Classic Drama (pre-1945)

John Gay's bawdy and burlesque pastiche of classical Italian opera, often regarded as the world's first ever musical.

A delightfully lewd city comedy by the co-author of The Changeling.

Chekhov's compelling early play, set in a country weighed down by political, ideological and spiritual stagnation. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

An intense and powerful drama set in a Nottinghamshire mining town. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

Ibsen's play about an idealistic doctor whose moral resolve is put to the test when he discovers that the waters from which his native spa town draws its wealth are dangerously contaminated.

A startling domestic thriller from the seventeenth century, one of the first tragedies ever to be written about ordinary people. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

Racine's reworking of Euripides' Hippolytus, celebrated for its tragic construction and the richness of its language.

One of the best-known eighteenth-century comedies of manners, Sheridan's first play, and still his most popular. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

A masterpiece of the Spanish Golden Age, in an English version by John Clifford.

Chekhov's masterpiece of provincial claustrophobia, translated and introduced by Stephen Mulrine.

Ben Jonson's bawdy Jacobean comedy, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

Lorca's tale of an impassioned, childless woman who is driven by madness to commit a heinous crime. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

An English version of Ibsen's great play, published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

A masterpiece by one of the greatest writers of the Spanish Golden Age, including one of the most memorable acts of resistance in world drama.

Frank Wedekind's famously banned German play about adolescent sexuality.

Pirandello's most famous play, about the nature of theatre and the problems of theatricality. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

George Farquhar's immortal comedy about two young gentlemen with a misguided plan to get enrich themselves at the expense of a series of young heiresses.

A classic tragedy of incestuous love between brother and sister. Published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.