.

Book cover Semi-Attached Couple

Young and beautiful Helen Eskdale and fabulously wealthy Lord Teviot seem to be the perfect match. But when they marry, they find that misunderstandings and jealousies continually drive them apart. The machinations and intrigues of a large supporting cast surround the central question of whether their marriage will survive. Emily Eden's comedy of manners is reminiscient of Jane Austen's witty and ironic novels.

By: F. Scott Fitzgerald

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

A life lived backwards, with events happening in reverse order forms the strange and unexpected framework of one of F Scott Fitzgerald's rare short stories. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was published in Collier's in 1927 and the idea came to Fitzgerald apparently from a quote of Mark Twain's in which he regretted that the best part of life came at the beginning and the worst at the end. Fitzgerald's concept of using this notion and turning the normal sequence of life on its head resulted in this delightful, thought provoking fantasy tale...

Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald Bernice Bobs Her Hair

Pretty but socially clueless Bernice lets her know-it-all cousin push her around, but eventually, something's gotta give! (Introduction by BellonaTimes)

Book cover Vegetable; or, From President to Postman

"Any man who doesn’t want to get on in the world, to make a million dollars, and maybe even park his toothbrush in the White House, hasn’t got as much to him as a good dog has—he’s nothing more or less than a vegetable."Such is the preface of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s only outing as a playwright. The action begins when 35-year-old railway clerk Jerry Frost gets drunk off a bootlegger’s potent hooch on the eve of Warren G. Harding’s presidential nomination. As a result, the second act takes place entirely within Jerry’s intoxicated fantasies, where he has become the new U...

By: Frank Bacon (1864-1922)

Book cover Lightnin'

A Western from 1918, that ran over a 1000 shows on Broadway and was made into movies twice. Lightnin' and his wife run a seedy hotel that straddles the Nevada-California state line, making for an interesting legal situation. When some out-of-town businessmen come to town to try and take advantage of the locals, they discover that there is more savvy in them thar hills than they first thought. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Lightnin' Bill Jones: ToddHW John Marvin: Andrew Gaunce Raymond Thomas:...

By: Frank Sidgwick (1879-1939)

Book cover The Sources and Analogues of 'A Midsummer-night's Dream'

By: G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)

Book cover Magic: A Fantastic Comedy

By: Gelett Burgess (1866-1951)

More Goops and How Not to Be Them by Gelett Burgess More Goops and How Not to Be Them

Deep in the heart of every parent is the wish, the desire, to have other adults tell us, in an unsolicited way, just how very polite one’s child is! This perhaps was even more the case in 1903, when Gelett Burgess produced his second book on the Goops. With entertaining cartoons – cariacatures of misbehaving children – he described many different breaches of tact and good manners. Burgess wrote several books of poetry on the Goops, each poem describing some significant way in which an unthoughtful or unkind child could offend polite society and often offering the hope that the listener would never behave that way...

By: George Ade (1866-1944)

Fables in Slang by George Ade Fables in Slang

While a columnist for The Chicago Record humorist George Ade penned numerous “fables” which were subsequently collected into books. Fables in Slang is the first of these collections. It contains 26 satirical stories that lampoon phrenologists, idealists, snobs, fanatics and other ignorant fools of the day, most of which still wander through our modern lives. Jean Shepherd considered Ade a predecessor who made writers like James Thurber, Mike Royko, and himself possible. Fables in Slang was first published in 1899 by Herbert S. Stone and Company.

By: George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw Pygmalion

If you've watched and loved the delightful musical My Fair Lady, then you'd love to read the wonderful play on which it is based. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw is equally engrossing and as full of charm, wit and underlying pathos. First performed on stage in 1912, Pygmalion takes its title from the Greek myth of Pygmalion and Galatea. In the ancient story, a brilliant sculptor, Pygmalion falls in love with one of his own creations, a ravishingly beautiful sculpture whom he names Galatea. He propitiates Aphrodite, who grants his wish that his statue would come to life and that he could marry her...

Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw Arms and the Man

Arms and the Man is a comedy by George Bernard Shaw that takes place in 1885, during the Serbo-Bulgarian War. Raina Petkoff is engaged to the gallant Sergius Saranoff, hero of the recent Bulgarian victory over the Serbs. But she is distracted by the abrupt arrival of Captain Bluntschli, a Swiss mercenary who fought for the Serbian army. He takes refuge in her bedroom after the battle and although he is initially threatening, reveals that he carries chocolates instead of bullets. Will Raina marry the posturing Sergius or the chocolate cream soldier? Extra intrigue is provided by saucy servant girl Louka, her dour fiance Nicola, and Raina's hand-wringing parents.

Book cover The Doctor's Dilemma

The Doctor's Dilemma is about Dr. Colenso Ridgeon, who has recently been knighted because of a miraculous new treatment he developed for tuberculosis. As his friends arrive to congratulate him on his success, he is visited by two figures who present him with a difficult decision. He has room for one more patient in his clinic; should he give it to Louis Dubedat, a brilliant but absolutely immoral artist, or Dr. Blenkinsop, a poor and rather ordinary physician who is a truly good person? Dr. Ridgeon's dilemma is heightened when he falls for Jennifer Dubedat, the artist's wife, who is innocent of her husband's profligacy.

Candida by George Bernard Shaw Candida

Candida, a comedy by playwright George Bernard Shaw, was first published in 1898, as part of his Plays Pleasant. The central characters are clergyman James Morell, his wife Candida and a youthful poet, Eugene Marchbanks, who tries to win Candida's affections. The play questions Victorian notions of love and marriage, asking what a woman really desires from her husband. The cleric is a Fabian Socialist, allowing Shaw—himself a Fabian—to weave political issues, current at the time, into the story.

Book cover Major Barbara

George Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara focuses on the family of aristocratic Lady Britomart Undershaft and her estranged husband Andrew, a millionaire armaments manufacturer. Their daughters Sarah and Barbara are both engaged to be married, and Lady Britomart decides to ask Andrew for monetary support. Barbara is a Major in the Salvation Army, and agrees to let her father visit the mission in the East End of London where she works. In exchange, she agrees to visit his munitions factory. The conflict between Barbara's philanthropic idealism and her father's hard-headed capitalism clash when he decides he wants to fund the Salvation Army...

Book cover Heartbreak House

On the eve of World War I, Ellie Dunn, her father, and her fiancé are invited to one of Hesione Hushabye’s infamous dinner parties. Unfortunately, her fiancé is a scoundrel, her father’s a bumbling prig, and she’s actually in love with Hector, Hesione’s husband. This bold mix of farce and tragedy lampoons British society as it blithely sinks towards disaster.

By: George Colman (1762-1836)

Book cover John Bull Or, The Englishman's Fireside: A Comedy, in Five Acts

By: George Colman the Younger (1762-1836)

Book cover Heir At Law

Daniel Dowlas a chandler from Gosport, transmogrified into a baron, naturally enough demands, in what consists the mighty difference between drinking his tea out of a cup, or a saucer. He has the good sense to feel his insufficiency; and, aspiring to shine as an orator, engages a professor to teach him culture. Opposed to my lord, stands my lady, Dowlas; wife, a full-blown hollyhock of the aristocracy of Mammon. She affects to amend her spouse's cakelology, admits that an oath may now and then be suffered to garnish polite discourse, but then, it must be pronounced with an air to one's equals, and with a kind of careless condescension to menials...

By: George Grossmith (1847-1912)

The Diary of a Nobody by George Grossmith The Diary of a Nobody

Grossmith’s comic novel unveils the daily chronicles of the pompous and clumsy middle-aged clerk Charles Pooter, who has just moved to the London suburb of Holloway with his wife Carrie. Nonetheless, the family’s fresh start is not quite what they had in mind. Set in the late Victorian era, the diary accurately documents the manners, customs, trends and experiences of the time. First appearing in Punch magazine through the years 1888-89, The Diary of a Nobody was first published in book form in 1892 and has entertained readers ever since...

By: George Kelly (1887-1974)

Book cover Torch-Bearers

"The cold, historical fact is that at about 9:15 o’clock on the evening of August 29th, 1922, five or six hundred average New Yorkers, two or three hundred friends of the management, and about fifty sophisticated first-nighters were in grave danger of rolling off their seats in hysteria because of The Torch-Bearers." How can you resist a play with a review like that? - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Mr. Frederick Ritter: Adam Bielka Mr. Huxley Hossefrosse: larryhayes7 Mr. Spindler: KHand Mr. Ralph Twiller: Matthew Reece Teddy Spearing: DrewStarmer Mr...

By: George M. Cohan (1878-1942)

Book cover Seven Keys to Baldpate (Play)

Betting that he can write 10,000 words in 24 hours, a novelist locks himself into a snowbound summer resort on Baldpate Mountain with what he believes is the one and only key to Baldpate Inn. Yet his work is interrupted by a number of colorful characters who have arrived for various shady enterprises, each thinking they had the only key to the inn. Soon it is clear there must be seven keys to Baldpate. The mystery deepens as the novelist finds himself entangled in an improbable series of schemes and plans...

By: George Meredith (1828-1909)

Book cover An Essay on comedy and the uses of the comic spirit
Book cover The Sentimentalists

By: Gideon Wurdz (b. 1875)

The Foolish Dictionary by Gideon Wurdz The Foolish Dictionary

“The Foolish Dictionary” was written by “Gideon Wurdz” and was published in 1904. According to the beginning of the book, it is “An exhausting work of reference to un-certain English words, their origin, meaning, legitimate and illegitimate use…” This a a short but amusing dictionary which “redefines” words in some interesting ways. Funny and sometimes bizarre observations are sprinkled throughout. In keeping with the policy to read, rather than attempt to rewrite, books – even those with offensive content – nothing has been omitted...

By: Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-1781)

Book cover Minna Von Barnhelm

By: Hannah Cowley (1743-1809)

Book cover Which is the Man?

"Oh! Lord Sparkle! - Who can resist the gay, the elegant, the all-conquering Lord Sparkle? The most distinguished feather in the plume of fashion - without that barbarous strength of mind which gives importance to virtues or to vices. Fashionable, because he's well drest: - Brilliant, because he's of the first Clubs, and uses his borrowed wit like his borrowed gold, as tho' it was his own." A delightful comedy by a quite successful woman playwright. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Lord Sparkle:...

Book cover Bold Stroke for a Husband

"Plays, where the scene is placed in a foreign country, particularly when that country is Spain, have a license to present certain improbabilities to the audience, without incurring the danger of having them called such; and the authoress, by the skill with which she has used this dramatic permittance, ... has formed a most interesting plot, and embellished it with lively, humorous, and affecting incident.... Here is contained no oblique insinuation, detrimental to the cause of morality—but entertainment and instruction unite, to make a pleasant exhibition at a theatre, or give an hour's amusement in the closet...

Book cover Belle's Stratagem

The Beaux Stratagem, already in the catalog , was written by George Farquhar in 1707. The Belle's Stratagem, "a Ladies' response" to the Beaux Stratagem play with strong female characters, was written by Hannah Cowley in 1780. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Doricourt: A D Latheron Hardy: Alan Mapstone Sir George Touchwood: ToddHW Flutter: Larry Wilson Saville: Mike Manolakes Villers: Marya James Courtall: Greg Giordano Silvertongue: Son of the Exiles Crowquill: qthemusic123 First Gentleman: Adrian Stephens Second Gentleman: Tomas Peter Mountebank: Sandra Schmit French Servant: Rémi Porter: Sonia Dick : David Purdy Letitia Hardy: Jenn Broda Mrs...

By: Harry Leon Wilson (1867-1939)

Merton of the Movies by Harry Leon Wilson Merton of the Movies

Merton of the Movies is a comedy that centers around Merton Gill, an aspiring dramatic artist from Simsbury, Illinois who makes his way to Hollywood to become a serious actor. How could Merton fail in attaining his dreams after finishing a correspondence course from the General Film Production Company of Stebbinsville, Arkansas, certifying him to be a competent screen actor? Harry Leon Wilson, the author, was a very popular humor writer in the first decades of the 20th century. This book was made into film several times, the last in 1947 starring Red Skelton.

By: Heinrich Hoffmann (1809-1894)

Struwwelpeter: Merry Tales and Funny Pictures by Heinrich Hoffmann Struwwelpeter: Merry Tales and Funny Pictures

Struwwelpeter (Slovenly Peter) is an illustrated collection of humorous children’s poems describing ludicrous and usually violent punishments for naughty behavior. Hoffmann, a Frankfurt physician, wanted to buy a picture book for his son for Christmas in 1844. Not impressed by what the stores had to offer, he instead bought a notebook and wrote his own stories and pictures. While Struwwelpeter is somewhat notorious for its perceived brutal treatment of the erring children, it has been influential on many later children’s books, most notably Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

By: Henri Bergson (1859-1941)

Book cover Laughter : an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic

By: Henry Arthur Jones (1851-1929)

Book cover Dolly Reforming Herself A Comedy in Four Acts

By: Henry Fielding

The Old Debauchees by Henry Fielding The Old Debauchees

Young Laroon plans to marry Isabel, but Father Martin manipulates Isabel's father, Jourdain, in order to seduce Isabel. However, other characters, including both of the Laroons, try to manipulate Jourdain for their own ends; they accomplish it through disguising themselves as priests and using his guilt to convince him of what they say. As Father Martin pursues Isabel, she is clever enough to realize what is happening and plans her own trap. After catching him and exposing his lust, Father Martin is set to be punished.

By: Henry James (1843-1916)

The Europeans by Henry James The Europeans

The Europeans: A sketch is a short novel by Henry James, published in 1878. It is essentially a comedy contrasting the behaviour and attitudes of two visitors from Europe with those of their relatives living in the ‘new’ world of New England. The novel first appeared as a serial in The Atlantic Monthly for July-October, 1878. James made numerous minor revisions for the first book publication.


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