Tuesday 30 December 2014

#ReadaPlayaWeek 2014

Since the beginning of 2014, I’ve tweeted about one play a week that I recommend reading. Of course, plays are meant to be seen rather than read, yet if you are either unable to see a particular play, fancy brushing up on the classical canon, or just want to read a playtext, then #ReadaPlayaWeek offers a wide range of scripts. From the challenging and the classical to the popular and the contemporary, from a host of playwrights, both well-known and obscure, from all over the world, here are 2014’s #ReadaPlayaWeek suggestions:

January
The Caretaker (1960), Harold Pinter
The Night Heron (2002), Jez Butterworth
The Winterling (2006), Jez Butterworth
Separate Tables (1954), Terence Rattigan
A Taste of Honey (1958), Shelagh Delaney

February
The Shape of Things (2001), Neil LaBute
The Weir (1997), Conor McPherson
random (2008), debbie tucker green
All My Sons (1947), Arthur Miller

March
Twelfth Night (c.1602), William Shakespeare
Mother Clap’s Molly House (2001), Mark Ravenhill
Plenty (1978), David Hare
England People Very Nice (2009), Richard Bean

April
The History Boys (2004), Alan Bennett
Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick (1998), Terry Johnson
Awake and Sing! (1935), Clifford Odets
Jerusalem (2009), Jez Butterworth

May
Old Times (1971), Harold Pinter
Shopping and Fucking (1996), Mark Ravenhill
The Permanent Way (2003), David Hare
Birdland (2014), Simon Stephens
Body Language (1990), Alan Ayckbourn

June
Noises Off (1982), Michael Frayn
Arcadia (1993), Tom Stoppard
Volpone (1606), Ben Jonson
The Secret Rapture (1988), David Hare

July
Glengarry Glen Ross (1984), David Mamet
The Trial of Ubu and King Ubu (2012), Simon Stephens, King Ubu after Alfred Jarry (1896)
Chimerica (2013), Lucy Kirkwood
The Unexpected Man (1998), Yasmina Reza
The Seagull (1896), Anton Chekhov

August
Uncle Vanya (1898), Anton Chekhov
Parlour Song (2008), Jez Butterworth
Dead Funny (1994), Tony Johnson
August, Osage County (2007), Tracy Letts

September
Beyond Therapy (1981), Christopher Durang
Quartermaine’s Terms (1981), Simon Gray
The Imaginary Invalid (1673), Moliere
Bluebird (1998), Simon Stephens

October
Stuff Happens (2004), David Hare
The Lady’s Not For Burning (1948), Christopher Fry
Anne Boleyn (2010), Howard Brenton
Blue Heart (1997), Caryl Churchill
The Invisible Man (1991), Ken Hill after HG Wells’ novel

November
A Dream Play (2005), Caryl Churchill after Strindberg (1907)
The River (2012), Jez Butterworth
The Philadelphia Story (1939), Philip Barry
Christmas (2004), Simon Stephens

December
Absurd Person Singular (1972), Alan Ayckbourn
Almost, Maine (2004), John Cariani
Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989), Keith Waterhouse
Not I (1972), Samuel Beckett
Breath (1969), Samuel Beckett

#ReadaPlayaWeek will continue in 2015.


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