18 books like Saint Joan
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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Henry VI, Part 3
Shares: English Historical drama, British and irish drama, Great Britain, English literature
All for Love; or, The World Well Lost
Written in 1677, Dryden's heroic drama 'All For Love, or, The World Well Lost' is his best-known and most performed play. It is a tragedy written in blank verse and is an attempt on Dryden's part to reinvigorate serious drama. It is an acknowledged imitation of Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra', and focuses on the last hours of the lives of its hero and heroine.
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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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Maria Stuart
''Maria Stuart'' (biography), a biography of Mary, Queen of Scots
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King Henry VIII
"This is the first fully annotated and comprehensive modern-spelling edition of King Henry VIII - known in its early performances as All is True - for over ten years. It makes full use of current scholarship on the dating, authorship, printing, and sources of the play, as well as critical interpretations, and includes an up-to-date survey of the play in performance.
It is the first edition to…
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Henry IV, Part 2
Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, Summer festival, June 27th to September 10th, 1932. "The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, containing his death, and the coronation of King Henry the Fifth," by William Shakespeare. The prologue will be spoken by Eugene Wellesley and the epilogue by Hilda Coxhead.
Shares: English Historical drama, English drama, English literature, Drama
King Henry VI. Part 2
King Henry VI by William Shakespeare
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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…
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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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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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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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King John
Complexities of power and loyalty in King John, a historical play by William Shakespeare. Set against the backdrop of England’s turbulent politics, this gripping narrative explores the reign of King John, who faces internal betrayal and external threats. As he grapples with his own legitimacy and the loyalty of his nobles, the play delves into themes of authority, identity, and human frailty.
Shares: English Historical drama, English drama, Drama, History
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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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.
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The Two Noble Kinsmen
When Theseus, Duke of Athens, learns that the ruler of Thebes has killed three noble kings he swears to take revenge. But after Athens triumphs over the rival city, Theseus is struck by the bravery of two Theban cousins and orders his surgeons to attend to them. Soon, the cousins' lifelong friendship is threatened, as both become overwhelmed with love for the duke's beautiful sister.
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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…
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