18 books like Major Barbara
Heartbreak House
Published in 1919, Heartbreak House is an examination of the failings of the European leisure classes before World War I—failings that author George Bernard Shaw blamed for the war, and that he predicted would quickly lead to another, longer war. The play is set in an English country house, where representatives of every type of English society have gathered at the home of the seemingly-mad…
Shares: Facsimiles, British and irish drama, Manuscripts, Drama
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…
Shares: British and irish drama, English drama, Drama
Arms and the Man
Arms and the Man was George Bernard Shaw's first commercially successful play. It is a comedy about idealized love versus true love. A young Serbian woman idealizes her war-hero fiance and thinks the Swiss soldier who begs her to hide him a terrible coward. After the war she reverses her opinions, though the tangle of relationships must be resolved before her ex-soldier can conclude the last of…
Shares: Facsimiles, British and irish drama, Manuscripts, English drama
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…
Shares: British and irish drama, English drama, Drama, Classic Literature
Proserpine & Midas
Mary Shelley was an English writer best known for the classic gothic novel Frankenstein which has been adapted into film many times.  This edition of Proserpine & Midas includes a table of contents. 
Shares: Facsimiles, Manuscripts, Drama
The Aspern Papers
With a decaying Venetian villa as a backdrop, an anonymous narrator relates his obsessive quest for the personal documents of a deceased Romantic poet, one Jeffrey Aspern. Led by his mission into increasingly unscrupulous behavior, he is ultimately faced with relinquishing his heart's desire or attaining it at an overwhelming price.
Shares: Manuscripts, English drama, Drama, Classic Literature
Love for Love
Valentine, Sir Sampson's dissolute eldest son, finds himself at a standstill; the only way out of his financial difficulties is to give in to his father's pressure to renounce his right of inheritance. While this suggestion immediately increases the chances of his bluff younger brother Ben on the marriage mart, Valentine's own chances with his beloved Angelica would proportionally decrease. To…
Shares: British and irish drama, English drama, Drama
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."
Shares: British and irish drama, English drama, Drama
Exiles
Exiles by James Joyce is a modernist play that explores themes of love, betrayal, and artistic integrity. The drama revolves around an Irish writer and his complex relationships with his wife and a friend. Reflecting autobiographical elements, the play delves into psychological conflict and emotional ambiguity with Joyce’s characteristic depth and nuance.
Shares: Facsimiles, British and irish drama, Manuscripts, Drama
This Side of Paradise
This Side of Paradise, F. Scott Fitzgerald's romantic and witty first novel, was written when the author was only twenty-three years old. This semi-autobiographical story of the handsome, indulged, and idealistic Princeton student Amory Blaine received critical raves and catapulted Fitzgerald to instant fame. Now, readers can enjoy the newly edited, authorized version of this early classic of the…
Shares: Children of the rich, Facsimiles, Manuscripts
What every woman knows
National Theatre, direction: A.L. Erlanger & W.H. Rapley, business management: S.E. Cochran. S.E. Cochran offers the National Theatre Players in "What Every Woman Knows," by Sir James M. Barrie, staged by Addision Pitt, scenery by Charles Squires. Stage manager Frank Peck, production built by Charles Sturbitts, properties Geo. Donaldson, electrician, Walter Burke.
Shares: British and irish drama, English drama, Drama
The Tragedy of Jane Shore
This tragedy in five acts was originally performed in the early eighteenth century. The play focuses on one of King Henry IV’s most notorious mistresses, Jane Shore.
Shares: British and irish drama, English drama, Drama
The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus
Marlowe's play has two different recognized texts, with most editions based on the B text. Due to recent arguments for the authenticity of A, this edition is based on the A text. It includes a discussion of biographical, dramatic and theatrical aspects of the play.
Shares: British and irish drama, English drama, Drama, Classic Literature
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Stephen Dedalus grows up in Dublin, feeling different from the other boys. His childhood and adolescence are shaped by bullying, his father's weaknesses and the growing realization that in order to make his way in the world he must reject a conventional life and boecome an artist.
Penguin Popular Classics are the perfect introduction to the world-famous Penguin Classics series — which…
Shares: Facsimiles, Manuscripts, Drama, Classic Literature
The Admirable Crichton
The story of the play concerns an aristocratic English family who revert to the state of Nature when shipwrecked on a desert island. While there, they are willing slaves to their former butler, but on return to civilization, the positions are shifted.
Shares: British and irish drama, English drama, Drama, Classic Literature
The Way of the World
The Way of the World is a comedy play written by the English playwright William Congreve, first performed in 1700. It premiered in the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. It is widely regarded by critics as one of the finest works of Restoration comedy ever written, and has often been called a centrepiece of the genre. Initially, however, the play struck many audience members as continuing…
Shares: British and irish drama, English drama, Drama
Washington Square
With a new afterword by Michael CunninghamWhat Catherine Sloper lacks in brains and beauty, she makes up for by being "very good." The handsome Morris Townsend would do anything to win her hand-even if it means pretending that he loves the homely ingenue, and cares nothing for her opulent wealth.
Throughout time, the women of the world always had limited rights when it came to anything. You…
Shares: Children of the rich, Fathers and daughters, Classic Literature
Cymbeline
Cymbeline, King of Britain is one of the best-known works of William Shakespeare. It is a romantic play interwoven with war and tragedy. It revolves around Cymbeline and his daughter, Imogen. Imogen does not abide by her father's wishes and marries a lowborn gentleman, Posthumous. After their marriage, Posthumous is banished from Britain, and Imogen is held as a prisoner in the palace. As the…
Shares: English drama, Fathers and daughters, Drama, Classic Literature