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Author
Summary
"A Doll's House" by Henrik Ibsen is a groundbreaking and thought-provoking masterpiece that challenges societal norms and explores the complex dynamics of marriage and identity. Set in 19th-century Norway, the play revolves around Nora Helmer, a seemingly content wife and mother, and her husband Torvald.
As the plot unfolds, the audience is drawn into a web of secrets, lies, and personal revelations. Nora's journey from a docile, doll-like existence...
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An Enemy of the People addresses the irrational tendencies of the masses, and the hypocritical and corrupt nature of the political system that they support. It is the story of one brave man's struggle to do the right thing and speak the truth in the face of extreme social inttolerance.
3) The Seagull
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The Seagull is Anton Chekhov's brilliant four-act play that is considered a monumental work of drama, and one of the most sublime literary examinations of the complexities of love and friendship. First performed over a century ago, this play remains one of the most widely staged productions throughout the world.
The four protagonists in The Seagull are all artists; Trigorin is a well-established writer, Arkadina is a renowned yet aging actress, her...
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The Cherry Orchard (1903) is Russian playwright and short story writer Anton Chekhov's final play. It was first performed at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904, directed by acclaimed actor Konstantin Stanislavski-who also played the role of Leonid Gayev, the bizarre and uninspired brother of Madame Ranevskaya. It has since become one of twentieth century theater's most important-and most frequently staged-dramatic works.
After five years of living in...
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Schulberg's acclaimed and bestselling novel, based on a classic of American cinema. In 1955, Budd Schulberg adapted his Academy Award-winning screenplay into an exhilarating novel. Suspenseful and emotional, the novel presents a more complex-and perhaps bleaker-portrait of ex-boxer Terry Malloy's corrupt and stunted world on the docks of Hoboken. Narrated by Father Pete Barry, the novel shifts focus to the courageous priest who stands up to the Mob,...
6) Ghosts
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First performed in 1882, "Ghosts" is the controversial and tragic play by the famed Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It is the story of Helen Alving, a wealthy widow who was unhappily married to her unfaithful husband. Helen has tried to shelter her son, Oswald, from the corrupting influence of his father's immoral behavior and has sent him away only to discover that he is suffering from syphilis inherited from his father. Oswald has also unfortunately...
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Six Characters in Search of an Author (1921) is a metatheatrical drama by Luigi Pirandello. Viewed as an important work of absurdist literature, the play was a critical failure when it was first, staged in Rome. Revised by its author and bolstered by successful performances in New York City, Six Characters in Search of an Author has been, recognized as a pioneering examination of the nature of creativity, the relationship of the director and actors...
8) Miss Julie
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In Miss Julie, a willful young aristocrat, whose perverse nature has already driven her fiancé to break off their engagement, pursues and effectively seduces her father's valet during the course of a Midsummer's Eve celebration. The progress of that seduction and the play's stunning denouement shocked Swedish audiences who first attended the play in 1889. Despite its controversial debut, this now-classic drama, inspired by the new ideas of naturalism...
9) Medea
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An empathetic look at the destructive power of female passion from the dramatist Aristotle called "the most tragic of poets."
First performed in 431 BC, Medea is Euripides most powerful and well-known play. Cast aside by Jason when he pursues another woman, Medea seeks the ultimate revenge against her faithless husband by murdering his new wife along with the two people who matter to both Jason and Medea most: their children. In the hands of a Greek...
10) Lysistrata
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Aristophanes' great anti-war drama glorifies the power of fertility in the face of destruction. Mr. Rudall's new translation recaptures the splendid variety of diction in Aristophanes, so that instead of a heavily poetic presentation the play becomes highly theatrical.
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One of the greatest, most moving of all tragedies, Antigone continues to have meaning for us because of its depiction of the struggle between individual conscience and state policy, and its delicate probing of the nature of human suffering. Mr. Rudall's splendid translation brings a new power and speakability to Sophocles' prose.
12) Paradise Hotel
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A consummate farce in which a middle-aged man arranges a rendezvous in a seedy little hotel with the beautiful young wife of his best friend.
13) Oedipus the King
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The tragedy of Oedipus, who unknowingly slays his father and marries his mother, is one of the mythical cornerstones of Western civilization. Nicholas Rudall's new translation remains true to Sophocles original text while fashioning a language of grace and power, with contemporary players and theatergoers in mind.
