How Many of These Plays Have You Read?

We all need to read more. Most auditionees at drama school have barely scratched the surface of dramatic literature when they apply. Many actors have not gained a strong appreciation of dramatic literature either. If you’re an actor, you’ve got to fall in love with plays and scripts. I’ve included some great plays for you to read below, I might have mentioned some before, but it can’t hurt.

Take a look at the list below. How many have you read?

TOP BRITISH PLAYS

• School for Scandal by R. B. Sheridan

• Volpone by Ben Jonson

• Hamlet/A Midsummer Nights Dream by William Shakespeare

• The Birthday Party by Harold Pinter

• The Positive Hour by April de Angelis

• After the End by Dennis Kelly

• Blasted by Sarah Kane

• Black Watch by Gregory Burke

• Spoonface Steinberg by Lee Hall

• Blackbird by David Harrower

• The Cosmonaut’s Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union by David Greig

TOP AMERICAN PLAYS

• Oleanna by David Mamet

• How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel

• The Mercy Seat by Neil Labute

• Doubt by Patrick Shanley

• A View from the Bridge by Arthur Miller

• Zoo Story by Edward Albee

• Awake and Sing! by Clifford Odets

• Buried Child by Sam Shepard

• Angels in America Parts 1 & 2 by Tony Kushner

TOP CLASSICAL EUROPEAN PLAYS

• A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (Norway)

• Miss Julie by August Strindberg (Sweden)

• Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco (Romania)

• The Caucasian Chalk Circle by Bertolt Brecht (Germany)

• Tartuffe by Moliere (France)

• Blood Wedding by Federico Garcia Lorca (Spain)

• Oedipus Rex (really classical! Greece)

• Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov (not technically European but if it’s in the song contest – Russia)

Let’s add another:

Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Willliams (thanks Price)