Plays from Around the World

Clearly, when teachers reach for a play to teach, American and British authors sit atop the list of options. Shakespeare’s works are required in most English classes, and when we look to electives we see Miller, Beckett, Williams, O’Neill, Shaw—the list goes on and on.

But what if you want to hit two birds with one stone—a drama, but also a work in translation? Here are some plays from around the world that we think you should consider.

• Henrik Ibsen, 1828-1906, Norway
  The father of the modern drama, Ibsen pushed theater out of Romanticism and squarely into Realism with his works that depict life—within marriage, particularly—as it really was, rather than through an idealized lens. In A Doll’s House, Nora finds herself lacking fulfillment within her roles as wife and mother, especially when her husband fails to recognize her as a person in her own right.
  Full text | Spark Notes Study Guide | A Doll's House Official Trailer - Digital Theatre

• Anton Chekhov, 1860-1904, Russia
  Widely considered one of the best playwrights of all time, Chekhov is studied and performed around the world for his challenging roles for actors, complicated character motivations, and layers of subtext. The Seagull features one of Chekhov’s greatest male roles, Trigorin, who is one of four characters whose romantic conflicts drive the plot of the play.
  Full text | Spark Notes Study Guide | National Theater - clips and interviews

• Bertolt Brecht, 1898-1956, Germany
  Brecht’s personal and political lives were full of twists and turns, from avoiding conscription in the Nazi army to leaving America, where he had been living in exile, to avoid having to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. While living in America, he wrote Mother Courage and Her Children, one of the most famous anti-war plays of all time.
  Full text* | Spark Notes Study Guide | Playlist of Clips on YouTube

• Eugène Ionesco, 1909-1994, Romania, France
  Ionesco’s first play, The Bald Soprano, popularized “The Theater of the Absurd,” where the protagonist reacts to a world without meaning or behaves in a way as though he’s controlled by malevolent outside forces. In The Bald Soprano, two families have a visit that starts with telling each other little stories and anecdotes. Over the course of the play, conversation devolves into complete meaninglessness.
  Full text* | Plot and Character Summary from Encyclopedia.com | Performance by The Theatre On King in Peterborough, ON

• Athol Fugard, 1932-, South Africa
  Fugard is South Africa’s greatest playwright, and one of the great playwrights of the 20th century. His play “Master Harold”…and the Boys takes place during Apartheid and shows how institutionalized racism inflicts the lives of people living under it—even those who think they’ve dodged absorbing its ideas and ideals.
  Preview text* | Course Hero Study Guide | TV Movie on YouTube

*Note that only A Doll’s House and The Seagull are in the public domain. Links for the other three plays are provided here just to give you an idea of the play’s contents and style. If you chose to teach Mother Courage, The Bald Soprano, or “Master Harold,” copies of the text should be purchased for you and your students.