The Importance of Being Earnest
Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest follows Jack, a country bachelor who goes by the name Ernest when he pops into the city; and his friend Algernon, who seeks a thrill by becoming Ernest in the country.
Man And Superman
Subtitled ‘‘A Comedy and a Philosophy,’’ George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman is a comedy of ideas: its characters discuss ideas such as capitalism, social reform, male and female roles in courtship, and other existential topics in long speeches that resemble arias in an opera.
Tartuffe
Molière’s Tartuffe reveals how a religious hypocrite — an imposter — almost succeeds in his plot to jail a naive friend and his family and thereby cheat them out of their home. The social comedy, which satirizes false piety, hypocrites, and certain aspects of the Catholic Church, was perennially banned.
More»Hedda Gabler
Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler introduces a woman who is bored with her new author husband and to life itself. Hedda reunites with a friend who overcame alcoholism to write his own book.
More»Hamlet
William Shakespeare’s Hamlet follows the young prince Hamlet home to Denmark to attend his father’s funeral. Hamlet is shocked to find his mother already remarried to his Uncle Claudius, the dead king’s brother. And Hamlet is even more surprised when his father’s ghost appears and declares that he was murdered. Exact dates are unknown, but scholars agree that Shakespeare published Hamlet between 1601 and 1603.
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