The 101 greatest plays : from antiquity to the present / Michael Billington.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Billington, Michael, 1939- author.

Contributor:

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Theater.

Theater--Reviews.

Genre:

Reviews.

Physical Description:

464 pages ; 24 cm

Other Title:

One hundred and one greatest plays

Hundred and one greatest plays

Place of Publication:

London : Guardian Books/Faber & Faber, 2015.

Summary:

What makes a great play? Does the definition change with time and circumstance? Are certain common factors visible down the ages? In revising the canon The 101 Greatest Plays is bound to stimulate passionate argument, but first and foremost it is a celebration of the art of the dramatist. It is the product of a lifetime spent watching and reading, a record of the adventures of a soul amongst masterpieces.

Contents:

1 The Persians by Aeschylus (c.525-456 BC) 17

2 Oedipus the King by Sophocles (c.495-406 BC) 21

3 He/en by Euripides (c.480-407 BC) 26

4 Assembly-Women by Aristophanes (c.448-380 BC) 31

5 The Brothers Menaechmus by Plautus (c.254-184 BC) 35

6 The Mysteries adapted by Tony Harrison (1937-) 40

7 Edward II by Christopher Marlowe (1564-93) 45

8 Love's Labour's Lost by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 50

9 Henry IV Parts One and Two by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 55

10 Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 60

11 Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 64

12 The Malcontent by John Marston (1576-1634) 69

13 A Mad World, My Masters by Thomas Middleton (1580-1627) 73

14 Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 78

15 Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) 83

16 The Alchemist by Ben Jonson (1572-1637) 89

17 The White Devil by John Webster (c.1580-1633) 94

18 Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega (1562-1635) 99

19 Punishment without Revenge by Lope de Vega (1562-1635) 103

20 Life Is a Dream by Pedro Calderon de la Barca (1600-81) 107

21 The Illusion by Pierre Corneille (1606-84) 112

22 Tartuffe by Moliere (1622-73) 116

23 The Misanthrope by Moliere (1622-73) 120

24 Andromache by Jean Racine (1639-99) 125

25 The Rover by Aphra Behn (1640-89) 129

26 Venice Preserv'd by Thomas Otway (1652-85) 133

27 Love for Love by William Congreve (1670-1729) 137

28 The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar (1678-1707) 141

29 The Game of Love and Chance by Marivaux (1688-1763) 145

30 The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni (1707-93) 149

31 La Triologia della Villegiatura by Carlo Goldoni (1707-93) 153

32 She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith (c.1730-74) 157

33 Vie School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) 162

34 The Marriage of Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-99) 167

35 Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729-81) 171

36 Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) 175

37 Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) 179

38 Vie Broken Jug by Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) 183

39 The Prince of Homburg by Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) 187

40 The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol (1809-52) 191

41 Woyzeck by Georg Büchner (1813-37) 195

42 An Italian Straw Hat by Eugène Labiche (1815-88) 199

43 Brand by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) 203

44 The Forest by Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-86) 207

45 A Doll's House by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) 211

46 The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) 215

47 The Power of Darkness by Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) 219

48 The Father by August Strindberg (1849-1912) 223

49 Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind (1864-1918) 227

50 The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) 231

51 Le Dindon by Georges Feydeau (1862-1921) 235

52 Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) 239

53 The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov (1860-1904) 243

54 Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky (1868-1936) 247

55 Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (1860-1937) 251

56 Waste by Harley Granville Barker (1877-1946) 255

57 Professor Bernhardt by Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931) 259

58 The Daughter-in-Law by D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) 263

59 Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) 267

60 Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) 271

61 Exiles by James Joyce (1882-1941) 275

62 The Verge by Susan Glaspell (1876-1948) 279

63 Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936) 283

64 Juno and the Paycock by Sean O'Casey (1880-1964) 287

65 The Front Page by Ben Hecht (1894-1964) by Charles MacArthur (1895-1956) 291

66 Machinal by Sophie Treadwell (1885-1970) 295

67 Tales from the Vienna Woods by Ödön von Horváth (1901-38) 299

68 The Suicide by Nikolai Erdman (1900-70) 303

69 Design for Living by Noël Coward (1899-1973) 307

70 The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca (1898-1936) 311

71 The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) 315

72 Mr Puntila and His Man Matti by Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) 319

73 Long Day's Journey into Night by Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953) 323

74 Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart (1912-2006) 327

75 A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (1911-83) 331

76 The Chairs by Eugène Ionesco (1912-94) 335

77 The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan (1911-71) 339

78 The Crucible by Arthur Miller (1915-2005) 343

79 Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler (1921-) 347

80 The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921-90) 351

81 All ThatFallby Samuel Beckett (1906-89) 355

82 The Entertainer by John Osborne (1929-94) 360

83 The Fire Raisers by Max Frisch (1911-91) 364

84 A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1930-65) 368

85 Serjeant Musgrave's Dance by John Arden (1930-2012) 372

86 Chips with Everything by Arnold Wesker (1932-) 376

87 The Homecoming by Harold Pinter (1930-2008) 380

88 Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer (1926-) 384

89 Absurd Person Singular by Alan Ayckbourn (1939-) 388

90 Bingo by Edward Bond (1934-) 392

91 Death and the King's Horseman by Wole Soyinka (1934-) 396

92 The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard (1937-) 400

93 Top Girls by Caryl Churchill (1938-) 404

94 Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel (1929-) 408

95 Racing Demon by David Hare (1947-) 412

96 The Weir by Conor McPherson (1971-) 416

97 Copenhagen by Michael Frayn (1933-) 420

98 The Goat by Edward Albee (1928-) 424

99 The History Boys by Alan Bennett (1934-) 428

100 Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth (1969-) 432

101 King Charles III by Mike Bartlett (1980-) 436.

Notes:

Includes index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Horace Howard Furness Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9781783350308

178335030X

OCLC:

920834541