Classic Drama (pre-1945)

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.

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

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

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

Ibsen's revolutionary tale of a woman's awakening to her need for a life of her own.

Jean Cocteau's frank, ironic, bruisingly melodramatic play dealing with incest and the diseased love from which it stems.

An enchanting argument for the power of theatrical imagination over reality, The Illusion weaves obsession and caprice, romance and murder, fact and fiction, into an enticing exploration of the greatest illusion of all – love.

Volpone is a Venetian aristocrat, a loveable rogue who enjoys the cunning pursuit of wealth more than money itself. Pretending to be mortally ill, he watches as his greedy neighbours swarm around him with expensive gifts in the hope of inheriting his fortune.

Ben Jonson's 1616 comedy about a junior demon who persuades his master Satan to let him spend a day in London.

A masterpiece of light comedy from Terence Rattigan, about a group of bright young things attempting to learn French on the Riviera amid myriad distractions.

Rattigan's brilliant attack on the hedonistic lifestyle of the ‘bright young things’ of the 1920s and 30s.

An affectionate and witty comedy of recollection from one of the twentieth century's most significant writers. A family-based saga set in the years just before the First World War.