"to deal with the issue of text. Thus, he set about writing his first play, ""Gross Indecency,"" based on transcripts, biographies, letters, and other found materials about the life and work of Oscar Wilde. One month after the murder of gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard, Kaufman and ten company members traveled to Laramie, Wyoming to interview people in the town torn apart by the crime. The play forged from these interviews was created collaboratively by the members of the company over a long workshop process in which participants were encouraged to operate outside their area of specialization: actors"
"a much more physical way than the script provided for. See ""The Relapse"". George Powell (playwright) George Powell (1668? – 1714) was a 17th-century London actor and playwright who was a member of the United Company. He wrote a misogynistic play called ""The Imposture Defeated; or, A Trick to Cheat the Devil"", first performed in September 1697. This play portrayed the proper treatment of an adulteress as brutal confinement and isolation from others to punish her and prevent the spread of her attitude. It is thought that this play was rushed out as a result of Mr. Powell having seen"
"to follow her. The guards arrive to escort them away. At the last moment, Didier confesses his love to Marion, who forgives him and asks for forgiveness. The condemned march towards torture. Marion remains alone on stage, and sees the litter of the cardinal, who has just been present at the execution. Marion de Lorme (Hugo) Marion de Lorme is a play in five acts, written in 1828 by Victor Hugo. It is about the famous French courtesan of that name, who lived under the reign of Louis XIII. The play was first performed in 1831 at the Théâtre de"
"The Crucible The Crucible is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692/93. Miller wrote the play as an allegory for McCarthyism, when the United States government persecuted people accused of being communists. Miller himself was questioned by the House of Representatives' Committee on Un-American Activities in 1956 and convicted of contempt of Congress for refusing to identify others present at meetings he had attended. The play was first performed at the Martin Beck Theatre on Broadway"
"1800s. According to Allan Gates Halline in his introduction to ""Superstition"" in ""American Plays, """"The appeal to reason and knowledge suggest that Barker was reflecting the rationalistic thought current shortly before and partly during the period in which he was writing."" The setting of ""Superstition"" takes place in the Puritan's Massachusetts Bay Colony in the early 17th-century. The play's protagonist, Charles Fitzroy, and his mother, Isabella, are unfairly condemned by the town's Puritan leader, Reverend Ravensworth. After the New England town defends itself from a Native American raid, Charles and Isabella are put on trial and are executed for supposed"
"While Webster's drama was generally dismissed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, there has been ""a strong revival of interest"" in the 20th century. Other revenge tragedies include ""The Changeling"" written by Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, ""The Atheist's Tragedy"" by Cyril Tourneur, first published in 1611, Christopher Marlowe's ""The Jew of Malta"", ""The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois"" by George Chapman, ""The Malcontent"" (c. 1603) of John Marston and John Ford's ""'Tis Pity She's a Whore"". Besides ""Hamlet"", other plays of Shakespeare's with at least some revenge elements, are ""Titus Andronicus"", ""Julius Caesar"" and ""Macbeth"". George Chapman (?1559-?1634) was a"
"the play, considered his most notable, a man dies and interrupts his own last rites to announce his own damnation. The play was performed in Augsburg on two consecutive days in July 1602. Another of Bidermann's notable plays is Philemon Martyr, dealing with the persecution of Christians in early Rome. In this play, a musician named Philemon agrees to substitute himself for a Christian friend, take his name, and pretend to render sacrifice to some pagan idols for him, thereby allowing him to avoid – however technically – the Ten Commandments prohibition of doing honor to idols. However, on approaching"
"Jefferson, Charles Dickens and Count Leo Tolstoy: Discord"", a play that depicts Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Leo Tolstoy stuck in purgatory together, as all three men wrote his own interpretation of a biblical text (Jefferson wrote ""The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth"" and Dickens wrote ""The Life of Our Lord""). In the play, the trio must come to a theological agreement before they are allowed to enter heaven. The Gospel in Brief The Gospel in Brief () is a 1902 synthesis of the four gospels of the New Testament into one narrative of the life of Jesus"
"he dies. However, his death comes sooner than expected and he finds that his attempts to repent and confess his sins are ineffective. In both plays the main character is condemned to Hell. The story of this play follows the last two days in the life of a young courtier, Don Juan Tenorio, a libertine, a seducer of women and an atheist. He is accompanied throughout the play by his valet, Sganarelle, a truculent, superstitious, cowardly, greedy fellow who engages with his master in intellectual debates. Don Juan is presented as a character with many different facets to his personality"
"""Candide"" by Voltaire, the personal tutor of the main character Candide. The Heir at Law The Heir at Law (1797) is a comedic play in five acts by George Colman the Younger that remained popular through the 19th century. It and ""John Bull"" (1803) were Colman's best known comedies. The piece deputed at the Haymarket in London on 15 July 1797, with John Fawcett playing Dr. Pangloss, and ran for 27 performances. It was first performed in the United States at the Park Theatre in New York in April 1799. Many American actors played the role of Pangloss to success,"
"dull. Literature."" London, Cassell & Co., 1895. Bussy D'Ambois The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois (1603–1607) is a Jacobean stage play written by George Chapman. Classified as either a tragedy or ""contemporary history,"" ""Bussy D'Ambois"" is widely considered Chapman's greatest play, and is the earliest in a series of plays that Chapman wrote about the French political scene in his era, including the sequel ""The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois"", the two-part ""The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron"", and ""The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France"". The play is based on the life of the real Louis de Bussy"
"Sheriff's office was moved from Salem to Middleton in 1991. Giles Corey is the subject of a Henry Wadsworth Longfellow play entitled ""Giles Corey of the Salem Farms"" and an 1893 play, ""Giles Corey, Yeoman"", by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman. Corey is a character in Arthur Miller's play ""The Crucible"" (1953), in which he is portrayed as a hot-tempered but honorable man, giving evidence critical to the witch trials. His wife Martha (executed on September 22, 1692) was one of the 19 people hanged during the hysteria on Proctor's Ledge. In ""The Crucible"", Giles feels guilty about the accusation of"
"1672, a monumental baroque play by Johann Caspar Weissenbach was performed in Zug, entitled ""Eydtgnossisch Contrafeth Auff- und Abnemmender Jungfrawen Helvetiae"". The play is full of allegories illustrating the raise of ""Helvetia"" and her decadence after the Reformation. In the 4th act, the ""Abnemmende Helvetiae"" or ""Waning Helvetia"" is faced with ""Atheysmus"" and ""Politicus"" while the old virtues leave her. In the final scene, Christ himself appears to punish the wayward damsel, but the Mother of God and Bruder Klaus intercede and the contrite sinner is pardoned. Identification of the Swiss as ""Helvetians"" (""Hélvetiens"") becomes common in the 18th century,"
"performance. As the play continues, the line between the actor and the person he portrays (Brian Lipson and Francis Galton, respectively) becomes blurred, until finally the single man is both. A Large Attendance in the Antechamber A Large Attendance In The Antechamber is a one-man play by Brian Lipson about Francis Galton the English scientist, statistician and founder of the eugenics movement. The play was first seen in Melbourne in 2000, and has since been performed in the UK, United States and New Zealand, both in theatres and in private homes. The play is both a philosophic discussion and a"
"Bussy D'Ambois The Tragedy of Bussy D'Ambois (1603–1607) is a Jacobean stage play written by George Chapman. Classified as either a tragedy or ""contemporary history,"" ""Bussy D'Ambois"" is widely considered Chapman's greatest play, and is the earliest in a series of plays that Chapman wrote about the French political scene in his era, including the sequel ""The Revenge of Bussy D'Ambois"", the two-part ""The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron"", and ""The Tragedy of Chabot, Admiral of France"". The play is based on the life of the real Louis de Bussy d'Amboise, who was murdered in 1579. ""Bussy"
"corrupt and badly printed. The play is set in Dijon in Burgundy in the later part of the fifteenth century, in the aftermath of the battles of Grandson, Morat (both 1476) and Nancy (1477), all mentioned in Act I, scene ii. The protagonist's father, the elder Charalois, was a general who had gone into debt to pay the expenses of his troops; unable to repay those charges, he died in debtor's prison, and his rapacious creditors refuse to release his body for a proper burial. The general's son has taken his cause to court, but his suit is rejected by"
"Superstition (play) The Tragedy of Superstition; or, the Fanatic Father, is a straight play by James Nelson Barker set in a Puritan village in Colonial America, specifically in ""New England, about the year 1675."" Although feeling much like a melodrama, Barker himself identifies the play as a tragedy in the title. Barker tells in his preface to the play that main incidents of the play are said to have actually occurred in New England in the late 1600s. The play revolves around the hero Charles and the villain Reverend Ravensworth. Ravensworth persecutes Charles and his mother on the claims that"
"Socrates (Voltaire) Socrates () is a 1759 French play in three acts written by Voltaire. It is set in Ancient Greece during the events just before the trial and death of Greek philosopher Socrates. It is heavy with satire specifically at government authority and organized religion. The main characters besides the titular role is that of the priest Anitus, his entourage, Socrates' wife Xantippe, several judges, and some children Socrates has adopted as his own. Like more historical accounts by Herodotus, Plato, and Xenophon, the playwright shows Socrates as a moral individual charged with baseless accusations by a conspiracy of"
"Counsel and Chastity. The play opens with Diligence delivering a sermon on good kingship. The main character, young King Humanity, then appears and is at first led astray by Sensuality and the Vices. His false counsellors introduce him to a mistress, Sensuality, which is the starting point of his disconnection from the moral way of life. He is then fooled by three disguised liars. Gude Counsel is sent to prison by the liars who already have taken control of King Humanitie's mind. With the beginning of his lecherous new life the king forgets about the moral virtues and can no"
"of a fifteenth-century English morality play whose eponymous protagonist is ""called"" by death and must account for his life on earth before God. About the play, Roth said the following in a late 2005 interview: The classic is called Everyman, it's from 1485, by an anonymous author. It was right in between the death of Chaucer and the birth of Shakespeare. The moral was always ""Work hard and get into heaven"", ""Be a good Christian or go to hell"". Everyman is the main character and he gets a visit from Death. He thinks it's some sort of messenger, but Death"
"complaints unexpectedly demanded to be restored. He was imprisoned until his death a year later. Browning's treatment is based on 18th century sources which cast Victor as deliberately deceptive, but he goes further to create a secret history in which Charles is exonerated from all charges of cruelty. The play is in four acts and has only four main characters: Victor, Charles, Charles's wife Polyxena, and the minister D'Ormea. Charles suffers from an inferiority complex. He has always been regarded as the dull son, forced into the role of heir after the death of his abler brother. The theme is"
"The Heir at Law The Heir at Law (1797) is a comedic play in five acts by George Colman the Younger that remained popular through the 19th century. It and ""John Bull"" (1803) were Colman's best known comedies. The piece deputed at the Haymarket in London on 15 July 1797, with John Fawcett playing Dr. Pangloss, and ran for 27 performances. It was first performed in the United States at the Park Theatre in New York in April 1799. Many American actors played the role of Pangloss to success, including comedian Joseph Jefferson starting in 1857. The play is best"
"The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron The Conspiracy and Tragedy of Charles, Duke of Byron, Marshall of France is a Jacobean tragedy by George Chapman, a two-part play or double play first performed and published in 1608. It tells the story of Charles de Gontaut, duc de Biron, executed for treason in 1602. The two plays that comprise the larger work, ""The Conspiracy of Byron"" and ""The Tragedy of Byron"", can also be described as ""contemporary history;"" they form the second and third installments in a series of dramas that Chapman wrote on French politics and history"
"a role (Idumeus) between two different actors. Horestes Horestes is a late Tudor morality play by the English dramatist John Pickering. It was first published in 1567 and was most likely performed by Lord Rich's men as part of the Christmas revels at court that year. The play's full title is A new interlude of Vice containing the history of Horestes with the cruel revengement of his father's death upon his one natural mother. It has been proposed that John Pickering (John Pickeryng) is likely to be the same person as lawyer and politician Sir John Puckering. The play dramatises"
"Hartford Theatre (now the Ricardo Montalbán Theatre) in Los Angeles, and a production during the 1968–1969 season at the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. The Right Honourable Gentleman The Right Honourable Gentleman is a 1962 play by Michael Dyne, first staged in 1964. ""The Right Honourable Gentleman"" is a dramatization of the rather complicated real-life Crawford Scandal of Victorian England. Sir Charles Dilke, an important Liberal member of Parliament, is seen as a possible successor to Gladstone as Prime Minister. The circumstances leading to his destruction, his private affairs as contrasted with those of the Empire, form the crux of the"
"situation is paralleled by that of another character, Chatillion, who has been driven slightly mad by love and fancies himself a claimant to the throne of France. As a result, he believes himself surrounded by perils — all in his own imagination. The Noble Gentleman The Noble Gentleman is a Jacobean era stage play, a comedy in the canon of John Fletcher and his collaborators that was first published in the first Beaumont and Fletcher folio of 1647. It is one of the plays in Fletcher's canon (see ""Love's Cure"" and ""Thierry and Theodoret"" for other examples) that presents significant"
"supposed to include the three realms of Paradise, Hell, and Purgatory. In an inversion of Dante's beliefs, ""The Investigation"" was supposed to correspond to the ""Paradise"" and yet be a place of despair for its victims. ""Inferno"", written in 1964 but first published in 2003 as part of Weiss' estate, described the netherworld in its title. Due to the historical significance of the Auschwitz Trial, the ""Divine Comedy"" project was shelved, and the first third was published separately as ""The Investigation"". The play takes place in a courtroom during the Frankfurt Auschwitz trials (1963–1965) but Weiss did not intend an"
"plays contains suggestive jokes and innuendo. Jonathan Swift, an Irish satirist in the 17th century, used scatological humor in some of his pieces, including his famous essay A Modest Proposal and his rather crude poem ""The Lady's Dressing Room"", in which the speaker comments on the goings-on in a 17th-century woman's room, including her business in her chamber pot. Dirty jokes were once considered subversive and underground, and rarely heard in public. Comedian Lenny Bruce was tried, convicted, and jailed for obscenity after a stand up performance that included off-color humor in New York City in 1964. Comedian and actor"
"The Right Honourable Gentleman The Right Honourable Gentleman is a 1962 play by Michael Dyne, first staged in 1964. ""The Right Honourable Gentleman"" is a dramatization of the rather complicated real-life Crawford Scandal of Victorian England. Sir Charles Dilke, an important Liberal member of Parliament, is seen as a possible successor to Gladstone as Prime Minister. The circumstances leading to his destruction, his private affairs as contrasted with those of the Empire, form the crux of the play. The play introduce Dilke in his finest hour, an obvious choice for the new cabinet. But a certain Mr. Crawford sues his"
"the later play in which Rochfort confronts his daughter Beaumelle and her husband Charalois. The play was edited by Kenneth Palmer for the Malone Society in 1954. A more recent edition of the play was published in 2005. The Poor Man's Comfort The Poor Man's Comfort is a Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy by Robert Daborne — one of his two extant plays. The play's date is uncertain, though it is generally assigned to the 1610–18 era. It was not published until several decades after it was written. ""The Poor Man's Comfort"" was entered into the Stationers' Register on"
"Socrates on Trial Socrates on Trial is a play depicting the life and death of the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates. It tells the story of how Socrates was put on trial for corrupting the youth of Athens and for failing to honour the city’s gods. The play contains adaptations of several classic Greek works: the slapstick comedy, ""Clouds"", written by Aristophanes and first performed in 423 BCE; the dramatic monologue, ""Apology"", written by Plato to record the defence speech Socrates gave at his trial; and Plato’s ""Crito"" and ""Phaedo"", two dialogues describing the events leading to Socrates’ execution in 399"
"in the third Act, to prevent being killed by him."" Criticism of the play in the 18th century was less sparse but no less divided. Publisher Nicholas Rowe was the first critic to ponder the theme of the play, which he saw as the just punishment of the two feuding families. In mid-century, writer Charles Gildon and philosopher Lord Kames argued that the play was a failure in that it did not follow the classical rules of drama: the tragedy must occur because of some character flaw, not an accident of fate. Writer and critic Samuel Johnson, however, considered it"
"The Pillowman The Pillowman is a 2003 play by Irish playwright Martin McDonagh. It received its first public reading in an early version at the Finborough Theatre, London, in 1995. It tells the tale of Katurian, a fiction writer living in a police state, who is interrogated about the gruesome content of his short stories and their similarities to a number of bizarre child murders occurring in his town. The play received the 2004 Olivier Award for Best New Play, the 2004-5 New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best New Foreign Play, and two Tony Awards for production. It"