what_the_heck013
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Recommend Plays for MeI'm looking for good plays to read. Your favorite play. A play that made you cringe. A play that made you laugh. A play that made you cry. Anything.
Thank you!
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Brackynn
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One of my personal favourites is Arcadia by Tom Stoppard. It's a good one to sit down and read because while it's utterly hilarious, it also deals with quite complex intellectual concepts so you can take as much time as you need to get your head around it.
Also Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman. It's got everything from fluffy humour to dark, disturbing drama. Plus, the prose is beautiful.
I'll most likely be back with more ideas later, but these are two of my absolute favourites 
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LaurelDP
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These are some of my (current) favorite plays:
The Pillowman - McDonagh. Great, dark, funny.
Mother Courage and Her Children - Brecht. Wonderful.
Sailor's Song - Shanley. I sobbed when I saw it performed. Better when watched, but read it anyway.
Rabbit Hole -David Lindsay-Abaire. Not much reaction the first time I read it. I actually read it again right after finishing it the first time and it affected me much, much more.
Our Town - Duh.
A Hatful of Rain - Michael V. Gazzo. I just really like this play.
Golden Boy - actually, most Clifford Odets. I love the language.
Spring Storm - an early Tennessee Williams that, like, NO ONE has read. It has two characters that I think are really unusual and interesting (Arthur and Hertha).
Also, since you're looking for ANYTHING, I recommend you read Mourning Becomes Electra by O'Neill
It is SOOO overwritten (it IS O'Neill) and bizarre but also really interesting and drawing once you get into it. Again, I find the characters fascinating.
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Felix Felicis
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THE HISTORY BOYS - Alan Bennett
Anything and everything Oscar Wilde
I also second Tom Stoppard.
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Brock07
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Shape of Things by Neil LaBute
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Yakko
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Odd Couple.....enough said....
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aworthyboyishe
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| Brock07 wrote: | | Shape of Things by Neil LaBute |
YES! FTW!
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Xxmcfly85xX
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| Felix Felicis wrote: | THE HISTORY BOYS - Alan Bennett
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^ Yes that.
Tartuffe by Moliere is one of the most recent plays I've seen/read. It's up there for entertainment value.
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Salome
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Cat on Hot Tin Roof - (1974 final edition) -williams
Copenhagen - frayn
The lion in Winter -goldman
How I Learned to Drive - vogel
Crimes of the Heart - henley
Hay Fever - coward
Private Lives -coward
Peace in Our Time - coward
Equus -speter haffer
Sleuth - anthony Shaffer
Amadeus - peter shaffer
Beauty Queen of Lenanne - mcdonugh
The Weir - mcphearson
That Chamionship Season - jason miller
The Price - arthur miller
laughter on the 23rd floor - simon
I am A Camera - van druten
closer - marber
the little foxes -hellman
les liaisons dangeruse- hampton
the last flapper - gibson
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christinadaae
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If you haven't read Hamlet yet...
Seriously. Funniest play ever.
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SmallTownIngenue
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The Curious Savage by John Patrick
Funny, touching play.
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musialman
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The Curious Savage for sure. -I'm playing Jeff in it currently
Social Security- Very Funny
10 Little Indians- Typical Murder Mystery
Marvin's Room- Family Relations
Our Town- Classic
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Salome
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ten little indians is far from a typical murder mystery!
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emmy05
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Two of my favorites:
The Crucible by Arthur Miller ( a classic)
Butterflies are Free by Leonard Gershe (some great overdone monologues for girls are in here from the character of jill)
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Amber
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Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire
Childe Byron
Closer
Angels In America
Criminal Hearts by Jane Martin
The Love of the Nightingale by Timberlake Wertenbaker
Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel
Keely and Du by Jane Martin
Love Letters by A.R. Gurney
also, if you can find a way to read it, Hearsay by Kathryn Petersen. She is a brilliant playwright and actress from the Philadelphia area, and this play is amazing. She was a teacher of mine during my freshman year of college, and I consider myself so lucky to have studied with her.
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Salome
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reminds me...
Cementville also by Jane Martin
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Amber
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Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Jane Martin a pseudonym for various authors? I'm sure there's a big story behind it, but I've heard that there is no actual Jane Martin.
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wicked_diva
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| Amber wrote: | | Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Jane Martin a pseudonym for various authors? I'm sure there's a big story behind it, but I've heard that there is no actual Jane Martin. |
You're right. I don't know the actual reason why, but I know that it's true.
I recommend Our Hearts Were Young and Gay (wonderful comedy), Stop Kiss (contemporary drama), and classics like Earnest, The Rivals, Our Town, Crucible, Death of a Salesman, etc.
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Beagle On Stage
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A few favorites
Agnes of God (John Peilmier) - a wonderful psychological piece
Lolita (Edward Albee) - witty adaptation of the classic novel
Sister Mary Ignatius (Chris Durang) - "Blah. You make me want to blah."
But Why Bump off Barnaby (Rick Abbott) - Hilarious parody of murder mysteries.
Cheaper by the Dozen (Christopher Sergel) - The prize plum of Dramatic Publishing Company.
Judith (Jean Giraudoux) - Might as well be "Last Temptation of Christ, female version"
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LaurelDP
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I'm also going to recommend The Distance from Here and Fat Pig by LaBute.
And After Ashley by Gina Gionfriddo.
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what_the_heck013
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WOW! Thanks for the overwhelming response. While I have read a lot of the plays that people have suggested, I would say that a lot of my top favorites are listed in here. Good job, guys! Keep 'em coming!
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SomeoneLikeYou
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CRUCIBLE CRUCIBLE CRUCIBLE
Excluding some Shakespeare and Sophocles, it's the first play I ever read, and continues to be my favorite.
I WILL be in a production of it before I die.
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~GertrudeMcFuzz~
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| Xxmcfly85xX wrote: |
Tartuffe by Moliere is one of the most recent plays I've seen/read. It's up there for entertainment value. |
My college is putting on this play in a few weeks, so I'm glad to hear that you liked it. I'll enjoy watching it.
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Beagle On Stage
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| SomeoneLikeYou wrote: | CRUCIBLE CRUCIBLE CRUCIBLE
Excluding some Shakespeare and Sophocles, it's the first play I ever read, and continues to be my favorite.
I WILL be in a production of it before I die. |
As Proctor, I took over my Honors English 10 in-class read-through of the play, and used the overblown, dramatic dialogue to turn it into an interpretation Steve and Gilda might have done on Saturday Night Live. Everyone else caught on and did it too. It was just a joke at the time, but since then I've longed to see a full production staged that way. (The teacher, whose father had been a victim of McCarthyism back in the day, was hard to win over, but even she eventually embraced it with a smile too.)
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Salome
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| Amber wrote: | | Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't Jane Martin a pseudonym for various authors? I'm sure there's a big story behind it, but I've heard that there is no actual Jane Martin. |
Jane Martin is probably the nom de plume of Jon Jory, the director of the actors theatre of louisville.
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Rorgg
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Someone mentioned Durang upstream. I recently read Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge and laughed my head off. I'm working on convincing the local underground company to consider it for a holiday show next year.
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Salome
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check out Beyond Therapy. by Durang. his funniest play IMO. I directed it several years back.
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Roger's Chica
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| Brock07 wrote: | | Shape of Things by Neil LaBute |
Anything and EVERYTHING by LaBute, actually.
And, actually, I'm a pretty big fan of everything by David Lindsay Abaire as well.
Closer is good, just for the additional scene btween the women.
I love Anne of the Thousand Days a lot.
Oooh, and check out Sharon Pollock. (Canadian female playwright, FABULOUS.)
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Please,Hello
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Picasso At The Lapin Agile by Steve Martain
The Homecoming By Harold Pinter.
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Roger's Chica
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Omg, how could I forget!?
The Blue Room by David Hare is AMAZING. You can also read the play it is based on called La Ronde (by Arthur Schnitzler), they are BOTH super good.
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wicked_diva
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| Please,Hello wrote: |
The Homecoming By Harold Pinter. |
I just read that, and hated it.
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Catherine
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Currently loving Fences by August Wilson.
Oh funny awkward scenes in drama class. xD
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