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 »
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 »
This play by the English writer D. H. Lawrence is the dramatised version of the author s short story Odour of Chrysanthemums. An entertaining play that is thoroughly recommended for inclusion on the bookshelf of all Lawrence lovers. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before... read more »
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 »
Adapted from Sabatini's long story, The Lust of Conquest, which appeared in the collection The Justice of the Duke. Like Sabatini's other work on Cesare Borgia this is a defense of the man who would serve as Macchiavelli's model for The Prince. The Tyrant is very evidently the work of a writer more familiar with the... read more »
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 »
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 »
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 »
Now considered Behn's most famous and most accomplished play, The Rover is in many ways firmly in the tradition of Restoration drama; Willmore, the title character, is a rake and a libertine, and the comedy feeds on sexual innuendo, intrigue and wit. But the laughter that the play insights has a biting edge to it... read more »
A comedy of manners which caused offence for its immorality at the time of it's first performance. Though it conforms to the general rules of Restoration comedy, it also keeps Behn's own highly Royalist political point of view. The play concerns the 'seditious Knight', Sir Timothy Treat-all, and his nephew Tom... read more »
Mirtilla, the Amorous Jilt, who had once been attached to George Marteen, the Younger Brother, married for a convenience the clownish Sir Morgan Blunder. Prince Frederick, who had seen and fallen in love with her during a religious ceremony in a Ghent convent, follows her to England. They meet accidentally and she... read more »
Mrs. Behn has (quite legitimately) made considerable departures from strict historical fact and the sequence of events for her dramatic purposes. Lambert and Fleetwood are scheming for the supreme power, and both intrigue with Lord Wariston, the chairman of the Committee of Safety, for his good word and... read more »
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 »
This is above all, an indictment of arranged marriages. Young Leticia Bredwell has been purchased as a bride for the revoltingly foppish old Sir Feeble Fainwood. Feeble's friend, Sir Cautious Fulbank, also bought himself a bride, Julia, who-like Leticia, is in love with another younger, poorer man. The women and... read more »
George Bernard Shaw combined ironic wit with weighty commentary on a variety of social issues, advocating for the working class, whom he felt was badly exploited. In Village Wooing Shaw portrays the relationship of a domineering woman with a man whom they are pursuing in marriage. Will she be happy with her conquest? read more »
During one night the audience are invited to witness the dreams of various people in the Welsh seaside town of Llaregyb including, amongst others, Captain Cat, Mister Waldo & Reverend Eli Jenkins. At day break the town awakes and the audience follow the townspeople going about their business until night falls again... read more »
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 »
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 »
The Six of Calais is an acting piece and nothing else. As it happened, it was so well acted that in the eighteenth century all the talk would have been about Siddons as Philippa. But the company got no thanks except from the audience: the critics were prostrated with shock, damn their eyes! I have had to improve... read more »
The emigration office at a tropical port in the British Empire. The office is an annex of the harbor and customs sheds on one side and of the railway station on the other. Placards direct passengers TO THE CUSTOMS and TO THE TRAINS through the open doors right and left respectively. The emigration officer, an... read more »
Performing this Playlet for the first by the Glasgow Clarion Players. The piece was immediately announced in the London Press as Mr. Shaw's latest, the successor to 'Saint Joan.' An error: it was written in an idle moment as a star turn for Mr. Harley Granville-Barker, was mislaid and forgotten by its author until... read more »
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 »
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 »
The Millionairess is a play written in 1936 by George Bernard Shaw. It tells the story of Epifania, a spoilt heiress, and her search for a suitor. Shaw wrote the play expressly for Edith Evans, who rejected the role, calling it too icy. read more »
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 »
A bedroom in a suburban villa in one of the richest cities in England. A sea beach in a mountainous country. Too True to Be Good is a comedy written by playwright George Bernard Shaw at the age of 76. First staged at the Guild Theatre, New York, followed in the same year by a production in Malvern, Worcestershire... read more »
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 »
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 »
Chantecter is a fantasy play about bird and animal life, with the characters being denizens of the farmyard and the woods. read more »
This 1894 comedy in three-acts was translated by Barrett Clark. Edmond Rostand later became famous with his writing of Cyrano de Bergerac. The Romancers is best produced with the late 18th century in mind and customs from the Louis XVI period. This light-hearted romance is about two young lovers discovering that... read more »