Play Club
We’re coming together to read plays online!
Inviting playwrights, performers, directors, academics and audiences to come together via Zoom to read plays and talk about them. The objective is to work our way through The Guardian’s recently retired and hugely respected critic, Michael Billington’s 101 Greatest Plays.
Register below and we’ll send you information about upcoming readings and how to join, it’s easy.
We’d love to help to discover the next 101 great plays, so if you’re a playwright and would like the opportunity to hear your play read out loud, then please register and we’ll send you more information.
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The Plays
The Guardian’s theatre critic, Michael Billington, has selected what he thinks are the 101 greatest plays ever written, in any western language. We thought we’d try and read them. You can buy his book here. This is the list:
1. The Persians by Aeschylus
2. Oedipus the King by Sophocles
3. Helen by Euripides
4. Assembly-Women by Aristophanes
5. The Brothers Menaechmus by Plautus
6. The Mysteries adapted by Tony Harrison
7. Edward II by Christopher Marlowe
8. Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare
9. Henry IV Parts One and Two by William Shakespeare
10. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
11. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
12. The Malcontent by John Marston
13. A Mad World, My Masters by Thomas Middleton
14. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
15. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
16. The Alchemist by Ben Jonson
17. The White Devil by John Webster
18. Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega
19. Punishment without Revenge by Lope de Vega
20. Life Is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
21. The Illusion by Pierre Corneille
22. Tartuffe by Molière
23. The Misanthrope by Molière
24. Andromache by Jean Racine
25. The Rover by Aphra Behn
26. Venice Preserv’d by Thomas Otway
27. Love for Love by William Congreve
28. The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar
29. The Game of Love and Chance by Marivaux
30. The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni
31. La Triologia della Villegiatura by Carlo Goldoni
32. She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith
33. The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
34. The Marriage of Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron deBeaumarchais
35. Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
36. Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller
37. Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller
38. The Broken Jug by Heinrich von Kleist
39. The Prince of Homburg by Heinrich von Kleist
40. The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol
41. Woyzeck by Georg Büchner
42. An Italian Straw Hat by Eugène Labiche
43. Brand by Henrik Ibsen
44. The Forest by Alexander Ostrovsky
45. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
46. The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen
47. The Power of Darkness by Leo Tolstoy
48. The Father by August Strindberg
49. Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind
50. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
51. Le Dindon by Georges Feydeau
52. Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov
53. The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
54. Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky
55. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
56. Waste by Harley Granville Barker
57. Professor Bernhardi by Arthur Schnitzler
58. The Daughter-in-Law by D. H. Lawrence
59. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
60. Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw
61. Exiles by James Joyce
62. The Verge by Susan Glaspell
63. Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello
64. Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey
65. The Front Page by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur
66. Machinal by Sophie Treadwell
67. Tales from the Vienna Woods by Ödön von Horváth
68. The Suicide by Nikolai Erdman
69. Design for Living by Noël Coward
70. The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca
71. The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht
72. Mr Puntila and His Man Matti by Bertolt Brecht
73. Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill
74. Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart
75. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
76. The Chairs by Eugène Ionesco (1912–94)
77. The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan
78. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
79. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler
80. The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
81. All That Fall by Samuel Beckett
82. The Entertainer by John Osborne
83. The Fire Raisers by Max Frisch
84. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
85. Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance by John Arden
86. Chips with Everything by Arnold Wesker
87. The Homecoming by Harold Pinter
88. Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer
89. Absurd Person Singular by Alan Ayckbourn
90. Bingo by Edward Bond
91. Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka
92. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard
93. Top Girls by Caryl Churchill
94. Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel
95. Racing Demon by David Hare
96. The Weir by Conor McPherson
97. Copenhagen by Michael Frayn
98. The Goat by Edward Albee
99. The History Boys by Alan Bennett
100. Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth
101. King Charles III by Mike Bartlett
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My TweetsThe Plays
The Guardian’s theatre critic, Michael Billington, has selected what he thinks are the 101 greatest plays ever written, in any western language. We thought we’d try and read them. You can buy his book here. This is the list:
1. The Persians by Aeschylus
2. Oedipus the King by Sophocles
3. Helen by Euripides
4. Assembly-Women by Aristophanes
5. The Brothers Menaechmus by Plautus
6. The Mysteries adapted by Tony Harrison
7. Edward II by Christopher Marlowe
8. Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare
9. Henry IV Parts One and Two by William Shakespeare
10. Hamlet by William Shakespeare
11. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare
12. The Malcontent by John Marston
13. A Mad World, My Masters by Thomas Middleton
14. Macbeth by William Shakespeare
15. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare
16. The Alchemist by Ben Jonson
17. The White Devil by John Webster
18. Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega
19. Punishment without Revenge by Lope de Vega
20. Life Is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
21. The Illusion by Pierre Corneille
22. Tartuffe by Molière
23. The Misanthrope by Molière
24. Andromache by Jean Racine
25. The Rover by Aphra Behn
26. Venice Preserv’d by Thomas Otway
27. Love for Love by William Congreve
28. The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar
29. The Game of Love and Chance by Marivaux
30. The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni
31. La Triologia della Villegiatura by Carlo Goldoni
32. She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith
33. The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
34. The Marriage of Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron deBeaumarchais
35. Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
36. Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller
37. Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller
38. The Broken Jug by Heinrich von Kleist
39. The Prince of Homburg by Heinrich von Kleist
40. The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol
41. Woyzeck by Georg Büchner
42. An Italian Straw Hat by Eugène Labiche
43. Brand by Henrik Ibsen
44. The Forest by Alexander Ostrovsky
45. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
46. The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen
47. The Power of Darkness by Leo Tolstoy
48. The Father by August Strindberg
49. Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind
50. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
51. Le Dindon by Georges Feydeau
52. Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov
53. The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
54. Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky
55. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
56. Waste by Harley Granville Barker
57. Professor Bernhardi by Arthur Schnitzler
58. The Daughter-in-Law by D. H. Lawrence
59. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw
60. Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw
61. Exiles by James Joyce
62. The Verge by Susan Glaspell
63. Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello
64. Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey
65. The Front Page by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur
66. Machinal by Sophie Treadwell
67. Tales from the Vienna Woods by Ödön von Horváth
68. The Suicide by Nikolai Erdman
69. Design for Living by Noël Coward
70. The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca
71. The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht
72. Mr Puntila and His Man Matti by Bertolt Brecht
73. Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill
74. Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart
75. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
76. The Chairs by Eugène Ionesco (1912–94)
77. The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan
78. The Crucible by Arthur Miller
79. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler
80. The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt
81. All That Fall by Samuel Beckett
82. The Entertainer by John Osborne
83. The Fire Raisers by Max Frisch
84. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry
85. Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance by John Arden
86. Chips with Everything by Arnold Wesker
87. The Homecoming by Harold Pinter
88. Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer
89. Absurd Person Singular by Alan Ayckbourn
90. Bingo by Edward Bond
91. Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka
92. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard
93. Top Girls by Caryl Churchill
94. Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel
95. Racing Demon by David Hare
96. The Weir by Conor McPherson
97. Copenhagen by Michael Frayn
98. The Goat by Edward Albee
99. The History Boys by Alan Bennett
100. Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth
101. King Charles III by Mike Bartlett