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The Awakening of Spring is the German dramatist Frank Wedekind's first major play and a seminal work in the modern history of theatre. It is the source material for the contemporary rock musical Spring Awakening. The play criticises the sexually-oppressive culture of fin de siècle Germany and offers a vivid dramatisation of the erotic fantasies that it breeds. Due to the nature of its content, the play has often been banned. (Summary by wikipedia and wildemoose)...

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Play

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Don Juan in Hell is an excerpt (Act 3, Scene 2) from George Bernard Shaw’s Man and Superman . It is often performed as a stand-alone play. In it, three characters from Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Don Juan, Dona Ana, and the statue of the Commendatore, Dona Ana’s father) meet in Hell and, joined by the Devil, have a philosophical debate on a variety of subjects, including Heaven and Hell, men, women and marriage. In the end, they all decide where they will spend eternity. (Summary by Bob Neufeld)...

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Play

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Henry VI, Part 3 or The Third Part of Henry the Sixt (often written as 3 Henry VI) is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas 1 Henry VI deals with the loss of England's French territories and the political machinations leading up to the Wars of the Roses, and 2 Henry VI focuses on the King's inability to quell the bickering of his nobles, and the inevitability of armed conflict, 3 Henry VI deals primarily with the horrors of that conflict, as the once ordered nation is thrown into chaos and barbarism as families break down and moral codes are subverted in the pursuit of revenge and power. Among Shakespeare's history plays Henry VI Part 3 and Richard II contain the only intances in which a living monarch is displaced. However, unlike Richard who fell because of his misunderstanding of the limits of his sovereignty, the demise of Henry was due to his total incapacity to exercise his sovereign power. The inability of the king to deal with the brutal realities of regal life is dramatically displayed in Act 2 Scene 5 where Henry witness...

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Play

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The title character in Ibsen's drama, Ellida Wangel, is married to a prosperous doctor, but feels stifled by her roles as wife and stepmother to her husband's two daughters by a previous marriage, Hilde and Bolette. Ten years earlier she had promised to marry another man - and on a sultry summer day, he comes back to her. Ellida must decide whether to choose the safety of her life with Wangel, or to yield to the siren song of the sea. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)...

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Play

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Franz Graf von Pocci, der „Kasperlgraf“ verfasste mehr als 40 Kasperlstücke für das Marionettentheater mit Themen aus der Märchen- und Sagenwelt sowie Beiträge für die Münchener Bilderbogen. Seine Kasperlgeschichten ranken sich um den Kasperl Larifari, der jedoch kein netter Held, sondern eine eher ambivalente Figur ist. Larifari weist auch dunkle Seiten auf und ist als ein nie erwachsen gewordener Erwachsener zu verstehen. Er hat nie die Chance, in einer intakten Familie aufzuwachsen und wird zum Blender, Trickser und Narzissten. (Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia und Elli)...

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Comedy, Play, Children

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Despite its optimistic title, Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well has often been considered a problem play. Ostensibly a comedy, the play also has fairy tale elements, as it focuses on Helena, a virtuous orphan, who loves Bertram, the haughty son of her protectress, the Countess of Rousillon. When Bertram, desperate for adventure, leaves Rousillon to serve in the King's army, Helena pursues him. (Temporary summary by Elizabeth Klett)...

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Play

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A mysterious young widow arrives at Wildfell Hall, an Elizabethan mansion which has been empty for many years, with her young son. She lives there under an assumed name, Helen Graham, and very soon finds herself the victim of local slander. Refusing to believe anything scandalous about her, Gilbert Markham discovers her dark secrets. In her diary Helen writes about her husband's physical and moral decline through alcohol and the world of debauchery and cruelty from which she has fled. This passionate novel of betrayal is set within a moral framework tempered by Anne's optimistic belief in universal salvation. The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is mainly considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels. May Sinclair, in 1913, said that the slamming of Helen's bedroom door against her husband reverberated throughout Victorian England. In escaping from her husband, she violates not only social conventions, but also English law....

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Play

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Gordon Bottomley's verse drama in two scenes is a prequel to Shakespeare's Macbeth. He provides Lady Macbeth with a name - Gruach - and imagines her family life and how she meets Macbeth. (Summary by Elizabeth Klett)...

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Play

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Beyond the Horizon is a 1920 play written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. It was O'Neill's first full-length work, and the winner of the 1920 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play focuses on the portrait of a family, and particularly two brothers Andrew and Robert. In the first act of the play, Robert is about to go off to sea with their uncle Dick, a sea captain while Andrew looks forward to marrying his sweetheart Ruth and working on the family farm as he starts a family. ( Summary by Wikipedia)...

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Play

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Henry VI, Part 2 or The Second Part of Henry the Sixt (often written as 2 Henry VI) is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in 1591, and set during the lifetime of King Henry VI of England. Whereas 1 Henry VI deals primarily with the loss of England's French territories and the political machinations leading up to the Wars of the Roses, and 3 Henry VI deals with the horrors of that conflict, 2 Henry VI focuses on the King's inability to quell the bickering of his nobles, the death of his trusted adviser Duke Humphrey of Gloucester, the rise of the Duke of York and the inevitability of armed conflict. As such, the play culminates with the opening battle of the War, the First Battle of St Albans. Henry VI may be viewed as a study in insurrection, which moves from the private and personal jostlings in the court in Part 1 to outright civil war in Part 3. In Part 2 the discord between prominent state officials, notably Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, and Henry Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, spreads to the common people, fomenting an abortive rebellion, lead by the rascally Kentishman, Jack Cade. With the dea...

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Play

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Iphigenie in Aulis übersetzt aus dem Euripides von Friedrich von Schiller. Die Gesinnungen in diesem Stücke sind groß und edel, die Handlung wichtig und erhaben, die Mittel dazu glücklich gewählt und geordnet. (aus den Anmerkungen von Schiller)...

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Literature, Play, Classics (antiquity)

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After the turmoil and uncertainty of Henry IV a new era appears to dawn for England with the accession of the eponymous Henry V. In this sunny pageant Chorus guides us along Henry's glittering carpet ride of success as the new king completes his transformation from rebellious wastrel to a truly regal potentate. Of course, there is an underlying feeling that the good times won't last, and this is all the more reason to enjoy the Indian summer before the protracted and bitter fall of the house of Lancaster. (Introduction by Algy Pug)...

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History, Play

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Faust. Eine Tragödie (auch Faust. Der Tragödie erster Teil oder Faust I) von Johann Wolfgang Goethe gilt als das bedeutendste und meistzitierte Werk der deutschen Literatur. (Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia)...

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Literature, Play

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readers present the eighth collection of monologues from Shakespeare’s plays. Containing 20 parts. William Shakespeare (April 26, 1564 – April 23, 1616) remains widely to be considered the single greatest playwright of all time. He wrote in such a variety of genres - tragedy, comedy, romance, &c - that there is always at least one monologue in each of his plays. Some of these teach a lesson, some simply characterize Shakespeare at his best, some are funny, some sad, but all are very moving. Each monologue will touch everybody differently. Some people will be so moved by a particular monologue that they will want to record it. (summary by Shurtagal)...

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Literature, Play, Poetry

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Iphigenie auf Tauris ist insofern ein klassisches Drama, als es sowohl einen antiken Stoff behandelt als auch das Menschenideal der Klassik widerspiegelt. (Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia)...

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Literature, Play

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Wallensteins Lager ist der erste Teil von Friedrich Schillers Wallenstein-Trilogie, dem Drama über den Niedergang des berühmten Feldherren Wallenstein. Die Piccolomini ist der zweite Teil von Friedrich Schillers Wallenstein-Trilogie. Wallensteins Tod ist der dritte Teil von Friedrich Schillers Wallenstein-Trilogie. Das Werk spielt im Winter 1633/1634 (also fast 16 Jahre nach Beginn des Dreißigjährigen Krieges). (Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia) Sektionen 01 - 27 - Ein dramatisches Gedicht: Text (1) Sektion 28 - Über die erste Aufführung der Piccolomini: Text (2)...

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Literature, Play

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Euripides' play follows the fates of the women of Troy after their city has been sacked, their husbands killed, and as their remaining families are about to be taken away as slaves. However, it begins first with the gods Athena and Poseidon discussing ways to punish the Greek armies because they condoned Ajax the Lesser for dragging Cassandra away from Athena's temple. What follows shows how much the Trojan women have suffered as their grief is compounded when the Greeks dole out additional deaths and divide their shares of women. This translation by Gilbert Murray was published in 1915. (Summary by Wikipedia and Elizabeth Klett)...

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Tragedy, Play, Myths/Legends

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Jack Worthing and Algernon Moncrieff discover the perils of love, assumed identities, and telling the truth in Oscar Wilde's classic play. (Summary by Toby Paradis)...

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Play, Comedy

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Die Verschwörung des Fiesco zu Genua ist das zweite vollendete Drama Friedrich von Schillers. Er begann das Stück, das sich an die historische Verschwörung des Giovanni Luigi de Fieschi gegen Andrea Doria in Genua des Frühjahrs 1547 anlehnt, nach der Premiere seines Stücks Die Räuber 1782. (Zusammenfassung von Wikipedia) Sektion 00 - Vorrede - Anzeige der Buehnenbearbeitung - Erinnerung an das Publikum: Text (1) Sektionen 01 - 10 - Ein republikanisches Trauerspiel: Text (2)...

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Literature, Play

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Titus Andronicus may be Shakespeare's earliest tragedy; it is believed to have been written in the early 1590s. It depicts a Roman general who is engaged in a cycle of revenge with his enemy Tamora, the Queen of the Goths. The play is by far Shakespeare's bloodiest work. It lost popularity during the Victorian era because of its gore, and it has only recently seen its fortunes revive....

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Play, Tragedy