Mother Elizabeth Sawyer is a poor, lonely, and unfairly ostracized old woman with nothing left to lose. Frank is a poor farmer who intends to marry his beloved Winnifred, who is pregnant with his child, but is pressured to marry Susan, the rich yeoman's daughter. Young Cuddy Banks is a clown who pines after a girl who doesn't love him. When Mother Sawyer turns to witchcraft after being unjustly accused of it, a talking devil-dog named Tom comes to her aid, becoming her familiar and only friend. Though she intends to get her revenge, little does she know many of those around her are only too willing to sell their souls to the devil all by themselves...

The Broken Heart stands next to ‘Tis Pity She's a Whore as Ford's most popular drama. All is not right in Sparta because of, as is typical in this era of tragedies, the issue of marriage. In brief, Penthea wishes to marry Orgilus, but her brother Ithocles gets involved and bans them from doing so. He forces her to marry Bassanes, an abusive brute who happens to be wealthier than Orgilus. Ithocles then realises what he's done wrong and tries to get his friend Prophilus to marry Orgilus's sister Euphrania...

Hedda Gabler has just returned from her honeymoon. She has married out of ennui, and is already heartily sick of her husband, who is a plodding, pedantic academic. Upon moving into her new Christiania home, she soon discovers that Thea Elvsted, an old schoolmate whom she always envied and despised, has boldly left her marriage in order to be with Eilert Lövborg, a former lover of Hedda who is trying to overcome a past life of debauchery and alcoholism by creating a revolutionary new work of philosophy and returning to respectability...

When Julius Caesar returns to Rome from conquering the Gauls, Cassius and his friends are worried that he will try to seize power and make himself emperor. Cassius must act fast. He gathers Brutus, Cinna, and others to stop Julius Caesar and save the Roman Republic! This play was recorded in two weeks as part of celebration of the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death. Summary by Esther ben Simonides Cast List:Narrator: Peter Why Flavius, Casca, Volumnius: Maria KasperMarullus, Cinna the Poet,...

Halvard Solness is a master architect who has ruthlessly forged a preëminent career without regard for the feelings of those around him. In spite of this unscrupulous path of life, his conscience is still painfully alive, burdening him with guilt for past choices. He lives a tormented existence, fearful not only that he is going mad but also that he has unconsciously been in league with demonic powers in order to reach his present status. His long-suffering wife and his mistress try to deal with him in his fragile state while not being destroyed themselves...

Considered by her contemporaries a playwright “second only to Shakespeare,” Joanna Baillie was one of the most critically acclaimed writers of the Romantic Era. The Plays on the Passions, first published in 1798, stands as her undeniable magnum opus: a multivolume series of tragedies and comedies exploring the overruling passions of the mind. Orra: A Tragedy in Five Acts, which comes from that series' third volume, is Joanna Baillie’s haunting meditation on fear and madness. It is gothic melodrama par excellence...

Based on Aphra Behn's 1688 novel , Thomas Southerne's Oroonoko is seen by scholars today as the driving force that kept Behn's work from fading into obscurity. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was considered even more popular than the novel, presenting theatergoing audiences with a highly touching tale of pathos and tragedy involving the eponymous prince-turned-slave and his undying devotion to his beloved wife, Imoinda. However, in this version, unlike in Behn's novel, Imoinda is a white woman, and there is also a comic subplot involving the husband-hunting Welldon sisters that caters to Restoration tastes ...

The Dream is Joanna Baillie’s gothic, proto-Lynchian meditation on fear, guilt, and the prophetic power of dreams. In the cloistered confines of a Swiss monastery, a small group of monks share the same prophetic dream: a forlorn specter reaches out to them with a mysterious—and potentially life-threatening—ultimatum. The dream comes every night, and yet its true import remains hazy and unknown. But when these dreams lead them to a buried corpse, the monastery soon tumbles down a blood-spattered path of vengeance, betrayal, and unbridled terror...

The second original tragedy written by Gothic writer Matthew Lewis, Adelgitha; or, The Fruits of a Single Error is a markedly more serious affair than his melodramatic output, dealing as it does with a fallen woman who is mercilessly blackmailed by a ruthless tyrant when she spurns his advances. Set in Otranto during the High Middle Ages, and featuring fictionalized depictions of historical rulers Robert Guiscard and Michael Ducas , Adelgitha is an archetypal Gothic drama that, while not especially refined or meritorious in terms of quality, still manages to thrill in that deliciously overwrought way that Lewis knew how to sell...

Billed by scholars as the first part of the all-encompassing Henriad, Richard II is a richly satisfying probe into the inner workings of monarchical rule and its evolution from being seen as divinely held to a more modern conception that incorporates political cunning. Shakespeare positions the titular Richard in the former position, his shortcomings as England's leader made all too clear when he bungles the handling of a judicial duel, and then later seizes money and assets that are not rightfully his in order to fund an Irish war...

Saint Joan is a play by George Bernard Shaw about 15th-century French military figure Joan of Arc. Premiering in 1923, three years after her canonization by the Roman Catholic Church, the play reflects Shaw's belief that the people involved in Joan's trial acted according to what they thought was right. He wrote in his preface to the play: “There are no villains in the piece. Crime, like disease, is not interesting: it is something to be done away with by general consent, and that is all [there is] about it...

"The reign of Louis XIV. in France, like the age of Pericles at ancient Athens, was remarkable for literary excellence no less than for military achievements. Like Euripides, Racine confined himself almost exclusively to tragedy.... It was under Molière's friendly auspices that Racine's first published play, "La Thébaïde," was put upon the stage ... at the Palais Royale, Molière's own theater." The story, very much the opposite of a Moliere farce, describes the battle between the brothers Eteocles and Polynices, and being a proper tragedy does not end well for anyone...

In this tragedy [about part of the aftermath of the Trojan War], which made its appearance in 1667, there is a more intricate plot than is usual in Racine's plays, and it offers a greater variety of character and motive. Love, jealousy, friendship, conjugal fidelity, maternal tenderness, anger, and despair are all portrayed with skillful touches; and if the language is that of the French Court of the seventeenth century, the natural emotions of the human heart, the same in all ages, show themselves...

Tom Thumb, small of stature, great of heart. This play was written as a parody of the tragic heroic biography of a great man, filled with biting satire as to people and events of the time. Note as warned by the title that this is not a happy-ending fairy tale. Supposedly Jane Austen put on a family performance of this play. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: King Arthur, a passionate sort of king, husband to queen Dollallolla, of whom he stands a little in fear; father to Huncamunca, whom he is...

About as far from a rollicking Gilbert and Sullivan musical as you can get: this is Gilbert's tragic version of Goethe's Faust. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Dominic: David Purdy Anselm: Alan Mapstone Faustus: Mike Manolakes Gottfried: Kurt Mephisto: ToddHW Agatha: Diane Castillo Bessie: Kathi M. Walsheck Barbara: TJ Burns Lisa: Kelly S. Taylor Gretchen: Jenn Broda Martha: Sonia Friedrich: David Purdy Stage Directions: Adrian Stephens Editing: ToddHW

Britannicus is son and heir of the Roman emperor Claudius. However, this does not please Nero, who wants both throne and Britannicus's fiancee Junia. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Nero, emperor, son of Agrippina: Dale Burgess Britannicus, son of Messalina and of the emperor Claudius: David Purdy Agrippina, widow of Domitus Ahenbarbus, the Father of Nero, and widow by her second marriage of the emperor Claudius: Matea Bracic Junia, beloved by Britannicus: thestorygirl Burrus, tutor of Nero: ToddHW Narcissus, tutor of Britannicus: Alan Mapstone Albina, confidential friend of Agrippina: Sonia Stage Directions: Larry Wilson Editing: ToddHW

Centlivre's first play: a tragedy. Star-crossed lovers, one married and the other betrothed elsewhere. Secret letters gone astray, gender changing disguises, climax at masked ball. - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Count Bassino, a Savoyard, married to Placentia, and in Love with Aurelia: Mike Manolakes Armando, Bassino's Friend: Alan Mapstone Alonzo, a Venetian Gentleman, betrothed to Aurelia: Wayne Cooke Pizalto, a Noble Venetian: Greg Giordano Ludovico, a Frenchman: Rémi Placentia, Bassino's Wife:...

Titus, emperor of Rome, wants to marry Berenice, queen of Palestine, but decides that Rome will not be able to handle having him marry a foreign queen. Berenice refuses to stay in this case and leaves Rome. Unlike many of the other Racine plays, there actually are survivors at the end of this one! - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Titus, emperor of Rome: Adrian Stephens Berenice, queen of Palestine: WendyKatzHiller Antiochus, king of Commagene: ToddHW Paulinus, a friend of Titus: Tchaikovsky Arsaces, a friend of Antiochus: Alan Mapstone Phoenice, a friend of Berenice: Jenn Broda Rutilus, a Roman: Larry Wilson Stage Directions: Sonia Editing: ToddHW

"The time to which this tragedy relates is much later than that of any other of Racine's historical plays. The capture of Babylon from the Persians by Sultan Amurath IV, on which the catastrophe of the plot depends, occurred only a year before the poet's birth, viz 1638." - Summary by the Translator Cast list: Bajazet, Brother of Sultan Amurath: VocalPenguin Roxana, Sultana, the favorite of Sultan Amurath: Matea Bracic Atalide, a Turkish Damsel of Royal Blood: Availle Achmet, the Grand Vizier: ToddHW Osman, Friend of the Grand Vizier: Alan Mapstone Fatima, a Slave of the Sultana: Jenn Broda Zara, a Slave of Atalide: Sonia Stage Directions: Larry Wilson Editing: ToddHW

Another tragedy by Racine, based on the historical character and career of Mithridates circa 63 BCE. Closing with sorrow and lamentation and promises of a "search for vengeance". - Summary by ToddHW Cast list: Mithridates, King of Pontus and of many other lands: Greg Giordano Monima, betrothed to Mithridates, and already declared Queen: Sonia Pharnaces, son of Mithridates: Jenn Broda Xiphares, son of Mithridates: Tchaikovsky Arbates, friend of Mithridates, and Governor of Nymphaeum: ToddHW Phoedima, Friend of Monima: WendyKatzHiller Arcas, Servant of Mithridates: Joanna Michal Hoyt Stage Directions: Alan Mapstone Editing: ToddHW

Racine's version of the time-honored story of Iphigenia was acted for the first time in 1674. The model upon which it is shaped is the "Iphigenia in Aulis" of his favorite Euripides, but the French poet has heightened the romantic interest and complicated the plot by the important part which Eriphyle is made to play. - Summary by Introduction Cast list: Agamemnon: Greg Giordano Achilles: Alan Mapstone Ulysses: ToddHW Clytaemnestra, Wife of Agamemnon: Sonia Iphigenia, Daughter of Agamemnon:...

This drama, set in Ancient Greece, was written by a Victorian lawyer who was a close friend of Charles Dickens. When collected into book format, “The Pickwick Papers” was dedicated to him. As a Member of Parliament, Sir Thomas Noon Talfourd introduced legislation protecting the copyrights of authors. This play was originally printed only to be read as poetry. However, it attracted the attention of William Macready, who mounted a successful production of it at Covent Garden in 1836. The drama became a much bigger hit a few years later, though, when it was revived with actress Ellen Terry taking over the part of the tragic hero, Ion...

This drama was written in 1848 for the great French tragedienne, Rachel, by Eugene Scribe and his writing partner, Ernest Legouve. Scribe is remembered for devising the compositional technique now known as the “well-made play” that dominated play-writing for most of the 19th century. This plot is loosely based on events in the life of the actress, Adrienne Lecouvreur of the Comédie-Française and the tragic outcome of her love affair with Maurice, Comte de Saxe Cast List Maurice de Saxe Andrew Latheron Prince de Bouillon Jake Malizia Abbe de Chazeuil Alan Mapstone Michonnet Adrian Stephens Poisson Greg Giordano Quinault James R...

Written in 1819, but not first staged for over hundred years after it was written due to controversial themes of incest and parricide, it was not considered stageable. This tragedy is a true story, set in Rome, 1599, centred around the murder of the tyrant, Count Francesco Cenci, by his tormented daughter, Beatrice. - Summary by Jake Malizia Cast list: Count Francesco Cenci Greg Giordano Lucretia, wife of Cenci and step-mother of his children Sonia Beatrice, daughter of Cenci Jenn Broda Orsino,...

Inspired by the tale of El Cid, U.S. author Epes Sargent created this drama about a knight forced to conceal his true identity. The play debuted in 1837 at Boston’s Tremont Theatre in a production featuring visiting English actress Ellen Tree and E.L Davenport as King Ferdinand. - Summary by Kelly Taylor Cast: King Ferdinand Wayne Cooke Favillo James R. Hedrick De Lerma Alan Mapstone Velasco Jake Malizia Gonzalez Algy Pug Julio, Son of Gonzalez Andrew Latheron Hernando, his...