Everyone has their favourite plays. Some plays are for the pure joy of them, others are plays that you desperately want to act in, direct, design or produce.
Some plays MUST be read if you want to know about your craft and industry and how it has developed...and is still developing.
I'll be adding to this list of plays as time goes on.
The following plays are my mix of all the above.
Out At Sea - Sławomir Mrożek
Out At Sea was written in 1960’s censorship ridden Poland. Satirist Mrożek was forced to find many unusual angles with which to carry his biting comments against the Soviet regime. One of his regular techniques was to write absurd comedic plays that carried a dark message beneath the laughter. Perhaps his finest one-act effort is the little known, Out At Sea. Written in 1962 this single-set black comedy traces the fortunes of three very different castaways who attempt to find a democratic way of deciding which of them shall be eaten by the other two. The arguments become steadily more outlandish, the bullying and sycophancy more intense, until the intervention of a passing postman and an old manservant take the play into a hilarious surreal overdrive, building to a chilling climax
Victory - Howard Barker
(Directing this play changed my life!) Sweet is probably the wrong word for Howard Barker’s “Victory,” but you could certainly argue that it smells like napalm in the morning. Set in the wreckage of post-Cromwell England, Barker’s 1983 play sketches a remarkably familiar world run by decadent politicians and corrupt industrialists negotiating amid piles of corpses.
Equus - Peter Schaffer
The drama unfolds through the eyes of Martin Dysart, a psychiatrist and an amateur mythologist, who narrates the events of his rehabilitation of Alan Strang, a 17-year-old stable boy who has been arrested for blinding six horses. Confused by the conflict between his father’s agnosticism and voyeurism and his mother’s secretive religious devotion, Alan has grown to worship horses as deities of great religious and sexual power. When a stable girl attempts to seduce Alan, he is impotent in the presence of the horses and blinds them in a fit of uncontrolled anger and guilt. Dysart grows to appreciate the depth and power of Alan’s feelings and to regret that his successful treatment of the boy will rob him of his creative vitality.
Long Days Journey Into Night – Eugene O’Neill
Widely considered to be one of the finest American plays of the 20th century, Long Days Journey Into Night should be on everyone's greatest plays list. It Premiered on Broadway in November 1956 going on to win the Tony award for Best Play. This four act play takes place over a 24 hour period and centres around the life of the Tyrone family. The play is autobiographical and the setting is O’Neill’s seaside home in Connecticut.
A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play that received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, after 440 performances. The Broadway production was directed by Elia Kazan and starred Jessica Tandy, Marlon Brando, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden. Tandy won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her performance of Blanche DuBois.
Death Of A Salesman – Arthur Miller
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It opened on Broadway in 1949, winning both the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It is widely considered to be one of the greatest plays of 20th-century American theatre. Willy Loman wants to be an important man, believing he will be remembered as a “great” man when he has died.
Tartuffe – Moliere
Tartuffe is a sanctimonious scoundrel who, professing extreme piety, is taken into the household of Orgon, a wealthy man. Under the guise of ministering to the family’s spiritual and moral needs, he almost destroys Orgon’s family. Elmire, Orgon’s wife, sees through Tartuffe’s wicked hypocrisy and exposes him.
The Seagull – Anton Chekov
The Seagull is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramatizes the romantic and artistic conflicts between four characters: the famous middlebrow story writer Boris Trigorin, the ingenue Nina, the fading actress Irina Arkadina, and her son the symbolist playwright Konstantin Treplev.
Hedda Gabler – Henrik Ibsen
Ibsen’s most famous play, which also gave him the nickname ‘the father of modern drama’, is a story of passion and its consequences. A young woman Hedda is the daughter of a general who is in an unhappy marriage with Tesman who she deems to be inadequate. Considered to be one of the greatest dramatic roles in theatre, Hedda Gabler is referred to as the female Hamlet. Hedda Gabler premiered in 1891 in Munich
The Importance of Being Earnest – Oscar Wilde
'Earnest' is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae to escape burdensome social obligations. Working within the social conventions of late Victorian London, the play's major themes are the triviality with which it treats institutions as serious as marriage, and the resulting satire of Victorian ways. Its high farce and witty dialogue have helped make Earnest Wilde's most enduringly popular play."
Saint Joan – George Bernard Shaw
One of Shaw's most unusual and enduringly popular plays. With SAINT JOAN (1923) Shaw reached the height of his fame and Joan is one of his finest creations; forceful, vital, and rebelling against the values that surround her. The play distils Shaw's views on the subjects of politics, religion and creative evolution.
Miss Julie – August Strindberg
Julie, an aristocratic young woman, has a brief affair with Jean, her father’s valet. After the sexual thrill has dissipated, they realize that they have little or nothing in common. Heredity, combined with social and psychological factors, has determined their futures. Strindberg portrays Julie as an aristocrat whose era has passed and Jean as an opportunistic social climber to whom the future beckons.
Medea – Euripides
One of the most powerful and enduring of Greek tragedies, Medea centers on the myth of Jason, leader of the Argonauts, who has won the dragon-guarded treasure of the Golden Fleece with the help of the sorceress Medea. Having married Medea and fathered her two children, Jason abandons her for a more favorable match, never suspecting the terrible revenge she will take.
Waiting for Godot – Samuel Beckett
The story revolves around two seemingly homeless men simply waiting for someone—or something—named Godot. Vladimir and Estragon wait near a tree, inhabiting a drama spun of their own consciousness. The result is a comical wordplay of poetry, dreamscapes, and nonsense, which has been interpreted as mankind’s inexhaustible search for meaning. Beckett’s play remains one of the most beautiful allegories of our time.
Octopus - Steve Yockey
After young couple Kevin and Blake engage in a hastily planned night of group sex with the older Max and Andy, they are left trying to salvage their relationship from a mix of jealousy, betrayal, telegrams from a soaking wet delivery boy and a ravenous sea monster from the ocean floor. This universal love story rendered through a post-modern gay lens slips from domestic comedy into a darkly fantastic fable
Cartoon - Steve Yockey
Join the exploits of a band of mismatched cartoon stereotypes on a wild ride through this animated world. Cartoon is a devilishly violent social commentary that explores the rapid coalescence of media, politics and consumer giants. A young, idealistic upstart named Trouble steals the giant hammer that Esther, the bratty dictator, uses to maintain a monotonous but peaceful order. Chaos ensues.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? – Edward Albee
When middle-aged Martha and her husband George are joined by the younger Nick and Honey for late-night drinks after a party, the stage is set for a night of drunken recriminations and revelations. Battle-lines are drawn as Martha and George drag their guests into their own private hell of a marriage.
Prayer to an Iron God - Caroline Reid
(Blessed that I was invited to write the forward to this publication) Set in a small isolated outback town, this moving and gutsy play is a confronting look at the impact of a young man’s suicide on the lives of the family and friends that are left behind. The work was developed over two years with the Mosman Park Arts Foundation along with collaboration from health professionals to help address the issue of youth suicide in Australia.
Angels in America – Tony Kushner
In his monumental play, Angels in America, Tony Kushner uses archetypal characters and symbolic images to explore the mystical aspects of the human psyche. Through an exploration of different religious, political and cultural expressions, Kushner portrays the hopes and fears of two people with AIDS, who are trying to make sense of their lives against the backdrop of a country tearing itself apart with internal conflict
Cock - Mike Bartlett
When John takes a break from his boyfriend, he accidentally meets the girl of his dreams. Filled with guilt and indecision, he decides there is only one way to straighten this out.... Mike Bartlett's punchy new story takes a playful, candid look at one man's sexuality and the difficulties that arise when you realise you have a choice. Cock premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on November 13, 2009.
Bull - Mike Bartlett
Two jobs. Three candidates. This would be a really bad time to have a stain on your shirt... A savage, acid-tongued play from one of the UK's most exciting and inventive writers. Razor sharp and blackly comic, Bull is a savage and insightful play about office politics or playground bullying, depending which side you're on. Genuinely thrilling, daring and inventive.
The Complete Works of Shakespeare
He's not everyone's cup of tea, but gosh the Bard was brilliant. Here's a great article from StageMilk about reading the complete works.
Start with Twelfth Night... its a hoot!
Harold Pinter
Another brilliant cannon of works to get through. Personally, I'd suggest to start with The Caretaker. And don't forget to find the Nightclub Plays. AWESOME!
The Pillowman – Martin Mcdonagh
A writer in a totalitarian state is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of child-murders that are happening in his town. 'McDonagh is more than just a very clever theatrical stylist. His tricks and turns have a purpose. They are bridges over a deep pit of sympathy and sorrow, illuminated by a tragic vision of stunted and frustrated lives.' Fintan O'Toole, Irish Times
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