Nick Hern Books

Drama Classics series

The world's great plays at a great little price

Each pocket-sized volume contains:

  • a full introduction
  • an author biography
  • notes on historical and theatrical context
  • a plot synopsis
  • key dates
  • a further reading list
  • a glossary of unusual words and phrases (English-language texts)

The texts are presented uncut (with the exception of Faust, which is adapted for staging in a single evening) and uncluttered with footnotes; the translations are accurate and actable.

See also Drama Classic Collections.

Showing 25-48 of 94 items.
Electra

Electra

By Sophocles Translated by Marianne McDonald and J. Michael Walton

A tragic tale of duty, retribution and fate, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

An Enemy of the People

An Enemy of the People

By Henrik Ibsen Translated by Stephen Mulrine

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.

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Faust Parts 1 & 2

Faust Parts 1 & 2

By Johann Wolfgang Goethe Translated by John Clifford

A fresh, performable version by John Clifford of Goethe's 'unstageable' masterpiece.

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A Flea in Her Ear

A Flea in Her Ear

By Georges Feydeau Translated by Kenneth McLeish

A classic French farce of infidelity and mistaken identity. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

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Fuente Ovejuna

Fuente Ovejuna

By Lope de Vega Translated by Laurence Boswell

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.

The Game Of Love And Chance

The Game Of Love And Chance

By Pierre Marivaux Translated by Stephen Mulrine

The best known play by one of the most performed French playwrights - a sparkling 18th-century comedy of manners. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

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Ghosts

Ghosts

By Henrik Ibsen Translated by Stephen Mulrine

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

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The Government Inspector

The Government Inspector

By Nikolai Gogol Translated by Stephen Mulrine

A classic satire of provincial bureaucracy, in an English translation by Stephen Mulrine. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

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Hecuba

Hecuba

By Euripides Translated by Marianne McDonald

An English translation of Euripides' classic tragedy, published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

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Hedda Gabler

Hedda Gabler

By Henrik Ibsen Translated by Kenneth McLeish

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

The House of Bernarda Alba

The House of Bernarda Alba

By Federico García Lorca Translated by Jo Clifford

Lorca's extraordinarily powerful drama, the last he wrote before his assassination, explores the darkness at the heart of repression.

The Hypochondriac

The Hypochondriac

By Molière Translated by Martin Sorrell

Molière's classic farce in a fresh and performable translation. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

An Ideal Husband

An Ideal Husband

By Oscar Wilde

The Rolls-Royce of English comedies, exploring corruption and morality, and bringing an act of political sin into the heart of the English home.

The Importance of Being Earnest

The Importance of Being Earnest

By Oscar Wilde

Oscar Wilde's undying comedy – in an edition to fit any handbag.

An Italian Straw Hat

An Italian Straw Hat

By Eugène Labiche Translated by Kenneth McLeish

A classic 19th-century French farce, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

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Ivanov

Ivanov

By Anton Chekhov Translated by Stephen Mulrine

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.

The Jew of Malta

The Jew of Malta

By Christopher Marlowe

Christopher Marlowe's drama of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set on the island of Malta. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

King Ubu

King Ubu

By Alfred Jarry

Alfred Jarry's surreal and hilarious satire of power, greed, and bourgeois pretension, the first of his three plays about the comically grotesque character of Pa Ubu.

Published in volume Ubu
    The Knight of the Burning Pestle

    The Knight of the Burning Pestle

    By Francis Beaumont

    A classic satire on chivalric romances. In the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

    La Ronde

    La Ronde

    By Arthur Schnitzler Translated by Stephen Unwin and Peter Zombory-Moldovan

    Schnitzler's famous 'daisy-chain' play of sexual coupling, set in Vienna in the 1890s. In the Drama Classics series.

    The Lady From the Sea

    The Lady From the Sea

    By Henrik Ibsen Translated by Kenneth McLeish

    One of Ibsen's most powerful studies of female psychology, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

    Lady Windermere's Fan

    Lady Windermere's Fan

    By Oscar Wilde

    A biting satire on the morals of Victorian society, in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

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    The Learned Ladies

    The Learned Ladies

    By Molière Translated by A.R. Waller

    Molière's satire of intellectual snobbery, in a translation first performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Published in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series.

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    Life is a Dream

    Life is a Dream

    By Pedro Calderón Translated by John Clifford

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