Important plays to know...

[galindagirl2]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 2:53pm

Hi everyone!

I'm somewhat well-read when it comes to musicals, but I'm embarrassingly uninformed when it comes to plays.
This summer, I hope to expand my knowledge. What would you say are the "biggies" that I should be familiar with? (...or, of course, any specifics that you highly recommend?)

Thanks a bunch!
God Bless,
Galindagirl2

[ggersten]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 3:14pm

You're going to have to narrow your inquiry a bit. Plays go back, oh, two thousand years or so, if we're going to Aristophenes and friends.
Then there are "important" and then there are "defining" then there just are "great".
And do you want dramas, comedies, tragedies -
English language? russian? japanese? french?

[SugarBabyBounce]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 3:59pm

Death of a Salesman
Stage Door
Suddenly Last Summer
The Iceman Cometh
Brighton Beach Memoirs
Picnic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Award_for_Best_Play

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:04pm

Start with Tennessee Williams and move forward...STREETCAR, GLASS MENAGERIE.

[folkyboy]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:11pm

i have to agree with Tennessee Williams. almost anything he's done is amazing...

[colleen_lee]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:19pm

Also, if you can, find a play reading group in your area. That will broaden your knowledge and collection very quickly!

[Weez]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:23pm

Please read 'The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia?' by Edward Albee. It's one of my favourites; twisted, but darkly hilarious. I expect one could consider his 'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?' something of an essential as well. Also Peter Shaffer's 'Amadeus'. I've been trying to expand my play knowledge lately; I started with plays I'd seen, and just went from there.

[manderson05]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:23pm

Long Day's Journey Into Night... in my opinion the best play in american drama

[galindagirl2]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:33pm

Thanks so much, guys! Keep 'em coming!

Alright ggersten, I would say "All of the above", but I don't think that would satisfy you. What are you the most well-read in?

[raphael06]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:39pm

Just start reading like crazy! Make it a goal to read a play or two every week.

Obvoiusly start with the big ones such as Williams, Eugene O'Neil, William Inge, Shakespeare, etc.

[gonnapassmealaw]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:41pm

Don't forget Hansberry (Raisin in the Sun AND To Be Young, Gifted and Black) and the August Wilson cycle.

[ILoveMyDictionary]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:41pm

Shakespeare of course
Our Town
A Dolls House
Glengarry Glen Ross (not sure if I spelled that right)
And anytihng by Tennessee Williams, and Neil Simon.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:46pm

Get an almanac.

Go to the lists of winners for Pulitzer Prizes for Drama, the NY Drama Critics Circle and the Tony Award. Often they are different.

Start reading. Go with plays you know or have heard of.

You will then find other plays by prize-winning writers and then look at these collateral plays.

Yes, there are "important plays to know" and there are lots of them. There are other plays that are fun to know about as well. The ones that may have run a season (or two) and are virtually forgotten now. Some important plays were justifiable failures. I read two late plays by William Inge that had none of his earlier sensitivity and memorable characters. My 'job' while reading those was to figure out why they didn't work. In that way all plays can be important.

Moss Hart (playwright, director and husband of the recently-late Kitty Carlisle Hart) said, "Nobody learns anything from a hit." and he had a point.

Used bookstores are a treasure trove of anthologies which were all the rage in the 40s-50s-60s and into the 70s. Buy one for a couple of the plays and then discover the other scripts that are also included.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:46pm

"You're going to have to narrow your inquiry a bit. Plays go back, oh, two thousand years or so, if we're going to Aristophenes and friends."

I'm sure that Aeschylus, who was writing in 472 BC, appreciates your non-acknowledgment. LOL

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:52pm

"What would you say are the "biggies" that I should be familiar with?"

The Cherry Orchard
A Doll's House
The Glass Menagerie
A Streetcar Named Desire
Death of a Salesman
The Crucible
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Picnic
Bus Stop
Crimes of the Heart
Tartuffe
Romeo & Juliet
Charley's Aunt
Arsenic & Old Lace
The House of Blue Leaves
The Odd Couple
Barefoot in the Park
Plaza Suite
Waiting for Godot
Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf

[ahmelie]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:56pm

The Iceman Cometh, A Doll's House, A Streetcar Named Desire, and Death of a Salesmen were the first to come to my mind.

[Tchi4Lif188]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:58pm

"Night of The Iguana" by Tennessee Williams!!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 4:59pm

Since you know the musicals, you might want to read their counterparts if you have a good public library:

My Fair Lady - Pygmalion

Oklahoma - Green Grow the Lilacs

Carousel - Lilliom

West Side Story - Romeo & Juliet

Cabaret - I Am A Camera

Updated On: 5/10/07 at 04:59 PM

[BigFatBlonde]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 5:03pm

Mrs. Warren's Profession - Shaw

Arms and the Man - Shaw

[avab802]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 5:17pm

Many of the plays that came to my mind have been mentioned already. The only other one I can think of right now is Angels in America.

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 5/10/07 at 9:53pm

Gee, guys, you know, we had theatre before 1900 and outside the US.

OEDIPUS REX and ANTIGONE
LYSISTRATA
MEDEA
THE TROJAN WOMEN
Lots of stuff by that guy Plautus
EVERYMAN
GAMMER GURTEN'S NEEDLE
SECOND SHEPHERD'S PLAY
THE RIVALS
SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL
THE CRITIC (and its counterpart, THE REHEARSAL)
Just about *anything* by that guy Bill Shakespeare
TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE
FAUST (Goethe's version, not the opera)
WILHELM TELL
THE MASTER BUILDER
Just about *anything* by that guy George Feydeau

I mean, c'mon. Theatre did not begin with Williams, who, IMHO, is a bit overrated save for GLASS MENAGERIE and maybe (but only maybe) STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. There's a whole wealth of drama out there, strtching across borders and back as far in time as you can possibly imagine.

[ghostlight2]

Posted: 5/11/07 at 12:50am

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead - Tom Stoppard

[OtherDaryl]

Posted: 5/11/07 at 9:30am

Hie thee to your local library (I know - nobody goes to the library anymore) and check out the Burns Mantle Best Plays Annuals. While they are mostly abridged or synopsized versions of the plays, a quick browse through any given year may find you interested in something you might not otherwise approach.

Also - pick up the collected works of Oscar Wilde - it never hurt anyone to become familiar with Earnest or Salome.

Updated On: 5/11/07 at 09:30 AM

[achancetofly]

Posted: 5/11/07 at 10:24am

I'm actually in a class right now on the development of Western theatre in the 19th and 20th century, and I'm LOVING a lot of stuff we're reading.

Really anything by Brecht (especially Caucasian Chalk Circle and Galileo) is just...amazing. Not to mention essential if you want to know the major theoretical ideas floating around the theatre at the time. In fact, if you want, read Antonin Artaud's "the Theater and its Double" if you want some great theories (completely opposite from Brecht's) on theatre.

I'd also suggest some Tennessee Williams, as others have. Not to mention Tony Kushner (Angels in America).

If you don't mind reading older plays (as in 19th century), I'd suggest "Spring's Awakening" by Frank Wedekind, "Woyzeck" by Georg Buchner (that one is especially haunting), and "The Ghost Sonata" by August Strindberg.


Have fun!