18 books like King Henry VIII
Henry IV, Part 1
Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, discusses the author and the theater of his time, and provides quizzes and other study activities.
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King Lear
Lear decides to abdicate and split his kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. Cordelia refuses to flatter her father like her sisters and is banished. Goneril and Regan betray Lear who goes mad.
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Candida
The Reverend James Mavor Morell, a respectable socialist clergyman, spends his days giving lectures and sermons while his wife, Candida, sees to his comfortable London home. That home is disrupted by the arrival of the poet Eugene Marchbanks, who is in love with Candida and determined to rescue her from what he sees as an unromantic life. Shaw wrote Candida as a reaction to Henrik Ibsen’s social…
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Love's Labour's Lost
King Ferdinand and his three friends, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain, plan to study philosophy for the next three years. During their academic pursuits, they must vow to sleep only three hours a night and not let any woman within a mile of court. These strict rules will prevent any distractions from their work—but their promises are soon put to the test when a princess and her three companions…
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Coriolanus
A proud Roman general conquers the Volscians, leads them against Rome in revenge for his banishment, and is killed by the Volscian general when Coriolanus is persuaded to spare the city.
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Henry V
Written by William Shakespeare around 1599, The Life of Henry the Fifth, more commonly known as Henry V, chronicles the later history of King Henry the Fifth of England and his efforts during Hundred Years’ War to reclaim disputed territories in France. The play starts with Henry’s claims to be the rightful heir to the French throne and, after his invasion of France, culminates with his famous…
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Arthurian drama
This anthology reproduces six plays based on stories of King Arthur from a variety of periods. Originally published in 1991, it offers a comprehensive discussion of Arthurian Drama in introduction and also provides an appendix listing printed scripts in English that address Arthurian legend.
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An Ideal Husband
An Ideal Husband is an 1895 comedic stage play by Oscar Wilde which revolves around blackmail and political corruption, and touches on the themes of public and private honour. The action is set in London, in "the present", and takes place over the course of twenty-four hours. "Sooner or later," Wilde notes, "we shall all have to pay for what we do." But he adds that, "No one should be entirely…
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The Rivals
A comedy of manners revolving around false identities, romantic entanglements, and parental disapproval satirizes the pretentiousness and sentimentality of 18th-century society.
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Saint Joan
This classic traces the life of Joan of Arc from the time she appears to her regional governor, her visit to the Dauphin (where she is undeceived by his disguise) to the siege of Orleans, coronation at Rheims, trial and recantation, and culminating with her death at the stake. Followed by the famous epilogue regarding her canonization, Shaw explores the themes of faith, nationalism and…
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Henry VI, Part 3
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King Henry VI. Part 2
King Henry VI by William Shakespeare
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King Richard II
"Richard is King. A monarch ordained by God to lead his people. But he is also a man of very human weakness. A man whose vanity threatens to divide the great houses of England and drag his people into a dynastic civil war that will last 100 years"--Container.
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War Lord
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER“I gulped it right down. Excellent, as always. . . . Cornwell brings battles to life like no one else.” –George R.R. Martin, Author of Game of ThronesThe final installment in Bernard Cornwell’s bestselling Saxon Tales series, chronicling the epic story of the making of England—the basis for The Last Kingdom, the hit Netflix series.THE FINAL BATTLE AWAITS…The epic…
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The Evening and the Morning
1 New York Times BestsellerAn Amazon Best Book of 2020 The thrilling and addictive prequel to The Pillars of the Earth--set in England at the dawn of a new era: the Middle Ages"Just as transporting as [The Pillars of the Earth] . . . A most welcome addition to the Kingsbridge series." --The Washington PostIt is 997 CE, the end of the Dark Ages. England is facing attacks from…
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Macbeth
An Apple Books Classic edition.Macbeth is one of Shakespeare’s darkest and most tragic works, a drama so steeped in legend that actors won’t even say its name for fear of bringing bad luck. The Bard’s shortest tragedy is a tale of murder, madness, and ambition full of iconic speeches. It’s been adapted countless times during its 400 years—and now director Joel Coen has created a bold and fierce…
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The school for scandal, 1780
The School for Scandal debuted at Drury Lane Theater in London in 1777. The play is still popular and regularly performed today. It is a comedy of manners about "the deceptive nature of appearances, the fickleness of reputation, [and] the often disreputable guises behind which goodness and honesty can conceal itself."
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Back to Methuselah
Five linked plays that expound Shaw's philosophy of creative evolution in an extended dramatic parable that progresses through time from the Garden of Edesn to AD 31,920. Cf Encyclopaedia Britannica.
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