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.
Although The Bear is one of Anton Chekhov’s lesser-known plays, this “Farce in One-Act,” as it is subtitled, is an excellent representative of its genre.
Two American mice become lost in the winding streets of Prague where they make the acquaintance of an old Czech robot. The mice are desperate to find their way back to the main road so they can eat at their favorite chain restaurant – the robot desperate for someone to put it out of its misery.
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.
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.
How many words is a picture worth when it’s a picture of another picture? The Dilettantes discover the value of art at their fast-paced time at a famous museum. If they can avoid run-ins with security guards and things like their own thoughts, they’ll take pictures of all the art in a flash.
Robert Gladstone, an ambitious employee of the Happy Helper Toilet Supply Company, is looking for that dream promotion, and he and his wife, Amy, are hosting a dinner for the company CEO and founder, Eugene Westin. When the CEO invites a couple of homeless people and Robert’s ex-mistress to the dinner, Robert will have his hands full keeping the uninvited guests from ruining his dinner and his former lover from ending his marriage.
