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By: Aeschylus (c. 525/524-456/455 BC)

Book cover Prometheus Bound (Buckley Translation)

"Prometheus Bound" is the only complete tragedy of the Prometheia trilogy, traditionally assumed to be the work of Aeschylus. Jupiter has turned against Prometheus for protecting mankind and has ordered him to be chained to a rock. But Prometheus is comforted by his knowledge of a way to bring about the downfall of Jupiter.

By: Allan Monkhouse (1858-1936)

Book cover Mary Broome

Before Downton Abbey, there was Mary Broome. In Allan Monkhouse's 1911 satire, when the son of a middle-class household gets their housemaid pregnant, the two families must try to combine their very different values.

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.

By: Edmond Rostand (1868-1918)

Book cover Cyrano de Bergerac

One of the most beloved French plays of all time, Cyrano de Bergerac is a clever and tragic tale of truth concealed and love denied. Its titular character is a proud, daring swordsman and genius poet who has one terrible flaw: an abnormally large nose. Too afraid of rejection to confess his love for the beautiful Roxane, Cyrano helps her brainless but handsome suitor Christian to woo her, providing him with love letters while resolutely keeping his own passion a secret.

By: Euripides (484 BC - 406 BC)

Book cover Orestes

In accordance with the advice of the god Apollo, Orestes has killed his mother Clytemnestra to avenge the death of his father Agamemnon at her hands. Despite Apollo’s earlier prophecy, Orestes finds himself tormented by Erinyes or Furies to the blood guilt stemming from his matricide. The only person capable of calming Orestes down from his madness is his sister Electra. To complicate matters further, a leading political faction of Argos wants to put Orestes to death for the murder. Orestes’ only hope to save his life lies in his uncle Menelaus, who has returned with Helen after spending ten years in Troy and several more years amassing wealth in Egypt...

By: George Calderon (1868-1915)

Book cover Cinderella

If you are expecting glass slippers and pumpkin coaches, look elsewhere... This is "a pantomime as Ibsen would have written it, if only it had occurred to him to write one." Set on a "bleak and cheerless heath overlooking the fjord" we meet Ibsenesque heroine Mrs. Inquest, her step-daughter Hilda, and her daughter Hedda, who is engaged to be married to the unfortunate Tesman. Thus begins Calderon's hilarious Ibsenesque version of Cinderella. NOTE from the editor of the volume, published in 1922 after Calderon's death: This play is hardly more than a rough draft, written when the idea was fresh and put aside to be worked on when the right moment should come...

By: John Ford (1586-1639)

Book cover 'Tis Pity She's a Whore

One of the most shocking plays produced in England during the reign of Charles I, 'Tis Pity She's A Whore chronicles the disastrous results of an incestuous affair between fatalistic Italian siblings, Giovanni and Annabella. As suitors vie for Annabella's hand, various webs of deception and revenge intertwine, culminating in a bloody finale. CAST LISTBonaventura, a Friar/ Bergetto, Nephew to Donado: alanmapstoneA Cardinal, Nuncio to the Pope AND Banditti: Algy PugSoranzo, a Nobleman: tovarischFlorio,...

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: Various

Book cover Benjamin Britten: Source Stories of Twelve Operas

Britten's operas are firmly established in the international repertoire: according to Operabase, they are performed worldwide more than those of any other composer born in the 20th century, and only Puccini and Richard Strauss come ahead of him if the list is extended to all operas composed after 1900. Britten went to various sources for his stories from the Bible to Japanese noh plays. This is a collection of twelve of the source stories. All but one are the original texts; the one exception is A Midsummer Night’s Dream which the reader took from Charles Lamb’s telling of the story. Some operas are omitted because no public domain texts could be found for their sources.

Book cover One-Act Play Collection 005

This collection of ten one-act dramas features plays by James M. Barrie, Hereward Carrington, Marjorie Benton Cooke, Alice Gerstenberg, Susan Glaspell and George Cram Cook, St. John Hankin, George Middleton, David Pinski, Frederik Pohl, and an unknown Japanese author. The plays were coordinated by Arielle Lipshaw, Availle, Chuck Williamson, Todd, Peter Yearsley, Caprisha Page, Charlotte Duckett, and Amanda Friday.

Book cover One-Act Play Collection 006

This collection includes ten one-act plays by David Belasco, Arnold Bennett, Hereward Carrington, Lewis Carroll, Lord Dunsany, John Galsworthy, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Maurice Maeterlinck, Anna Bird Stewart, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson. The Book Coordinators for this collection were Charlotte Duckett, Michele Eaton, Elizabeth Klett, Loveday, Piotr Nater, Algy Pug, Eden Rea-Hedrick, Todd, and Chuck Williamson.

Book cover One-Act Play Collection 007

One-Act Play Collection 007 includes one-act plays in the public domain read by a variety of LibriVox members.

Book cover One-Act Play Collection 008

One-Act Play Collection 008 includes one-act plays in the public domain read by a variety of LibriVox members.Project BC: Michele Eaton

By: A. A. Milne (1882-1956)

Book cover First Plays

By: A. Edward Newton (1864-1940)

Book cover Doctor Johnson: A Play

The life of Doctor Johnson, told in his own words and those of others around him. "Anyone with a teaspoonful of imagination can read this play with pleasure; with two teaspoonsful, I will not be responsible for results. He, or she, may be disappointed, for there is no plot to speak of. But there is talk - about as good talk as has ever been reported, and James Boswell as a reporter has never had an equal. " - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: ACT 1: Mr. STEWART: James Thomas Mr. MAITLAND: Tomas Peter Mr...

By: Adam Oehlenschläger (1779-1850)

Book cover Aladdin, Or, The Wonderful Lamp (A Dramatic Poem, in Two Parts)

This retelling of Aladdin in dramatic verse begins in the humble home of a tailor, whose son spends his days in idleness and brings his parents nothing but grief. Soon, however, this son is brought to a magical grotto, where he finds a great treasure which will bring him his fortune. This story will have some twists and turns that are almost certain to be different from the story you know. - Summary by Devorah AllenCast: Tomas Peter: AladdinJenn Broda: Gulnare, the PrincessMichele Eaton: Nurse to...

By: Aeschylus (525/524 BC - c. 455/456 BC)

The Oresteia by Aeschylus The Oresteia

The Oresteia is a trilogy by Aeschylus, one of the foremost playwrights of ancient Greece. It encompasses three plays: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Furies. It tells the tragic tale of the House of Atreus, whose inhabitants have been cursed and are doomed to play out their bloody, vengeful destinies. At the beginning of the first part, the Trojan War has ended and the Greek general, Agamemnon, is returning victorious to his wife Clytemnestra. Yet she finds it difficult to forgive his sacrifice of their daughter, Iphigenia, who was killed to ensure the Greek fleet fair winds in their voyage to Troy...

Seven Against Thebes by Aeschylus Seven Against Thebes

In this, the only extant tragedy from Aeschylus' trilogy about the House of Oedipus, Thebes is under siege from Polynices, a former prince of Thebes. After King Oedipus left his city and cursed the princes, Polynices and his brother, Eteocles, decided to rule alternately, switching at the end of every year. However, at the end of his year as king, Eteocles refused to turn power over to his brother and exiled him, fulfilling his father's curse that the two brothers could not rule peacefully. In the action of the play, Polynices and a group of Argive soldiers are attacking Thebes so that he can take his place as ruler...

By: Aleksandr Sergeevich Pushkin (1799-1837)

Book cover Boris Godunov: a drama in verse

By: Alexandre Dumas (1802-1870)

Book cover Paul Jones

Dumas's play talks of American Naval Hero John Paul Jones's romantic entanglements and affairs of honor ashore in France. He later converted it to a novel. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: The Marquis D'Auray: Amy Gramour The Marchioness, his wife: Sonia Count Emanuel, their child: Tomas Peter Margaret, their child: Leanne Yau Baron De Lectoure: Nemo Paul Jones: ToddHW Louis Achard: Thomas A. Copeland Mr. De La Jarry: Roger Melin Mr. De Nozay: RecordingPerson Notary: Zames Curran Laffeuille, valet to the Marchioness: Son of the Exiles Jasmin, valet to Emanuel: Eva Davis Stage Directions: Sandra Schmit Edited by: ToddHW

Book cover Mademoiselle De Belle Isle

"The refined and fashionable audiences who... used to applaud the play of Mademoiselle de Belle Isle… would, in all probability, have objected to an English version of Dumas' clever play, upon the score of its immorality. It is not for me to determine whether the aristocratic audiences at the St James Theater did not understand what they heard, or whether the French language has a special charm for rendering inoffensive what plain English fails to recommend." - Summary by The Translator Cast list: The...

By: Alfred John Church (1829-1912)

Book cover Stories from the Greek Tragedians

By: Alfred Noyes (1880-1958)

Book cover Rada A Drama of War in One Act

By: Alfred Sutro (1863-1933)

Book cover Five Little Plays

British dramatist Alfred Sutro's collection contains five one act plays: "The Man in the Stalls," "A Marriage Has Been Arranged…", "The Man on the Kerb," "The Open Door," and "The Bracelet." The plays are performed by Amanda Friday, Libby Gohn, Elizabeth Klett, mb, Bob Neufeld, Caprisha Page, Bruce Pirie, and Algy Pug.

By: Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837-1909)

Book cover Rosamund, queen of the Lombards, a tragedy
Book cover Chastelard, a tragedy
Book cover Erechtheus A Tragedy (New Edition)
Book cover Locrine: a tragedy

By: Amice MacDonell

Book cover Robin Hood (Dramatic Reading)

One May Day, Robin Hood and his Merry Men sit in Sherwood Forest, waiting for a traveller to share their dinner. Enter a distraught Knight with his fair daughter Marian, who owe money to the Sheriff of Nottingham, and have not the means by which to pay it. Meanwhile the greedy Sheriff is visited by the Baron of the Black Castle, who plots to silence the famous outlaw once and for all! This version of the Robin Hood legend was written, and now recorded, as a play, entertaining for children and adults alike...

Book cover Story of the Armada

It's the summer of 1588, and all is not well in England. Citizens are plotting to betray their queen for Spanish gold, and the dreaded Armada is coming closer and closer. It's up to Lord Burleigh and brave Sir Francis Drake to stop them, but will they succeed in convincing Queen Elizabeth that such action is necessary? And when the Spanish ships finally arrive, what will happen to the queen and the citizens of London? Cast List:William Cecil, Lord Burleigh: Tomas Peter Sir Walter Raleigh: Todd Sir Francis Drake: K...

Book cover Enterprise of the ''Mayflower''

"Welcome to all! We show the story of how, nearly three hundred years ago, when this country was not so happy as it is now, some people driven by persecution out of England went on a long and dangerous voyage in a ship called the Mayflower, and made for themselves a home across the Atlantic Ocean." Cast List: Stage Directions read by MaryAnnMaster William Brewster: SpiderScientistMaster William Bradford: ToddHWMaster John Carver: aravagarwalMaster John Alden: JamesMcAndrewMaster John Robinson: Alex...

By: Andrew C. Bradley (1851-1935)

Book cover Shakespearean Tragedy Lectures on Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth

By: Annie F. Johnston (1863-1931)

Book cover The Rescue of the Princess Winsome A Fairy Play for Old and Young

By: Anonymous

Book cover The Interlude of Wealth and Health

By: Anton Chekhov (1860-1904)

The Seagull by Anton Chekhov The Seagull

The Seagull (Russian: Чайка, Chayka) is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The play was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896. It dramatises the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the ingenue Nina, the fading leading lady Irina Arkadina, her son the experimental playwright Konstantin Treplyov, and the famous middlebrow story writer Trigorin.

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 Uncle Vanya

Uncle Vanya (subtitled “Scenes From Country Life”) is a tragicomedy by Anton Chekhov. It is set on the failing country estate of a retired professor, Serebrakoff, who returns after a long absence with his beautiful young wife, and throws the household into confusion. Rivalry, unrequited love, illicit romance, and attempted suicide are the result, punctuated throughout by Chekhov’s sad, wistful humor.

Swan Song by Anton Chekhov Swan Song

In 'The Swan Song' an aging actor reminisces about his life and the parts he's played. The piece takes a tragic look at ambition and the sacrifices that must be made in order to succeed. Chekhov’s ability to capture and explore human nature and experience is showcased here.

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: Aphra Behn (1640-1689)

Book cover Rover (Part One)

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: Arthur Acheson (1864-1930)

Book cover Shakespeare's Lost Years in London, 1586-1592

By: Arthur Adams (1872-1936)

Book cover Galahad Jones

Dramatised by Australian playwright Arthur Adams from his book of the same name, this is labeled "A Comedy with a Tragic Tang". The author claims there is an alternative ending he wrote much against his will, but he declines to print it. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Galahad Jones: Adrian Stephens Sibyl Beach: Beth Thomas Pearl: Devorah Allen The Butcher: Son of the Exiles Edward Beach: ToddHW The Doctor: alanmapstone Kathie Jones: TJ Burns Horace Lothian: Tomas Peter A Young Man: Leanne Yau Em. Jones: Sonia Stage Directions: MichaelMaggs Edited by: ToddHW

Book cover Wasters

Here we have a serious family drama by Australian playwright Arthur Adams about legacy and responsibilities, with some question about exactly who exactly the Wasters in society are. "No; you produce nothing, you spend everything; you do nothing, you waste everything. You're parasites, useless parasites.... Parasites, inefficients, wasters, wasters!" "We may be parasites, but you have made us parasites. We may be wasters, but you prey on us." To highlight the growing tensions, it includes comic second act scenes placed in the women's undergarment department of the family store...

Book cover Mrs. Pretty and The Premier

The Premier has decided that being married would be good for his image. He asks his stenographer for advice: Good. Just jot me down a precis of the points made by your fifteen admirers when proposing - the points that specially appealed to you. I'm afraid, sir, that what most appealed to me could not be expressed in words. In fact, it wasn't words. But no, sir. The subject is too sacred.... ...But you could tell me how they began. The opening address, eh? How did they lead up? Most of 'em just kissed me, sir...

By: Arthur Davison Ficke (1883-1945)

Book cover Mr. Faust

By: Arthur Lewis Tubbs (1867-1946)

Book cover Alias Miss Sherlock

Dick Brewster is implicated in a murder and comes to his aunt's farm to hide. His Aunt Sarah stands by him in his need and they all move to the city in the effort to clear his name. She investigates on her own account and.... - Summary by The Author Cast list: Lily Ann, Help at the farm: Devorah Allen Aaron Flint, the hired man: Alan Mapstone Mrs. Brewster, from New York: TJ Burns Helen Brewster, her daughter: Jenn Broda Leonard Fillmore, a young country lawyer: skypigeon Sarah Newcomb, sister of Mrs...

By: Arthur Murphy (1727-1805)

Book cover The Grecian Daughter

By: Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931)

Book cover The Lonely Way—Intermezzo—Countess Mizzie Three Plays

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 Trelawny of the Wells

A theater, various actors and actresses, their admirers, financial backers, etc. The star Rose Trelawny wants to leave the stage for love, but it is not an easy thing to fit into conventional society after a life onstage. And not easy to go back to the stage either. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Tom Wrench: Tomas Peter Ferdinand Gadd: Roger Melin James Telfer: Patrick Wallace Augustus Colpoys: alanmapstone Rose Trelawny: Eva Davis Avonia Bunn: Leanne Yau Mrs Telfer : Susan Ferman Imogen Parrott:...

Book cover Times

Percy Egerton-Bompas, M.P., and Mrs Bompas have secrets in their family. Which promise grave difficulties as they try to marry off their daughter. To say nothing of the potential political implications to a promising career.... A comedy. Which, with Pinero, does not preclude serious topics being seriously addressed. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Percy Egerton-Bompas, M.P.: Adrian Stephens Mrs. Egerton-Bompas: Sonia Howard, their son: Dale Burgess Beryl, their daughter: thestorygirl Countess of Ripstow: TJ Burns Denham, Viscount Lurgashall, her son: Tomas Peter Hon...

Book cover Magistrate

The success of “The Magistrate” was immediate, and the Court Theatre was crowded night after night for more than a year, the play being presented over 300 times. So prosperous was the run that there was no cessation during the Summer holiday season. This success, however, was not confined to London, for three companies were soon carrying the play triumphantly over the English provinces, while in September 1885 Mr. Pinero went to New York to produce his work. How can you resist a comedy whose...

Book cover Schoolmistress

The second of Pinero's farces, following the wildly successful The Magistrate, and likewise a hit. The Schoolmistress has a secret: "Think of the deception I am practising upon dear Vere! Think of the people who believe in the rigid austerity of Caroline Dyott, Principal of Volumnia College. Think of the precious confidence reposed in me by the parents and relations of twenty-seven innocent pupils. Give an average of eight and a half relations to each pupil; multiply eight and a half by twenty-seven and you approximate the number whose trust I betray this night!" The three acts are subtitled 1 - The Mystery, 2 - The Party, and 3 - The Nightmare...

Book cover Benefit of the Doubt

The plot resolves around a young woman being cited in court as "The Other Woman" in a divorce case, and how her family reacts to it. Says her uncle: I shall go out; people shall see me walking boldly through the streets: Portland Place—Regent Street—Fletcher Portwood, with his head up—his head up, they’ll say. I shall not turn my back on you, my poor little girl; don’t be frightened of that. You were always my favourite niece— I shall dine at the House, and then sup at the club. All London shall see me...

Book cover Dandy Dick

“Dandy Dick” was the third of the farces which Mr. Pinero wrote for the old Court Theatre—a series of plays which, besides giving playgoers a fresh source of laughter, and the English stage a new order of comic play, brought plentiful prosperity to the joint management of Mr. Arthur Cecil and the late Mr. John Clayton. - Summary by Cast list: The Very Reverend Augustin Jedd, DD, Dean of St Marvells: ToddHW Sir Tristram Mardon, Bart: Son of the Exiles Major Tarver, -th Hussars, quartered at Durnstone near St Marvells: Craig Franklin Mr...

Book cover Second Mrs. Tanqueray

Aubrey Tanqueray marries a woman with a past which he believes will not matter in society. "I know you think me a fool, Cayley—you needn't infer that I'm a coward into the bargain. No! I know what I'm doing, and I do it deliberately, defiantly. I'm alone; I injure no living soul by the step I'm going to take; and so you can't urge the one argument which might restrain me. Of course, I don't expect you to think compassionately, fairly even, of the woman whom I—whom I am drawn to— [] Thanks. I've heard you say that from forty till fifty a man is at heart either a stoic or a satyr...

By: August Strindberg (1849-1912)

Countess Julie by August Strindberg Countess Julie

August Strindberg’s naturalistic one-act drama has only three characters: Julie, a passionate young noblewoman; Jean, her father’s ambitious valet; and Kristin, the cook, who is also Jean’s fiancee. The play is set on Midsummer Eve, when everyone is reveling, and Julie and Jean get a bit too intimate – with tragic results.

Book cover Creditors

Creditors is an 1889 tragicomedy by August Strindberg that plumbs the depths of the twisted triangular relationship between Tekla, her husband Adolph, and her ex-husband Gustav.

The Ghost Sonata by August Strindberg The Ghost Sonata

The Ghost Sonata (Spoksonaten) is a play in three acts by Swedish playwright August Strindberg. Written in 1907, it was first produced at Strindberg's Intimate Theatre in Stockholm on 21 January 1908... The Ghost Sonata is a key text in the development of modernist drama and a vivid example of a chamber play. In it, Strindberg creates a world in which ghosts walk in bright daylight, a beautiful woman is transformed into a mummy and lives in the closet, and the household cook sucks all the nourishment out of the food before she serves it to her masters...

Book cover The Road to Damascus
Book cover Plays: Comrades; Facing Death; Pariah; Easter
Book cover Master Olof : a Drama in Five Acts
Book cover Lucky Pehr
Book cover Dance of Death

The Dance of Death is a play in two parts by the Swedish dramatist August Strindberg, written in 1900. It depicts the dissolution of a marriage between Edgar, an artillery captain, and Alice, a former actress. Increasingly isolated in their fort-like house, they manipulate and bait each other, until the unexpected arrival of Curt, Alice's cousin. His presence creates a tense triangular relationship that escalates throughout Part One, and is complicated with the introduction of two of the trio's children, Allan and Judith, in Part Two.

By: August von Kotzebue (1761-1819)

Lover's Vows by August von Kotzebue Lover's Vows

Lovers' Vows (1798), a play by Elizabeth Inchbald arguably best known now for having been featured in Jane Austen's novel Mansfield Park (1814), is one of at least four adaptations of August von Kotzebue's Das Kind der Liebe (1780; literally "Child of Love," or "Natural Son," as it is often translated), all of which were published between 1798 and 1800. Inchbald's version is the only one to have been performed. Dealing as it does with sex outside marriage and illegitimate birth, Inchbald in the Preface to the published version declares herself to have been highly sensitive to the task of adapting the original German text for "an English audience...

Book cover The Stranger A Drama, in Five Acts

By: Augusta Stevenson (1869-1976)

Book cover Children's Classics in Dramatic Form

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 Sejanus: His Fall
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...

Book cover Devil is an Ass

An inferior devil, Pug, asks Satan to send him to Earth to tempt men to Evil. But when Pug arrives in 1616 London and sets himself at the Squire Fabian Fitzdottrel, he finds Fabian currently beset by con men, cheats, connivers, thieves, villains, and seductresses - a delightful mix of cunning criminality in a world that already has far more vice in it than anything Pug is prepared to offer. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Satan, the great Devil: alanmapstone Pug, the less Devil: Sonia Iniquity, the...

By: Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881)

Book cover Count Alarcos; a Tragedy

By: Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

Book cover How He Lied to Her Husband
Book cover John Bull's Other Island
Book cover The Man of Destiny
Book cover Augustus Does His Bit
Book cover Great Catherine
Book cover Press Cuttings
Book cover Captain Brassbound's Conversion
Book cover The Inca of Perusalem
Book cover Annajanska, the Bolshevik Empress
Book cover O'Flaherty V.C. : a recruiting pamphlet

By: Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson (1832-1910)

Book cover Three Dramas

By: Brandon Thomas (1848-1914)

Book cover Charley's Aunt

The girlfriends are coming to visit the chaps at college, but of course they can't stay unless there is a proper chaperone. So what could be more reasonable that getting a friend from the Drama Club to dress up and pretend to be Charley's Aunt? Simple and sure to work! What could go wrong? Howsabout the real aunt arriving? This play has been revived and adapted numerous times including as films, a Broadway musical, and even an opera. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: STEPHEN SPETTIGUE, Solicitor, Oxford: Foon COLONEL SIR FRANCIS CHESNEY, BART...

By: Bret Harte (1836-1902)

Book cover The Queen of the Pirate Isle

By: Bronson Howard (1842-1908)

Book cover The Autobiography of a Play Papers on Play-Making, II

By: BS Murthy

Onto the Stage - Slighted Souls and other stage and radio plays by BS Murthy Onto the Stage - Slighted Souls and other stage and radio plays

Voice Over: Under the British Raj in India, the self-indulging Nizams of Hyderabad abdicated the administration of their vast principality to doralu, the village heads, letting them turn the areas under their domain into their personal fiefdoms. While the successive Nizams were obsessed with building palaces and acquiring jewelry, the village heads succeeded in ushering in an oppressive era of tyrannical order. Acting as loose cannon from their palatial houses called gadis, the doralu succeeded in foisting an inimical feudal order upon the downtrodden dalits...

By: Carlo Gozzi (1720-1806)

Book cover Turandot, Princess of China A Chinoiserie in Three Acts

By: Catherine Chisholm Cushing (1874-1952)

Book cover Pollyanna, the Glad Girl: A Four-Act Comedy

Miss Polly Harrington is not at all pleased to be taking charge of her orphaned niece - but duty is duty, and that's how Pollyanna Whittier ended up in New England. Cheerful and ever-optimistic, Pollyanna sets out to infect the whole town with her "Glad" game, getting into some trouble along the way! How will strict Miss Polly react to the orphaned cat, dog, and, worst of all, BOY Pollyanna offers as a gift? What will happen when Pollyanna sets out to break into the fairy-tale castle next door and...

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.

By: Charles Goddard (1879-1951)

Book cover The Ghost Breaker A Melodramatic Farce in Four Acts

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: Charles Macklin (1697?-1797)

Book cover The Covent Garden Theatre, or Pasquin Turn'd Drawcansir
Book cover Will and No Will or a Bone for the Lawyers

This "Afterpiece" - a short play to follow a main production - was first produced in 1746. It was based on Regnard's five-act comedy le Legetaire Universel (1707), which is itself a composite of Italian comedy with echoes of Molière, moving from scene to scene with little effort at logical consistency or structure but treating each scene autonomously for its own comic value. The rather long Prologue to A WILL AND NO WILL (11 pages of manuscript) makes fun of the convention of the eighteenth century prologues by the familiar dodge of having actors chatting as though they were in the Pit waiting for the actors in the preceding main play to dress for the afterpiece.

By: Charles Mair (1838-1927)

Book cover Tecumseh : a Drama

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