Care to recommend some good plays?

Sai · Sep 3, 2008

(Mods, if this isn't the right section for this question I apologise, I thought this one fit best).

I'm working on a play that I hope to have in my school's fringe festival. It's a one-act horror comedy and while I have the story pretty straight in my head, I've never written a play before and I have very little idea about how to write a great one. I figure reading some plays would be a good place to start. I borrowed some Oscar Wilde from a friend, but I'd also like to read some more modern stuff. Please give me some suggestions! Thanks.

gypsyscarlett · Sep 4, 2008

Anton Chekhov: Three Sisters, The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Cherry Orchard
Ibsen: A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, Wild Duck
Tennessee Williams: A Streetcar Named Desire, Glass Menagerie, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
William Inge: Come back, Little Sheba, Bus Stop, Picnic

The above issued in modern theater.

Good luck!

josephwise · Sep 4, 2008

Our Town

James81 · Sep 4, 2008

Steven Sondheim's Company is pretty awesome, but it's musical and not really a play.

alleycat · Sep 4, 2008

James81 said:
Steven Sondheim's Company is pretty awesome, but it's musical and not really a play.

I saw a production of that a few years ago by the Actors Theater of Louisville (a good off-off-Broadway theater company). I enjoyed it more than I thought I would and ended up buying the soundtrack to the original Broadway production.

alleycat · Sep 4, 2008

Since you're writing a one-act play you might want to get a copy of Thirty Famous One Act Plays by Bennett Cerf and look at some of those plays.

Sai · Sep 4, 2008

Thanks a lot! The Cerf books sounds especailly good.

alleycat · Sep 4, 2008

Sai said:
Thanks a lot! The Cerf books sounds especailly good.

I have a copy of 24 Favorite One Act Plays by Cerf and Cartmell handy. If you just want the name of the plays in the book, let me know and I'll post them.

Maryn · Sep 4, 2008

We're season ticket holder at the the-a-tre, dahlings, so we see lots of good plays and a bit of crap. Many of the plays have become lackluster movies but were great theatre.

A one-act is pretty different structurally than a more traditional, longer play, and a musical's structure is different from all other beasties, sometimes just a framework for musical numbers and a little comic relief. (Cough-cough Sweet Charity.) Hit the library and seek any books of one-act plays.

Maryn, who wrote a one-act

wordmonkey · Sep 4, 2008

I would have thought Alan Bennett was worth a look.

eveningstar · Sep 4, 2008

All in the Timing is a collection of short pieces by David Ives that are absolutely brilliant. Very modern, funny, kind of quirky. Lots of playing with language.

It was my go-to for one-acts and such back when I was a theatre person.

poetinahat · Sep 4, 2008

Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit

C.bronco · Sep 4, 2008

I'm a Neil Simon fan, myself. Then, there's always Ibsen and Shakespeare. They rock.

Sai · Sep 5, 2008

Maryn said:
We're season ticket holder at the the-a-tre, dahlings, so we see lots of good plays and a bit of crap. Many of the plays have become lackluster movies but were great theatre.

A one-act is pretty different structurally than a more traditional, longer play, and a musical's structure is different from all other beasties, sometimes just a framework for musical numbers and a little comic relief. (Cough-cough Sweet Charity.) Hit the library and seek any books of one-act plays.

Maryn, who wrote a one-act

Thanks for the advice, I'll focus on reading one act plays.

I have a copy of 24 Favorite One Act Plays by Cerf and Cartmell handy. If you just want the name of the plays in the book, let me know and I'll post them.

My local library has a large collection of Cerf plays, so I'll see what they have. Though if you want to post some of his better ones, please do and I'll keep an eye out for them especailly.

And thanks everyone else for your suggestions.

alleycat · Sep 5, 2008

The plays in the book I mentioned are not by Cerf, but selected by Cerf.

They are:

A Memory of Two Mondays, Miller
The Browing Version, Rattigan
27 Wagons Full of Cotton, Williams
Sorry, Wrong Number, Fletcher
Gory in the Flower, Inge
Hands Across the Sea, Coward
The Devil and Daniel Webster, Benet
The Happy Journey, Wilder
Here We Are, Parker
The Traveler, Connelly
The Still Alarm, Kaufman
The Moon of the Caribbees, O'Neil
The Maker of Dreams, Down
The Flattering Word, Kelly
The Tridget of Greva, Lardner
The Apollo of Bellac, Giraudoux
Trifles, Glaspell
The Ugly Ducking, Milne
The Jest of Hahalaba, Dunsany
In the Shadow of the Glen, Synge
Cathleen ni Houlihan, Yeats
A Marriage Proposal, Chekhov
Spreading the News, Gregory
A Florentine Tragedy, Wilde

fullbookjacket · Sep 19, 2008

Modern playwrights should take a lesson from Shakespeare and introduce physical action into the mix. I was seated front row at a performance of Macbeth once. A ferocious sword-fight commenced...wow! The clanging of steel, the sense of danger, was palpable. Literally made me jump a couple of times. No other play has done that to me.

selkn.asrai · Nov 24, 2008

Shakespeare, but of course.

Anything Arthur Miller.

Buried Child, Sam Shepard.

The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? Edward Albee.

The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams.

Equus, Peter Shaffer (which I read long before Daniel Radcliffe's debut).

No Exit, Sartre.

Oleanna, by David Mamet, if you want to be so pissed off you could tear a book as thick as War and Peace in two.

Wit, Margaret Edson.

Christopher Durang's short plays are utterly hilarious.

HeronW · Nov 24, 2008

Anything by Oscar Wilde or by George Bernard Shaw

KikiteNeko · Nov 24, 2008

I'm not much of a play person. I did enjoy Lysistrata (I think that's how it's spelled). It's told in a very straightforward language, so for those who don't like Shakesperean speak (like me), it's a light and pleasant read.

It's about a bunch of women who protest the war by witholding sex from their husbands.

Lady Ice · Dec 19, 2009

KikiteNeko said:
I'm not much of a play person. I did enjoy Lysistrata (I think that's how it's spelled). It's told in a very straightforward language, so for those who don't like Shakesperean speak (like me), it's a light and pleasant read.

It's about a bunch of women who protest the war by witholding sex from their husbands.

Lysistrata's so boring and outdated. It's an Ancient Greek comedy but is invariably badly translated.

Jake G · Dec 19, 2009

If you want horror/comedy, you need (yes, need) to read the plays of Martin McDonagh. My favorite being Pillowman.

Jess Haines · Dec 19, 2009

I'm not familiar with many plays, but I really liked the Spoon River Anthology.

Lady Ice · Dec 20, 2009

Suddenly Last Summer is a good mixture of comedy/horror. Homosexuality, insanity and cannabalism anyone?

Rarri · Dec 20, 2009

Tom Stoppard is quite enjoyable

David Wisehart · Dec 20, 2009

For examples of one-acts, take a look at the collection: "Plays in One Act" edited by Daniel Halpern.

Care to recommend some good plays?

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