Plays Everyone Should Read

[oliviacecilia]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:17pm

I was wondering what you guys thought are the plays that every theatre lover should read at some point; classic, contemporary, or whatever!

[tazber]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:25pm

The Real Thing

[once a month]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:27pm

Angels in America...a great read

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:31pm

Our Town.

[Playbilly]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:32pm

MacBeth.

[It's a fine life!]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:34pm

Night Mother, Angels in America, An Inspector Calls, Extremities, Jeffrey. I love most Tennessee Williams.

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:35pm

Angels. In. America.

Then go watch the movie, then go find a production somewhere and see both parts in one day.

Updated On: 8/30/12 at 01:35 PM

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:38pm

Death of a Salesman
A Doll's House
Cyrano De Bergerac
The Taming of the Shrew
No Exit
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
The Glass Menagerie

[quizking101]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:42pm

The Normal Heart. HANDS DOWN.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:54pm

Mamet.Doesn't.Read.Well.

[Triple Threat Kid]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 1:57pm

For a more contemporary approach: Angles in America, August Osage County, Good People, and A Streetcar Named Desire! Everything above is great too!

Updated On: 8/30/12 at 01:57 PM

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:00pm

Side Man

The best play in the past 20 years.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:12pm

The Clouds
Macbeth
A Doll's House
An Inspector Calls
Cloudstreet
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
The Crucible
Fences
Angels in America
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Equus
God of Carnage
Agnes of God
Amadeus
Brighton Beach Memoirs/Biloxi Blues/Broadway Bound
Lettice and Lovage
Love! Valour! Compassion!
True West
The Pillowman
I Am My Own Wife
The Coast of Utopia
The Weir
Time Stands Still

[Triple Threat Kid]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:15pm

Time Stands Still and for comedy The Norman Conquests! There are so many! Haha

Updated On: 8/30/12 at 02:15 PM

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 2:19pm

Surprised no one's mentioned Long Day's Journey Into Night. I don't particularly like it, but it's one of America's greatest.

[wonkit]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 3:29pm

Pinter ... doesn't ... read ... well, either.

But it is great in performance.

[Kad]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 3:32pm

The Bald Soprano. Though you should read it aloud with some friends for maximum effect.

The Cherry Orchard

Tartuffe

The Clean House

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 3:32pm

som.......e........ti...........m............es.

[It's a fine life!]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 3:37pm

I enjoyed seeing and reading Life X 3.

[aaronb]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 9:16pm

Um...Hamlet?

Also Betrayal.

[Theatreboy49]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 10:05pm

Older/Classics:
Hamlet
MacBeth
Midsummer Night's Dream (my favorite comedy of the bard)
Major Barbara
Three Sisters
The iceman Cometh
Death of a Salesman
Streetcar Named Desire
A Doll's House

Contemp:
Angels in America Part 1 and 2
August: Osage County
The Pillowman
How I Learned to Drive
The "Eugene" Trilogy of Neil Simon
Orange Flower Water by Craig Wright (I reccomend it to everyone, its a personal favorite)
Mamet is a fave playwright, he doesnt read so well. If you are gonnna read him I suggest Glengarry Glen Ross or American Buffalo
Fool For Love
Noises Off
Gypsy (the perfect musical)
Red Light Winter

[raker]

Posted: 8/30/12 at 10:41pm

A few years ago, Sondheim called Green Grow the Lilacs a bleak play about homosexuality. The source for Oklahoma, a bleak play about homosexuality? I couldn't wait to read it.

It was so interesting to read Oklahoma in bleak play form. I was surprised to see that many words and images in the musical are also in the play. But even with all those cowboys I didn't see a trace of homosexuality. The point of the story seems to be that the farmer and the cowman should be friends. "Friends?" Hmm.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 8/31/12 at 12:52am

Raker, that comment has confounded me ever since I read the interview where he said it. I read the original play way back--maybe 15 years back, and my library here doesn't have it so I haven't revisited, but I don't remember any, even particularly subtle homosexuality. I would have almost thought it was a joke from Sondheim except---I'm pretty sure it wasn't.

Joan Roberts said in an interview that to audition, she was asked to read from the play. And she was SHOCKED by the language she would have to use, and told them as much--but they informed her it would stick. But she happily said by the time the musical was open, none of that language was there for her character. I know her take on bad language would be vastly different than mine, but I also don't particularly remember much in the original play.

I think all the major plays, particularly American 20th Century plays have been mentioned. I guess an easy recommendation is to read one of the major works from the "big names"--and then go from there with what you like.

I'd recommend a ton of Williams, but some of his more interesting work like Camino Real is interesting to read if you only know Menagerie or Cat or Streetcar. Pretty much forgotten or dismissed now as a lesser Williams, I'm a huge fan of Inge and I think Picnic and Dark at the Top of the Stairs in particular read well. So does John Guare's House of Blue Leaves, though I suspect others will say it doesn't read well.

A favorite that probably does lose something by reading, since so much of it has to do with the gendered casting, is Caryl Churchill's Cloud 9.

[bobs3]

Posted: 8/31/12 at 4:49am

Mister Matt: Glad you mentioned THE WEIR. The production I saw was good but the play reads even better.

Also, I'm surprised no one recommended DANCING AT LUGHNASA or THE INVENTION OF LOVE.

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 8/31/12 at 5:24am

It's "Macbeth", not "MacBeth".