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. The play’s verbosity makes it unwieldy to produce full scale, so the Epistle in the beginning and the Revolutionist’s Handbook at the end are usually not performed, and the scene in Hell, although containing the bulk of the play’s philosophical musings, is often dropped. (from eNotes)

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The Bear

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. Dedicating the play to N. N. Solovtsov, Chekhov is said to have been inspired by his friend’s boorish performance in a French vaudeville. Indeed, with its fast-paced, biting dialogue alluding to popular song lyrics, accidentally broken furniture, and exaggerated emotions that quickly turn into their opposite, this three-character drama resembles an act from a vaudeville. (From eNotes)

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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. Jack proposes to Gwendolen Fairfax while Algernon, posing as Jack’s wicked brother Ernest, falls in love with Jack’s ward, Cecily. Oscar Wilde was a master of social farce, and aristocratic Victorian men often provided fodder for works like The Importance of Being Earnest. (From Cliff’s Notes)

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. Molière had to use his influence with King Louis IV to get permission for the 17th-century French play to be performed in public. (From Cliff’s Notes)