Regarded as one of the foremost playwrights of the nineteenth century, Ibsen tells the story of the idealist Doctor Thomas Stockmann, the medical officer of a recently opened spa in a small town in southern Norway, who finds that the water is seriously contaminated. He notifies members of the community and initially receives support and thanks for the discovery. Threatened by the possible impact of such a revelation, his brother, the town mayor, conspires...

The Duchess of Malfi (originally published as The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy) is a Jacobean revenge tragedy written by English dramatist John Webster in 1612—1613. Published in 1623, the play is loosely based on events that occurred between 1508 and 1513 surrounding Giovanna d'Aragona, Duchess of Amalfi (d. 1511), whose father, Enrico d'Aragona, Marquis of Gerace, was an illegitimate son of Ferdinand I of Naples. As in the play, she secretly...

The Cherry Orchard (1903) is Russian playwright and short story writer Anton Chekhov's final play. It was first performed at the Moscow Art Theatre in 1904, directed by acclaimed actor Konstantin Stanislavski-who also played the role of Leonid Gayev, the bizarre and uninspired brother of Madame Ranevskaya. It has since become one of twentieth century theater's most important-and most frequently staged-dramatic works. After five years of living in...

Halvard Solness is a successful master builder who has acquired both fame and fortune, yet he's convinced his greatness will fade with the younger generation. He is committed to retaining his success, despite its negative effect on others. Halvard Solness is an established architect who is well-known throughout his town. Over the years, his professional life has thrived at the expensive of his family. Despite the consequences, his career has become...

Written in 1595, "Richard II" occupies a significant place in the Shakespeare canon. It marks the transition from the earlier history plays dominated by civil war and stark power to a more nuanced representation of the political conflicts of England's past where character and politics are inextricably intertwined. Deftly combining history with tragedy, its tale of bad government and usurpation had great political immediacy for its first audiences...

Sophocles' Philoctetes begins with their arrival on the island. Odysseus explains to Neoptolemus that he must perform a shameful action in order to garner future glory - to take Philoctetes by tricking him with a false story while Odysseus hides. Neoptolemus is portrayed as an honorable boy, and so it takes some persuading to get him to play this part. To gain Philoctetes's trust, Neoptolemus tricks Philoctetes into thinking he hates Odysseus as well....

One of William Shakespeare's most popular and brilliant comedies, "Twelfth Night" features a gender-bending/mistaken identity/double-marriage-at-the-end plot that has enshrined this play as a favorite among audiences and critics alike. A terrible shipwreck occurs off the coast of the kingdom of Illyria and a young girl - Viola - is plucked from the ocean by a group of sailors and set on shore alone, believing her twin brother Sebastian to have...

One of William Shakespeare's most disturbing and brilliant works, "Titus Andronicus" is a powerful examination of retribution, honor, and revenge. Roman General Titus Andronicus, after a ten-year campaign waging war against the Goths, returns home with five prisoners: Queen Tamora, her three sons and the pitiless and wrathful Aaron the Moor. In the Roman tradition, Titus sacrifices one of Tamora's sons to make up for the loss of his own children...

Euripides, the youngest of the trio of great Greek tragedians was born at Salamis in 480 B.C., on the day when the Greeks won their momentous naval victory there over the fleet of the Persians. The precise social status of his parents is not clear but he received a good education, was early distinguished as an athlete, and showed talent in painting and oratory. He was a fellow student of Pericles, and his dramas show the influence of the philosophical...

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Africa becomes the battle ground in 21st-century war. As fiberoptic cable is laid down around the continent, two entities fight to control it. One is UpLink Communications, headed by Roger Gordian. The pan-African fiberoptic ring is his most ambitious—and expensive—endeavor to date. His nemesis, Harlan Devane, is penetrating the network. Trading in black market commodities with terrorists and rogue states,

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