Drama Books

Romeo and Juliet

William Shakespeare

Romeo and Juliet is synonymous with the tragic fate of two young "star-cross'd lovers." The idea wasn't originally Shakespeare's - he borrowed the plot from a few other sources-but his version is the ..

The Phantom of the Opera

Gaston Leroux

The Phantom of the Opera, or Le Fantôme de l'Opéra, is novel by French author Gaston Leroux. It was first published in a serialized form, then was released as a book in 1910. It is the classic story o..

Hamlet

William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's immortal play Hamlet needs little introduction, but in short: A Danish prince learns from his father (now a ghost) that he was murdered by his own brother Claudius, who married the princ..

The Importance of Being Earnest

Oscar Wilde

The Importance of being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is Oscar Wilde's most popular and successful play. First performed in London in 1895, it ran for eighty-six performances. Wilde's p..

Socrates

Voltaire

Franois-Marie Arouet, aka Voltaire, was arguably the 18th century's greatest philosopher, but he was also a great novelist and playwright. In his play Socrates, Voltaire embodies the ancient philosoph..

Faust

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The classic German legend Faust describes a protagonist who is a highly successful, though dissatisfied scholar who strikes up a deal with the devil. The offer: One Human Soul in exchange for unlimite..

Sophocles' Oedipus Trilogy

Sophocles

Oedipus Rex ie the first in the trilogy is one of the most powerful dramas I've had the chance to read. It defines the term 'epic' both in scale and emotion; its narrative is grand and gripping, and t..

Pygmalion

George Bernard Shaw

George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion: A Romance in Five Acts (1912) is one of greatest comic masterpieces of the 20th century. It's hard now to imagine how a play about a phonetics expert who decides to co..