Drama (Plays)

Drama isn't just something that happens in high school hallways or at big family gatherings. In fact, there's a sense in which literary drama and the drama of everyday life are almost opposites of each other—one is scripted, the other is ad lib; one involves actors before an audience, and in the other the audience are the actors; one tries to illuminate truths concerning human nature, while the other simply reflects the truths of human nature.

Modern dramatists are doing their best to blur these lines. The people responsible for reality TV programming are essentially modern playwrights (albeit very shoddy ones), but far from revealing human nature their productions obscure it and reduce anything remotely enlightening to mere entertainment (if you happen to be entertained by people with too much makeup crying and throwing things at each other for no good reason).

It's a sad situation for one of the oldest literary genres. Most of the great Greek writers who weren't explicitly philosophers were either poets or playwrights, and they maintained that art must employ artifice in order to reveal truths about reality; trying to make real life entertaining, or (worse) entertainment real life, was to betray both art and human existence. Plays, they insisted, must serve as a catharsis for the audience, the theater a kind of temple for relieving its patrons of their emotional baggage through release of feeling.

Plays have consequently always tended more toward the existential (dealing with existence) than the cerebral. A novel, speaking directly to readers, can take more time reflecting, analyzing, commenting. On-stage dramas must portray action, conveying ideas and observations in the behavior and speech of the actors. It is principally for this reason that plays are written in order to be performed rather than simply read. There is a visceral element to them not present in merely written stories.

But it's not simply a snatch of life up there on the boards—Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote that enjoying the theater required a "temporary suspension of disbelief." Things don't happen on the stage exactly the way they happen at home, or work, or on the battlfield. It's artifice, and it's ordered in such a way that meaning is conveyed.

Because, at the end of the day Aristotle's dictum that art must both delight and instruct must be served, even in theater. Any play can mean something, or convey an idea, but not every play is enjoyable to watch or listen to. Many of the Modernist variety are just plain boring. They don't delight or entertain, and therefore they fail to ennoble the audience with their professed ideals.

By contrast, William Shakespeare wrote the most thoughtful, philosophical, and flat-out fun to watch plays of all time. He worked in a tradition established by the Classical writers like Aeschylus and Euripedes, but with this appeal to English-speakers: Shakespeare loved words, and he played with them as much as with historical details, psychology, and philosophy.

As poetry is meant to be read aloud, so plays are meant to be performed. Yet a good (or great) playwrite can be read as easily as watched, and his style and content analyzed just as accurately in a university classroom as by a theater critic. Hence, we offer plays in script form. By no means every great playwrite or important school of theater is represented in this section, but we hope there's enough here to demonstrate how satisfying a good play can be, and to kindle in readers who have yet to enjoy it a love of the most human of literary forms.

Review by C. Hollis Crossman
C. Hollis Crossman used to be a child. Now he is a husband and father, teaches adult Sunday school in his Presbyterian congregation, and likes weird stuff. He might be a mythical creature, but he's definitely not a centaur. Read more of his reviews here.

 

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All's Well That Ends Well
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.49
All's Well that Ends Well
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th grade-adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.50
Antigone
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sophocles, translated by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$3.00 $2.00 (2 in stock)
Antigone
by Sophocles
from Hackett Publishing Company
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$10.50
Antony and Cleopatra
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Historical Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.00
Antony and Cleopatra
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Simon and Schuster
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
As You Like It
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Comedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$5.00
As You Like It
by William Shakespeare
from Oxford University
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$9.95
As You Like It
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$9.99
Comedy of Errors
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th grade-adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00
Comedy Of Errors
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.49
Cymbeline
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.49
Cyrano de Bergerac
by Edmond Rostand
from Bantam Books
Drama for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.50 (2 in stock)
Cyrano de Bergerac
Dover Thrift Editions
by Edmond Rostand
from Dover Publications
Drama for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.00 $2.00 (2 in stock)
Everyman and Other Miracle and Morality Plays
Dover Thrift Editions
by Anonymous
from Dover Publications
Medieval Drama for 9th-Adult
in Medieval Literature (Location: LIT2-MED)
$5.00 $1.50 (9 in stock)
Hamlet
The Pelican Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare
from Penguin Putnam
Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$2.50 (1 in stock)
Hamlet
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.00
Henry IV, Part I
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00
Henry V
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Historical Drama for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.00
Ideal Husband
Dover Thrift Editions
by Oscar Wilde
from Dover Publications
Drama for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$2.50
Importance of Being Earnest
Dover Thrift Editions
by Oscar Wilde
from Dover Publications
Drama/Comedy for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$3.00
Importance of Being Earnest
Dover Thrift Editions
by Oscar Wilde
from Signet Classics
Drama/Comedy for 9th-Adult
in 19th Century Literature (Location: LIT6-19)
$4.95
Julius Caesar
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Historical Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.00
Julius Caesar
Barron's Shakespeare Made Easy
by William Shakespeare
1st U.S. from Barron's
Historical Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$5.00 (1 in stock)
Julius Caesar
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$9.99
King John and Henry VIII
by William Shakespeare
from Bantam Books
Historical Drama for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$5.99 $3.00 (2 in stock)
King Lear
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Tragedy for Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.00
King Lear
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$5.24
Love's Labour's Lost
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00
Macbeth
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Simon and Schuster
for 9th-12th grade
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Macbeth
by William Shakespeare
from Barron's
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Macbeth
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th-adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$5.00
Macbeth (Dover Study)
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.50 (1 in stock)
Measure for Measure
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.49
Merchant of Venice
Signet Classic
by William Shakespeare, Edited by Kenneth Myrick
from Penguin Putnam
for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Miracle Worker
by William Gibson
from Pocket Books
Drama for 7th-10th grade
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
Much Ado About Nothing
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Comedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00
Oedipus at Colonus
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sophocles, translated by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$3.00 $2.00 (3 in stock)
Oedipus Rex
Dover Thrift Editions
by Sophocles, translated by Sir George Young
from Dover Publications
Ancient Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$4.00
Oresteia Trilogy
Dover Thrift Editions
by Aeschylus
from Dover Publications
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$5.00
Othello
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00
Prometheus Bound
Dover Thrift Editions
by Aeschylus
from Dover Publications
Ancient Greek Tragedy for 9th-Adult
in Ancient Literature (Location: LIT1-ANC)
$2.50
Pygmalion
Dover Thrift Editions
by George Bernard Shaw
from Dover Publications
Drama/Comedy for 9th-Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$3.00 $1.50 (2 in stock)
Richard III
No Fear Shakespeare
by William Shakespeare
from Sparknotes
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Romeo and Juliet
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00
Romeo and Juliet
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Romeo and Juliet
Shakespeare Made Easy
by William Shakespeare
from Barron's
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$6.99 $4.50 (1 in stock)
Romeo and Juliet
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$9.99
Samuel Beckett
by Samuel Beckett
from Faber & Faber
for Adult
in 20th & 21st Century Literature (Location: LIT7-20)
$2.00 (2 in stock)
She Stoops to Conquer
Dover Thrift Editions
by Oliver Goldsmith
from Dover Publications
Comedic Drama for 10th-Adult
in 18th Century Literature (Location: LIT5-18)
$5.00
Taming of the Shrew
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Elizabethan Drama for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$4.00 $1.00 (29 in stock)
Taming of the Shrew
Barron's Shakespeare Made Easy
by William Shakespeare
from Barron's
Comedy for 9th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Tartuffe and Other Plays
by Jean-Baptiste Moliere
from Signet Classics
for 11th-Adult
in 17th Century Literature (Location: LIT4-17)
$7.95
Tempest
Folger Shakespeare Library
by William Shakespeare
from Washington Square Press
for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
Twelfth Night
Dover Thrift Editions
by William Shakespeare
from Dover Publications
Comedy for 10th-Adult
in Renaissance & Reformation Literature (Location: LIT3-REN)
$3.00