Play Recomendations

[Dark Muse]

I have to admit that beyond Shakespeare I am not really that well aquatinted with the world of the play. I just have not had the opportunity to be introduced to many playwrites and on my own I really would know where to start. I would like to expand my horizons more when it comes to plays.

In addition to Shakespeare I do love Jean-Paul Sartre

So I was just wondering if anyone could give me any recommendations for plays or playwrites that I should read.

[Trystan]

Try Dylan Thomas - Under Milk Wood.

[EricP]

If you're a fan of Sartre's plays, try Jean Genet or Eugene Ionesco.

[mayneverhave]

Some 20th Century ones -

Anything by Beckett

Look Back in Anger
The Playboy of the Western World
The Homecoming
Heartbreak House
Equus
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
The Invention of Love
Top Girls

There are dozens more, but those are just off the top of my head

[Dark Muse]

Try Dylan Thomas - Under Milk Wood.

Funny, on another forum I visit someone mentioned that play. I will have to take a look into it


If you're a fan of Sartre's plays, try Jean Genet or Eugene Ionesco.

Do you have any faveorites by them, or anything you would recomend to those that are new to thier work?

[JBI]

Rhinoceros by Ionesco.

[Dark Muse]

Thank you

[johann cruyff]

Also famous by Ionesco is The Bald Soprano - but I also agree Rhinoceros is better.

I would also suggest plays by Adamov,Brecht,Beckett,Pirandello,O'Neill... That is,if you choose to skip everything before the 20th century. If not,try Goethe and Schiller as well. Of course,if you're really interested in drama,then you really have to start with Ancient Greece and find your way onwards.

[Dark Muse]

I am really open to anything, drama, or comedy, and any time period. I rather like variety.

I have not read any of Goethe's plays, but I am interested in him. Are there any in particular by him you would recomend?

Aslo I would love to read some of the Greek plays. I am a little familair with some of them

[NotWoodhouse]

Crimes of the Heart is really good if you like dark comedy/drama.

[Dark Muse]

I love dark comedy

[johann cruyff]

I have not read any of Goethe's plays, but I am interested in him. Are there any in particular by him you would recomend?

Aslo I would love to read some of the Greek plays. I am a little familair with some of them

Obviously,the closet drama Faust is mandatory - one of the greatest literary achievements of all time. Then there's Egmont,Iphigenia in Tauris,and Torquato Tasso,although I haven't read this one,so I can't really tell you much about it. There is also Götz von Berlichingen(I may have spelled it wrong),but I haven't read this either.

As for the Greeks,there is obviously much more to Greek drama than just Aeschylus,Sophocles and Euripides,but I'd suggest their works for a nice start.

[kasie]

If you have enjoyed reading Shakespeae, you may enjoy reading round the same period - try Marlowe - Doctor Faustus would be a good one to start with; or Webster - The Duchess of Malfi or The White Devil. Then there's Middleton - The Changeling is chilling and Women Beware Women has a body count to rival Hamlet! And you may like to try Jonson - Volpone or The Alchemist for a start.

You may need to do a bit of background reading on the Theatre of the Absurd if you are going to tackle Ionescu or even Beckett as the style may throw you a little! (Just a warning!)

Under Milk Wood was written for the radio so listening to a recording may be a good introduction - it's like a symphony for voices which may not come over in a silent reading.

Someone has already mentioned Brecht - I enjoyed Galileo and The Good Person of Sezchuan or there's Mother Courage or The Caucasian Chalk Circle.

Then there's Anouilh - The Lark is a moving retelling of a familiar story.

Or how about Shaw? Try Pygmalion - not quite the same as My Fair Lady.

Best of all - if you can get to a live theatre, watch anything! Enjoy!

[EricP]

Out of Genet's plays, I would recommend "The Balcony" and "The Maids".

[kelby_lake]

Also famous by Ionesco is The Bald Soprano.


Is that the same as The Bald Prima Donna?

Okay my comprehensive list of brilliant plays:
Another Country
An Inspector Calls
A View from The Bridge
Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?
Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
A Streetcar Named Desire
Agammemnon
In Camera
Educating Rita

This is a large mix. Do you like comedic plays, tragic plays, or dramatic?


Interesting playwrights: chekov(tragic), beckett(weird), williams (tortured), ibsen(miserable), miller (dramatic)

[sofia82]

Aslo I would love to read some of the Greek plays. I am a little familair with some of them

Great Ancient Greek Playwrights:
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes

[Tabac]

Peter Schaffer (one f?): "Equus", "Kings Of the Sun", "Amadeus" [he takes real life situations that we don't know much about and makes them seem explained].

Arthur Miller: "All My Sons" (excellent, because it is dated but ever so up-to-date), "Death Of a Salesman".

August Wilson: he has an amazing series of plays based on the condition of the African-American in each decade of the 20th Century. The most amazing of these, I think, is "Fences".

[Dark Muse]

*delete*

[Dark Muse]

If you have enjoyed reading Shakespeae, you may enjoy reading round the same period - try Marlowe - Doctor Faustus would be a good one to start with; or Webster - The Duchess of Malfi or The White Devil. Then there's Middleton - The Changeling is chilling and Women Beware Women has a body count to rival Hamlet! And you may like to try Jonson - Volpone or The Alchemist for a start.

Those sound like some interesting suggestions. I have read Doctor Faustus, and I did enjoy that one


This is a large mix. Do you like comedic plays, tragic plays, or dramatic?

Hehe really I would go for anything.


Interesting playwrights: chekov(tragic), beckett(weird), williams (tortured), ibsen(miserable), miller (dramatic)

I do acutally have a book of Ibsen, just have not acutally read him yet. It came in a collection of varrious volumues of classic works that I got from my Grandma.

Acutally I did want to read The Cherry Orchard by Chekov

[Karl Rommel]

CHIPS WITH EVERYTHING
Written by Arnold Wesker
In fact any play by Wesker. This one however is about men, class and the divisive nature of education. The latter theme attracted me to this play.

[Virgil]

My favorite modern drama Muse is Eugene O'Neils "A Long Day's Journey Into Night."

[subterranean]

I very much enjoyed the The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder. Seeing life from a static perspective (it will always be like this, no matter what).

[Dark Muse]

That sounds like it could be interesting

[kelby_lake]

Tennessee Williams' plays are very good to read because the stage directions are so specific, and the scenery, etcetera. It's very vivid and atmospheric. If you want a dark play, Orpheus Descending is very dark. It's very rarely done though and when it is done, people don't show the importance of the scene between Lady and David well.

[Dark Muse]

I will have to look into that one

[bounty]

dark muse, ive enjoyed everything ive read by shaw, and yes, those old greek plays are enjoyable to read also...

[kelby_lake]

By the way I know Titus Andronicus is a Shakespearean tragedy but does anyone find some bits funny? No, I'm not a sadist!

[slobone]

For a good comedy, try Noel Coward: Hay Fever, Blithe Spirit, Private Lives.

Or The Importance of Being Earnest.

I also thoroughly enjoyed The Norman Conquests by Alan Ayckbourn (although you might have to see that one on stage to really get why it's funny). But Absurd Person Singular should be a good read.

Also The School For Scandals and The Rivals. Moliere is supposed to be funny, but I've never understood why... maybe it goes away in translation.

[johann cruyff]

Also The School For Scandals and The Rivals. Moliere is supposed to be funny, but I've never understood why... maybe it goes away in translation.

I've never really liked Moliere either. As a matter of fact,I have trouble accepting comedy as a type of drama in general - I can't think of a single one that I found worthy of rereading,or simply - funny(I'm talking about comedy,not satire). Give me a tragedy any day,maybe even a satirical one from time to time,but comedy...meh.

[slobone]

I've never really liked Moliere either. As a matter of fact,I have trouble accepting comedy as a type of drama in general - I can't think of a single one that I found worthy of rereading,or simply - funny(I'm talking about comedy,not satire). Give me a tragedy any day,maybe even a satirical one from time to time,but comedy...meh.
Oh I love a good comedy, anything to lighten the load for a while. But I agree that they don't usually work on the printed page. The Importance of Being Earnest is an exception, I think it reads better than it plays.

[NickAdams]

I've never really liked Moliere either. As a matter of fact,I have trouble accepting comedy as a type of drama in general - I can't think of a single one that I found worthy of rereading,or simply - funny(I'm talking about comedy,not satire). Give me a tragedy any day,maybe even a satirical one from time to time,but comedy...meh.

I find tragedy to be my brand of comedy.

[Erichtho]

I've never really liked Moliere either. As a matter of fact,I have trouble accepting comedy as a type of drama in general - I can't think of a single one that I found worthy of rereading,or simply - funny(I'm talking about comedy,not satire). Give me a tragedy any day,maybe even a satirical one from time to time,but comedy...meh.

And what about tragicomedy?

[Loike]

Some other good twentieth century ones that haven't been mentioned (as far as I can see!) are:

The Crucible: Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman: Arthur Miller
The Birthday Party: Harold Pinter
A Streetcar Named Desire: Tennessee Williams.

Somebody's already mentioned Educating Rita, but I thought I'd add that it's absolutely brilliant. And the film is good, too, if you can't see it at the theatre.

I hope that this is helpful.

xx

[kelby_lake]

The Crucible is fabulous, especially the bit when the girls are calling out their accusations: 'I saw Goody Goode with the Devil!' 'I saw Goody Smith with the Devil'...
And in A View from the Bridge where Eddie lifts the chair above his head with one hand. Very effective.

Don't care much for Pinter. Hate Mamet. Coward is brilliant for comedy- light and witty. Blithe Spirit is a good Coward play.

[Dark Muse]

I did read The Crucible and I quite enjoyed it.

[antonia1990]

I'm rather partial to Moliere. "The miser" is one of my favourites. There is also a movie adaptation with the brilliant Louis de Funès as the miser.

[Dark Muse]

I watched a movie about Moliere once but I have not acutally read any of his work. Perhaps I will have to look into it

[blackbird_9]

Phedre
By Jean Racine
It's best read in french, but there are some decent translations out there. I had to geat the duel language version myself, seeing as my french is rather poor. But either way, it's one of the greatest reads you can get your hands on. :)

[Saladin]

Ibsen!

Peer Gynt
A Doll's House
Ghosts
The Wild Duck

[kelby_lake]

I keep meaning to read A Doll's House because I saw it when I was 7 and couldn't appreciate it at that age.

[Dark Muse]

Ibsen!

Peer Gynt
A Doll's House
Ghosts
The Wild Duck

I will have to see if any of these are in my collected works of Isben that I have.

[Ethan Roy]

If you like comedies I would suggest T.S. Elliot's "The CocKtail Party," it is actually a really good read

[kelby_lake]

I'm reading that at the moment! 'Accidental Death of An Anarchist' is a good comedy.

[Niamh]

Okay where do i begin!
Streetcar named Desire- Williams
The Playboy of the western World,
Riders to the Sea +
Deirdre of the Sorrows- Synge
Mother Courage and her Children,
The Caucasian Chalk Circle +
The Good Woman/person of Szechwan- Brecht
The Cherry Orchard- Checkov
The Inspector- Gogol
Long Days Journey into Night- O' Neill
Translations +
Philadelphia Here i come- Friel
Beauty Queen of Leenane- McDonagh
Observe the sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme- McGuinness:bawling:
Mankind,
Everyman,
Nice Wanton +
Mundus Et Enfans- Anon Medieval Morality Plays

[kelby_lake]

Some interesting ones there for me to look into :)

The Master Builder is a strange but good Ibsen one
And there is East by Steven Berkoff which is a mixture of Shakespearean language and 70's Cockney. A bit vulgar but interesting.

[Niamh]

I think the medieval Morality plays are bril! I know that Everyman is here on the site, but the other three arent.

[Dark Muse]

Some interesting ones there for me to look into :)

The Master Builder is a strange but good Ibsen one
And there is East by Steven Berkoff which is a mixture of Shakespearean language and 70's Cockney. A bit vulgar but interesting.

Both of those sound interesting

[tscherff]

if you are ok with very depressing themes

try eugene o'neill--long days jouney into night or almost anything else by him
also death of a salesman is excellent--but not by o'neill
tennessee williams--cat on a hot tin roof, a street car named desire

[Shya]

Pygmalion! I fell in love with it...

And anything by Aristophanes... his wit and satire still work even though these thousand years have passed... I love Aristophanes so much that I have actually given him a seat right next to Shakespeare in my mind.

[kelby_lake]

cat on a hot tin roof is lighter than street car named desire and the first is very witty.
have i put 'who's afraid of virginia woolf?'. you must read that, it's brilliant.

[ctalerico]

I'm fond of many that have already been mentioned. Here are some that I've enjoyed that haven't yet been suggested:

Any (all) of Joe Orton's work if you like farce and satire.

Our Town - Thornton Wilder
The Zoo Story - Edward Albee
Waiting For Lefty - Clifford Odets
A Member of the Wedding - Carson McCullers
Tea and Sympathy - Robert Anderson

Equus Peter Shaffer (already mentioned) is among my favorite, as are: O'Neill's The Great God Brown and Edna St. Vincent Millay's delightful Aria da Capo.
Any or all of Harold Pinter and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.

[byquist]

Sean O'Casey's "Juno and the Paycock," comical and deep, and sad.
Equus, already mentioned, is a mind-bender.
"Burn This" is wild.
"Stones in His Pocket" is good to see.

Also, for a sweet Ibsen: "Lady from the Sea" -- wonderful play. Nobody sees his "Rosmersholm" which is a great play too.