What are the essential plays?

Question

I am preparing a reading list for a Drama Class to be given to high school seniors. I have my own ideas, but I would like some input from others. Please suggest the plays from world drama that you feel are essential. Please try to limit yourselves to 1-2 plays per author. Thanks

Answer 1

Great question. From the top, by no means exhaustive, but some ideas (and I assume by world drama you mean non-American, so there are no US plays on the list):

"Oedipus The King" or "Antigone"--Sophocles
"Lysistrata" (if you can get away with it....)--Aristophanes
"The Brothers Menaechmus"--Plautus
"Everyman"--Anonymous
"The Second Shepherd's Play"--Anonymous
"The Servant of Two Masters" (commedia dell'arte)
"Fuente Ovejuna"--Lope de Vega
"Doctor Faustus"--Marlowe

Shakespeare? Too many to choose from, but for high school I'd guess choosing from a list that includes "Romeo & Juliet", "A Midsummer Night's Dream", "As You Like It", "Richard III", "Much Ado About Nothing", "Macbeth"...

"Tartuffe"--Moliere
"The School For Scandal" or "The Rivals"--Sheridan, or possibly
"The Beaux Stratagem"--Farquahar
"The Marriage of Figaro"--Beaumarchais
"A Doll House"--Ibsen
"Three Sisters"--Chekhov
"Cyrano de Bergerac"--Rostand
"The Importance of Being Earnest"--Wilde
"Major Barbara"--Shaw
"Spring Awakening"--Wedekind (again, if you can get away with it)
"The Good Person of Szechuan"--Brecht
"Six Characters In Search of An Author"--Pirandello
"Waiting For Godot"--Beckett
"The Birthday Party"--Pinter
"Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead"--Stoppard
"Master Harold...And the Boys"--Fugard

I'm running out of steam...nothing Asian on here I realize (though something by Chikamatsu from 18th century Japan might be somewhat interesting), nor by a woman (regrettably,the number of essential female dramatists in world drama strikes me as beginning and ending right now with Caryl Churchill, though her plays are a hard go and I'm sure someone will correct me shortly...), nor much from the third world,nor much that is experimental in the sense of being about production more than text (Grotowski is essential, but you don't actually read him). And yeah, if you want to add American plays to the list, probably "Long Day's Journey Into Night" by O'Neill, "Death of A Salesman" and "The Crucible" by Miller, "The Glass Menagerie" and "A Streetcar Named Desire" by Williams, "Our Town" by Wilder, "The Zoo Story" and if they're up to it "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" by Albee, "Awake & Sing" by Odets, "The Odd Couple" or "Brighton Beach Memoirs" by Simon, "The Tooth of Crime" by Shepard, "American Buffalo" or "Glengarry Glen Ross" by Mamet (language issues...), "Fences" and /or "Joe Turner's Come And Gone" by August Wilson", "Angels in America" by Kushner (every possible issue...)....that's enough from me!

Answer 2

Here are my suggestions as a senior theatre/creative writing major who loves reading plays:

"Master Harold"...and the Boys - Athol Fugard
A Streetcar Named Desire, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof - Tennesse Williams
Angels in America: Millennium Approaches - Tony Kuschner
Death of a Salesman (only if it was not part of an earlier English class) - Arthur Miller
Endgame, Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett
Fences, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom - August Wilson
Getting Out - Marsha Norman
Glengarry Glen Ross - David Mamet
Ghosts - Henrik Ibsen
No Exit - Jean Paul-Sartre
Noises Off - Michael Frayn
Oedipus Rex - Sophocles
Our Town - Thornton Wilder
Pygmalion - Bernard Shaw
Sister Mary Ignatius Explains it All for You, Baby with the Bathwater, The Actor's Nightmar - Christopher Durang
Sister Characters in Search of an Author - Luigi Pirandello
The America Play, Top Dog Under Dog - Suzan Lori Parks
The Cherry Orchard - Anton Chekhov
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged) - Reduced Shakespeare Company
The Importance of Being Earnest - Oscar Wilde
The Laramie Project - Moises Kaufman
The Vagina Mnologues - Eve Ensler
The Zoo Story, The American Dream - Edward Albee
Trifles - Susan Glaspell
One Shakespeare - Macbeth is always good, The Comedy of Errors is a lesser used play, but very enjoyable
A Neil Simon

Be sure to address comedy in your class since most teachers have drama mean dramatic drama rather than a combintion of all the various drama forms. With the above list, any student of yours should come from the class feeling very well-read and rounded. Start with Aristotle's "Poetics" for a great introduction to the course and what makes a play.

Answer 3

I agonized over this list realizing that in one school year one could not truly read all of the essential plays of the world. I have included only the plays that have left a lasting impression on my mind. These are the plays that I read as a young person that, for me, are still relevant forty plus years later.

Oedipus Rex and Antigone--Sophocles
Lysistrata and The Birds-- Aristophanes
Hamlet, Merchant of Venice--Shakespeare
Tartuffe--Moliere
A Doll House--Ibsen
Cyrano de Bergerac--Rostand
The Cherry Orchard -- Anton Chekhov
Major Barbara--Shaw
Our Town--Thornton Wilder
The Good Person of Szechuan--Brecht
The Glass Menagerie--Tennessee Williams
The Grapes of Wrath--Steinbeck
The Children’s Hour -- Hellman (The bigger the lie the more it will be believed)

(I was a bit older than high school age when I read these but I think they should be on today's list.)
The Heidi Chronicles-- Wasserstein
Fences--August Wilson
Odd Coupe-- Neil Simon

Good luck with your students, may they enjoy the plays you eventually select.

Answer 4

Strindberg - Miss Julie
Shakespeare - A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ibsen - Hedda Gabler
Wasserstein - The Heidi Chronicles
Shepard - True West
Mamet - Oleanna
Tennessee Williams - The Glass Menagerie
Buchner - Woychek
Euripides - Medea
Hansberry - A Raisin in the Sun

Answer 5

I do not think there are really essential plays but in my intro class I start with Chekhov's The Proposal because it is short and has clear examples of Exposition, Inciting Incident, Complications, Reversals, Climax and Resolution.
I use The Tempest from Shakespeare partly because it is semi-autobiograhical and illustrates how he can depart from the expected rules and outcomes and still be successful.
Uncle Vanya supplies many analytical analysis issues and many reversals.
The Dolls House shows a clear approach toward social issues with a complex structure that allows for debate on who is the actual antagonist and what the real major action is. It also allows for dicussion of the use of parallels and contrasts.
Importance of Being Earnest is good for many reasons. IT provides lessons on how we all create our own worlds through rationalization and irony. The Algernon/Cecily scenes and the Gwendolyn/Cecily scene are among my favorites as vehicles for discussion of how playwrights make the absurd available as reality for an audience.

My wife usually uses Taming of the Shrew and the Crucilble as major works in her classes.

Answer 6

alright, i'll probably go a little overboard here, but these are my favorites. stars (*) indicate ones that are super essential:
shakespeare- the tempest and *othello*
wilde- importance of being earnest
miller- all my sons and the *crucible*
o'neill- long day's journey into night and ah! wilderness
ionesco- the bald soprano
stoppard- *arcadia* and rosencrantz and guildenstern are dead
neil simon- rumors, the odd couple
ibsen- hedda gabler
tennessee williams- a streetcar named desire, *the glass menagerie*
beckett- waiting for godot

i'm sure i'm missing a whole bunch, and will probably kick myself later for forgetting them. but that's a start.

Answer 7

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Answer 8

The ones that I can think of
"The Crucible" by Arthur Miller
"Death of A Salesman" by Arthur Miller
and I'm partial to Oscar Wilde

Answer 9

Cyrano de Bergerac (Rostand) And any Tennessee Williams or Neil Simon

Answer 10

Already mentioned are "A Doll's House" and "Death of a Salesman" These would definitely be on my list. I also think that "Educating Rita" or anything by Willy Russell is fabulous. "Oedipus Tyrannus" or "The Bacchae" are favourites of mine, if you wanted to look at ancient Greek texts.