Subject
Man-woman relationships -- Drama Books
Best books
Henrik Ibsen
A Doll's House : a play
"A Doll's House : a play by Henrik Ibsen" is a three-act play written in 1879. Set in a Norwegian town, it follows Nora Helmer, a married woman navigating life in a male-dominated society where opportunities for self-fulfillment are scarce. When a figure from her past threatens to expose a secret financial transgression, Nora faces a crisis that challenges everything she knows about her marriage and identity. The play sparked outraged controversy upon its premiere and remains one of the most performed works in theater history.
Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
The Sea-Gull
"The Sea-Gull" by Anton Pavlovich Chekhov is a play written in 1895. Four characters clash over art and love at a country estate: a fading actress, her aspiring playwright son, a famous writer, and a young woman who dreams of the stage. Romantic entanglements intertwine with artistic ambitions as characters speak in subtext rather than direct declarations. The opening night in 1896 was a notorious disaster, but a later production became a triumph that transformed Russian theatre forever.
Henrik Ibsen
Hedda Gabler
"Hedda Gabler" by Henrik Ibsen is a play written in 1890 and premiered in 1891. It dramatizes the story of Hedda, a general's daughter trapped in a loveless marriage and desperate for control over her own life. When her husband's academic rival—a former lover—reappears with his rehabilitated life and brilliant manuscript, Hedda's jealousy and manipulations set tragic events in motion. As she schemes to influence the fates of those around her, she finds herself increasingly cornered by circumstances and a sinister family friend who threatens her freedom.
Bernard Shaw
Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy
"Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy" by Bernard Shaw is a four-act drama written in 1903. Shaw reimagines the Don Juan myth through John Tanner, a revolutionary thinker who becomes guardian to the charming Ann Whitefield. As Ann pursues Tanner for marriage despite his anarchist ideals, the play explores philosophical questions about human evolution and the life force. The famous third act, "Don Juan in Hell," features a philosophical debate in Hell and is often performed separately or omitted entirely from productions.
Bernard Shaw
Arms and the Man
"Arms and the Man" by George Bernard Shaw is a comedy first produced in 1894. Set during the Serbo-Bulgarian War, the play follows Raina, an idealistic young Bulgarian woman engaged to a battlefield hero, whose romantic notions are challenged when a pragmatic Swiss mercenary takes refuge in her bedroom. Shaw humorously exposes the futility of war and the hypocrisies of human nature as characters grapple with the gap between romantic ideals and reality, leading to unexpected revelations and shifting allegiances.
William Shakespeare
The Taming of the Shrew
"The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare is a comedy written between 1590 and 1592. The play follows Petruchio's courtship and "taming" of Katherina, a headstrong woman considered unmarriageable by other suitors. Through psychological and physical tactics, Petruchio transforms his unwilling bride into an obedient wife. Meanwhile, multiple men compete for Katherina's younger sister Bianca, the more desirable daughter. The play has sparked ongoing controversy about whether it promotes misogyny, yet remains one of Shakespeare's most frequently adapted works.
Oscar Wilde
A Woman of No Importance
"A Woman of No Importance" by Oscar Wilde is a play first performed in 1893. Set among English high society, the work satirizes the manners and morals of the upper class through witty dialogue and social commentary. When a young man accepts a prestigious position as secretary to a powerful lord, his mother's arrival at a country house party reveals a devastating secret from the past that threatens to upend his promising future and exposes the hypocrisy beneath polite society's surface.
Arthur Schnitzler
Reigen: Zehn Dialoge
"Reigen: Zehn Dialoge" by Arthur Schnitzler is a play written between 1896 and 1897. Ten dialogues depict pairs of men and women from different social classes before and after sexual encounters. Each scene links to the next like a dance, with one partner from each scene continuing into the following one. The cycle moves from prostitute to soldier to maid, ascending through bourgeois and aristocratic Vienna, until the final scene closes the circle. Schnitzler portrays desire, power, seduction, and disappointment across Fin de Siècle society.
Bernard Shaw
Candida
"Candida" by Bernard Shaw is a comedy written in 1894. A young poet falls in love with Candida, the wife of a successful clergyman, and attempts to win her away from what he sees as her mundane domestic life. The play challenges Victorian assumptions about love and marriage, asking what women truly desire from their husbands. Candida must ultimately choose between her devoted husband and her passionate admirer—but her choice reveals unexpected truths about strength, dependency, and the nature of love itself.
Bernard Shaw
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
"The Dark Lady of the Sonnets" by George Bernard Shaw is a short comedy written in 1910. The play imagines William Shakespeare waiting at Whitehall Palace for a secret meeting with his mysterious lover. Instead, he accidentally encounters Queen Elizabeth I and seizes the opportunity to pitch an ambitious idea: the creation of a national theatre. Shaw wrote this witty one-act play as part of a real campaign to establish a Shakespeare National Theatre by 1916, blending historical figures with literary mystery and theatrical ambition.
Henrik Ibsen
The Lady from the Sea
"The Lady from the Sea" by Henrik Ibsen is a play written in 1888. Ellida Wangel, daughter of a lighthouse-keeper, lives in a Norwegian fjord town with her physician husband and two stepdaughters. Haunted by the sea and a mysterious past engagement to a sailor who fled after murder, her life unravels when he returns years later to claim her. Ellida must choose between her former lover and her present husband in this psychological drama exploring freedom, obligation, and the pull of the past.
Hannah Cowley
The Belle's Stratagem
"The Belle's Stratagem" by Hannah Cowley is a romantic comedy written in 1780. When Letitia Hardy discovers her childhood betrothed Doricourt seems unmoved by her charms, she devises a bold deception to win his passionate devotion rather than settle for a loveless marriage. Meanwhile, newlyweds Sir George and Lady Frances Touchwood navigate jealousy and the corrupting influence of fashionable London society. Both plotlines converge at a climactic masquerade ball where wit, virtue, and romantic love challenge the era's social conventions about marriage and women's roles.
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