Free delivery on all orders above $30
Get 10% off all year round! Join Thryft Club
Get 10% off all year round and $10 off your next order! Join Thryft Club

Your cart

Your cart is empty

Check out these collections!

Bestselling Fiction
Bestselling Nonfiction
Bestselling Books for Children
Vintage and Rare Books
Vinyl Records
Women's Clothing
Men's Clothing

Stay in touch and win free books

Keep up with our latest sales and events, and receive
recommendations direct to your inbox. We'll only send the good stuff, promise!

By completing this form, you are signing up to receive our emails and can unsubscribe at any time

Plays

348 Results

Switch between grid and list views for a better book browsing experience!
Theatre
Clear all

348 Results

No results

Theatre
Clear all
Sophocles - Thryft
Sold out
Richmond Lattimore, David Grene, Sophocles  | University Of Chicago Press

Sophocles

$7.05

Goodreads rating: 3.99

$7.05

"These authoritative translations consign all other complete collections to the wastebasket."—Robert Brustein, The New Republic"This is it. No qualifications. Go out and buy it everybody."—Kenneth Rexroth, The Nation"The translations deliberately avoid the highly wrought and affectedly poetic; their idiom is contemporary....They have life and speed and suppleness of phrase."— Times Education Supplement"These translations belong to our time. A keen poetic sensibility repeatedly quickens them; and without this inner fire the most academically flawless rendering is dead."—Warren D. Anderson, American Oxonian"The critical commentaries and the versions themselves...are fresh, unpretentious, above all, functional."— Commonweal"Grene is one of the great translators."—Conor Cruise O'Brien, London Sunday Times"Richmond Lattimore is that rara avis in our age, the classical scholar who is at the same time an accomplished poet."—Dudley Fitts, New York Times Book Review
Romeo And Juliet - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Wordsworth Classics

Romeo And Juliet

$2.90

Goodreads rating: 3.74

$2.90

Love, sex and death are the components of Shakespeare's classic story of the love of two young people which reaches across the barriers of family and convention. It encompasses great love, high drama, low comedy and a tragic ending.Romeo and Juliet is a pure tragedy of youth told in verse that is both youthful and intense. The loveliness and the music of the poetry make believable the otherwise commonplace afflications of blighted love. The beautiful personification of some of the main characters has caused Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio and the Nurse to become part of the world's literary mythology.The text of this edition is taken from the Cambridge University Press New Shakespeare, edited by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch and John Dover Wilson.(back cover)
The Essential Pinter : Selections from the Work of Harold Pinter - Thryft
Sold out
Harold Pinter | Grove Press

The Essential Pinter : Selections from the Work of Harold Pinter

$10.68

Goodreads rating: 4.17

$10.68

Harold Pinter is one of our most profound poets and playwrights, with work ranging from his plays The Caretaker , The Homecoming , and Betrayal to such poems as "The Bombs" and "Death." A writer known for his searing exploration of power, Pinter gives us an electrifying look into the often uncomfortable relationships between people — whether family members or political opponents. The Essential Pinter , which includes key plays, poetry, essays, and screenplays, is an indispensable companion for anyone wishing to delve into the astonishingly dazzling and frequently ominous world of Harold Pinter. In voyaging in, we not only come to fully appreciate the breadth of a body of work spanning over fifty years, but acquire a better understanding of human interaction.
The Bacchae And Other Plays - Thryft
Sold out
Euripides, John Davie, Richard Rutherford  | Penguin Classics

The Bacchae And Other Plays

$6.92

Goodreads rating: 4.15

$6.92

Euripides (c.484-406 B.C.) was the most controversial of the three great Greek tragedians and the most modern. His major themes- religious scepticism, the injustices suffered by women and the destructive folly of war-are issues still vitally important today.
The Playboy Of The Western World And Other Plays - Riders To The Sea; The Shadow Of The Glen; The Tinker's Wedding; The Well Of The Saints; The Playboy Of The Western World; Deirdre Of The Sorrows - Thryft
Sold out
J.M. Synge, Ann Saddlemyer  | Oxford University Press

The Playboy Of The Western World And Other Plays - Riders To The Sea; The Shadow Of The Glen; The Tinker's Wedding; The Well Of The Saints; The Playboy Of The Western World; Deirdre Of The Sorrows

$5.32

Goodreads rating: 3.71

$5.32

Synge was one of the key dramatists in the flourishing world of Irish literature at the turn of the century. This volume offers every one of his plays, which range from racy comedy to stark tragedy, all sharing a memorable lyricism. The introduction to this new, definitive edition sets the plays in the context of the Irish literary movement, with special attention to Synge's role as one of the founders of the Abbey Theatre and his work alongside W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory.Includes: Riders to the Sea The Shadow of the Glen The Tinker's Wedding The Well of the Saints The Playboy of the Western World Deirdre of the Sorrows
Travesties - Thryft
Sold out
Tom Stoppard | Grove Press

Travesties

$5.77

Goodreads rating: 3.95

$5.77

Travesties was born out of Stoppard's noting that in 1917 three of the twentieth century's most crucial revolutionaries -- James Joyce, the Dadaist founder Tristan Tzara, and Lenin -- were all living in Zurich. Also living in Zurich at this time was a British consula official called Henry Carr, a man acquainted with Joyce through the theater and later through a lawsuit concerning a pair of trousers. Taking Carr as his core, Stoppard spins this historical coincidence into a masterful and riotously funny play, a speculative portrait of what could have been the meeting of these profoundly influential men in a germinal Europe as seen through the lucid, lurid, faulty, and wholy riveting memory of an aging Henry Carr.
Serious Money - Thryft
Sold out
Caryl Churchill | Methuen Drama

Serious Money

$7.12

Goodreads rating: 3.0

$7.12

Serious Money is perhaps Caryl Churchill's most provocative play. It is a satirical study of the effects of the "Big Bang" boom of financial markets in the 1980s and how it gave rise to hectic, chaotic, high velocity work where human values are compromised for success and wealth.The dialogue of the play is largely overlapping with the ingenious rhyming couplets and singsong verse. It is so stylized that Churchill even includes a rhymed soliloquy and a rap number. Language in the play is coarse, there being a particular emphasis on scatological humour, and the tone is overwhelmingly angry. Churchill's characters are drawn razor sharp cartoonishly. The play's plot revolves around financial wheeler-dealers that were born into the boom and want to maximize profits above all else. The tone is contemporary, edgy, witty and has been viewed by some as massively offensive: it is a perfect example of one of Churchill's most hard-hitting works.This Student Edition contains a chronology of the playwright's life and work; an introduction giving the background to the play, a discussion of the various interpretations and notes on individual words and phrases in the text.
Wit - Thryft
Sold out
Margaret Edson | Dramatists Play Service, Inc.

Wit

$5.42

Goodreads rating: 4.14

$5.42

This is a full length drama for a cast of 6 (3 men, 3 women, 4+ men or women (flexible casting)). THE Vivian Bearing, Ph.D., a renowned professor of English who has spent years studying and teaching the brilliant and difficult metaphysical sonnets of John Donne, has been diagnosed with terminal ovarian cancer. Her approach to the study of aggressively probing, intensely rational. But during the course of her illness—and her stint as a prize patient in an experimental chemotherapy program at a major teaching hospital—Vivian comes to reassess her life and her work with a profundity and humor that are transformative both for her and the audience.
Complete Works And Letters: Georg Buchner - Thryft
Sold out
Georg Büchner | Continuum

Complete Works And Letters: Georg Buchner

$7.39 $3.18 57% off

Goodreads rating: 4.21

$7.39 $3.18 57% off

95% off est. retail
Book by Buchner, Georg; Hinderer, Walter (ed.)
The Spanish Tragedy - Thryft
Sold out
Stephen Bevington | Manchester University Press

The Spanish Tragedy

$1.57

Goodreads rating: 3.56

$1.57

The "revenge" play became the most durable and commercially successful type of drama on the Elizabethan stage. This example by Thomas Kyd, who was one of the originators of the genre, brings to life the intrigues of the Spanish court, dramatically juxtaposing romantic passion with sudden violent death and clandestine politics. The ghost of Dan Andrea and his guide Revenge observe the dark and bloody action throughout, provoking questions about the nature of the human condition.
A Streetcar Named Desire - Thryft
Sold out
Tennessee Williams | Methuen Drama

A Streetcar Named Desire

$8.55

Goodreads rating: 3.98

$8.55

This classic play shows a turbulent confrontation between traditional values in the American South – an old-world graciousness and beauty running decoratively to seed – set against the rough-edged, aggressive materialism of the new world.
Othello - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Wordsworth Editions Limited

Othello

$3.73

Goodreads rating: 3.89

$3.73

An exciting new edition of the complete works of Shakespeare with these features: Illustrated with photographs from New York Shakespeare Festival productions, vivid readable readable introductions for each play by noted scholar David Bevington, a lively personal foreword by Joseph Papp, an insightful essay on the play in performance, modern spelling and pronunciation, up-to-date annotated bibliographies, and convenient listing of key passages.
Much Ado about Nothing - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Wordsworth Editions

Much Ado about Nothing

$3.73

Goodreads rating: 4.06

$3.73

Much Ado About Nothing is probably the most satisfying, and certainly the liveliest and most charming, of Kenneth Branagh's Shakespeare films. The witty badinage between Branagh and his then-wife Emma Thompson, as Benedick and Beatrice, is as bright and sunny as the golden sunlight that shines on the Tuscan villa where the picture was shot. This production--and don't ask about the plot, just remember the title--is an ebullient celebration of art and artifice, culminating in a joyous dance, and performed at a brisk pace by an all-star cast, including Denzel Washington, Robert Sean Leonard, Keanu Reeves, and Michael Keaton. --Jim Emerson
Antony and Cleopatra - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare, David Bevington  | Cambridge University Press

Antony and Cleopatra

$6.77

Goodreads rating: 3.7

$6.77

In this edition of the play David Bevington shows how the theatrical design and imaginative vision of Antony and Cleopatra make it one of Shakespeare's most remarkable tragedies. A substantial critical introduction synthesises the best criticism of the play and presents a fresh consideration of its erotic and political complexities. The edition is throughout attentive to the play as theatre: a detailed, illustrated account of the stage history is followed, in the commentary, by discussion of staging options offered by the text. The commentary is especially full and helpful, untangling many obscure words and phrases, illuminating sexual puns, and alerting the reader to Shakespeare's shaping of his source material in Plutarch's Lives.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Geddes & Grosset

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare

$7.49

Goodreads rating: 4.48

$7.49

68% off est. retail
This book could be a good read for anyone who wants to experience the timeless works of William Shakespeare, from tragedy to comedy, history to romance, fantasy to horror. The glossary of obsolete words and variations from their ordinary established meaning makes the reading experience easier to understand. This book is a must-have for literature lovers who want to delve into the vast range of human experience that is still poignant in modern times. Users would most likely review this book as a must-read classic that never goes out of style.
King Henry IV: Pt.2 - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare, Peter Hobley Davison  | Penguin Books

King Henry IV: Pt.2

$1.05

Goodreads rating: 3.77

$1.05

87% off est. retail
The New Penguin Shakespeare offers a complete edition of the plays and poems. Each volume hs been newly prepared from the original texts and includes an introduction, a list of further reading, a full and helpful commentary, and a short account of the textual problems of the play.
The Merchant of Venice: The Oxford Shakespeare - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare, Jay L. Halio  | Oxford University Press España, S.a.

The Merchant of Venice: The Oxford Shakespeare

$6.91

Goodreads rating: 3.78

$6.91

This edition of The Merchant of Venice, based on a fresh examination of the early editions, includes an exceptionally lucid and accessible introduction which addresses Shakespeare's attitude toward Semitism and establishes the cultural, historical, and literary context in which Shakespeare wrote the play. An interesting range of production photographs and drawings of Renaissance merchants and Jews, and a survey of the play's stage history ranging from discussions of its early staging to important twentieth-century productions and performances outside England, particularly Israel, makes this an ideal edition for students, actors, and the general reader.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.
An Enemy of the People - Thryft
Sold out
Henrik Ibsen, Arthur Miller  | Penguin Books

An Enemy of the People

$1.53

Goodreads rating: 3.86

$1.53

When Dr. Stockmann discovers that the water in the small Norwegian town in which he is the resident physician has been contaminated, he does what any responsible citizen would do: reports it to the authorities. But Stockmann's good deed has the potential to ruin the town's reputation as a popular spa destination, and instead of being hailed as a hero, Stockmann is labeled an enemy of the people. Arthur Miller's adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's classic drama is a classic in itself, a penetrating exploration of what happens when the truth comes up against the will of the majority. This edition includes Arthur Miller’s preface and an introduction by John Guare.For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
The Effect - Thryft
Sold out
Lucy Prebble | Bloomsbury Methuen Drama

The Effect

$3.58

Goodreads rating: 3.92

$3.58

You're on a placebo, Tristan. Least I've got an excuse. She told me: you're nothing, you're a control. This is all just you.The Effect is a clinical romance. Two young volunteers, Tristan and Connie, agree to take part in a clinical drug trial. Succumbing to the gravitational pull of attraction and love, however, Tristan and Connie manage to throw the trial off-course, much to the frustration of the clinicians involved. This funny, moving and perhaps surprisingly human play explores questions of sanity, neurology and the limits of medicine, alongside ideas of fate, loyalty and the inevitability of physical attraction.Following on from the critical and commercial success of Enron, The Effect is the latest play from Lucy Prebble, and reunites Enron's writer and director once more delivering a vibrant theatrical exploration into the human brain via the heart. This world premiere was performed at the National Theatre's Cottesloe Theatre from November 2012-23 February 2013, starring Billie Piper and Jonjo O'Neill.The Guardian has selected The Effect as one of the highlights of 'the best theatre for autumn 2012' (2/9/12).
Leopoldstadt - Thryft
Sold out
Tom Stoppard | Faber Faber

Leopoldstadt

$5.12

Goodreads rating: 4.38

$5.12

At the beginning of the 20th Century, Leopoldstadt was the old, crowded Jewish quarter of Vienna. But Hermann Merz, a manufacturer and baptised Jew married to Catholic Gretl, has moved up in the world. Gathered in the Merz apartment in a fashionable part of the city, Hermann's extended family are at the heart of Tom Stoppard's epic yet intimate drama. By the time we have taken leave of them, Austria has passed through the convulsions of war, revolution, impoverishment, annexation by Nazi Germany and - for Austrian Jews - the Holocaust in which 65,000 of them were murdered. It is for the survivors to pass on a story which hasn't ended yet.Tom Stoppard's Leopoldstadt was first performed at Wyndham's Theatre, London, in January 2020. 'One of Britain's greatest living playwrights to provide his most personal play yet.' The Times'The news that Tom Stoppard has written a new drama ranks as top-end seismic activity.' Daily Telegraph
The First Quarto of Hamlet - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare, Kathleen O. Irace  | Cambridge University Press

The First Quarto of Hamlet

$4.48 $2.00 55% off

Goodreads rating: 4.02

$4.48 $2.00 55% off

96% off est. retail
The First Quarto of Hamlet is a must-read for those interested in Shakespeare's creative process. This edition provides a closer look at an early version of Hamlet and the changes made in subsequent editions. The unique scenes and alternate plot elements offer a fresh perspective on a classic play and may inspire new ideas for performances.
The Complete Greek Tragedies: Sophocles, Pt.1 v. 8 - Thryft
Sold out
Richmond Lattimore, David Grene, Sophocles  | University Of Chicago Press

The Complete Greek Tragedies: Sophocles, Pt.1 v. 8

$6.94

Goodreads rating: 3.99

$6.94

"These authoritative translations consign all other complete collections to the wastebasket."—Robert Brustein, The New Republic"This is it. No qualifications. Go out and buy it everybody."—Kenneth Rexroth, The Nation"The translations deliberately avoid the highly wrought and affectedly poetic; their idiom is contemporary....They have life and speed and suppleness of phrase."— Times Education Supplement"These translations belong to our time. A keen poetic sensibility repeatedly quickens them; and without this inner fire the most academically flawless rendering is dead."—Warren D. Anderson, American Oxonian"The critical commentaries and the versions themselves...are fresh, unpretentious, above all, functional."— Commonweal"Grene is one of the great translators."—Conor Cruise O'Brien, London Sunday Times"Richmond Lattimore is that rara avis in our age, the classical scholar who is at the same time an accomplished poet."—Dudley Fitts, New York Times Book Review
'Night, MA - Thryft
Sold out
Marsha Norman | Hill And Wang

'Night, MA

$2.13

Goodreads rating: 3.9

$2.13

'night, Mother is a taut and fluid drama that addresses different emotions and special relations. By one of America's most talented playwrights, this play won the Dramatists Guild's prestigious Hull-Warriner Award, four Tony nominations, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the Pulitzer Prize in 1983.'night, Mother had its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in December 1982. It opened on Broadway in March 1983, directed by Tom Moore and starring Anne Pitoniak and Kathy Bates; a film, starring Anne Bancroft and Sissy Spacek, was released in 1986.
Death of a Salesman : Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem - Thryft
Sold out
Arthur Miller | Penguin Modern Classics

Death of a Salesman : Certain Private Conversations in Two Acts and a Requiem

$6.95

Goodreads rating: 3.57

$6.95

In the spring of 1948 Arthur Miller retreated to a log cabin in Connecticut with the first two lines of a new play already fixed in his mind. He emerged six weeks later with the final script of Death of a Salesman - a painful examination of American life and consumerism. Opening on Broadway the following year, Miller's extraordinary masterpiece changed the course of modern theatre. In creating Willy Loman, his destructively insecure anti-hero, Miller himself defined his aim as being 'to set forth what happens when a man does not have a grip on the forces of life'.
Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays - Thryft
Sold out
Mark Musa, Luigi Pirandello  | Penguin Classics

Six Characters in Search of an Author and Other Plays

$2.13

Goodreads rating: 3.94

$2.13

Pirandello (1867-1936) is the founding architect of twentieth-century drama, brilliantly innovatory in his forms and themes, and in the combined energy, imagination and visual colours of his theatre.This volume of plays, translated from the Italian by Mark Musa, opens with Six Characters in Search of an Author, Pirandello's most popular and controversial work in which six characters invade the stage and demand to be included in the play. The tragedy Henry IV dramatizes the lucid madness of a man who may be King. In So It Is (If You Think So) the townspeople exercise a morbid curiosity attempting to discover 'the truth' about the Ponza family. Each of these plays can lay claim to being Pirandello's masterpiece, and in exploring the nature of human personality each one stretches the resources of drama to their limits.
Orpheus Descending and Suddenly Last Summer - Thryft
Sold out
Tennessee Williams, Martin Sherman  | New Directions

Orpheus Descending and Suddenly Last Summer

$9.29

Goodreads rating: 4.33

$9.29

Two of Tennessee Williams's most revered dramas in a single paperback edition for the first time. Orpheus Descending is a love story, a plea for spiritual and artistic freedom, as well as a portrait of racism and intolerance. When charismatic drifter Valentine Xavier arrives in a Mississippi Delta town with his guitar and snakeskin jacket, he becomes a trigger for hatred and a magnet for three outcast storekeeper Lady Torrance, “lewd vagrant” Carol Cutrere, and religious visionary Vee Talbot. Suddenly Last Summer , described by its author as a “short morality play,” has become one of his most notorious works due in no small part to the film version starring Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn, and Montgomery Clift that shocked audiences in 1959. A menacing tale of madness, jealousy, and denial,the horrors in Suddenly Last Summer build to a heart-stopping conclusion. With perceptive new introductions by playwright Martin Sherman ― he reframes Orpheus Descending in a political context and explores the psychology and sensationalism surrounding Suddenly Last Summer ― this volume also offers Williams’s related essay, “The Past, the Present, and the Perhaps,” and a chronology of the playwright’s life and works.
Four Major Plays Vol.1 : Centennial Edition - Thryft
Sold out
Henrik Ibsen, Rolf Fjelde, Joan Templeton  | Signet

Four Major Plays Vol.1 : Centennial Edition

$1.20

Goodreads rating: 4.05

$1.20

Four Major  Volume IA Doll House • The Wild Duck  •  Hedda Gabler  •  The Master BuilderAmong the greatest and best known of Ibsen’s works, these four plays brilliantly exemplify his landmark contributions to the his realistic dialogue, probing of social problems, and depiction of characters’ inner lives as well as their actions. Rich in symbolism and often autobiographical, each of these dramas deals convincingly and provocatively with such universal themes as greed, fear, and sexual hostility, and confronts the eternal conflict between reality and illusion. These Rolf Fjelde translations have been widely acclaimed as the definitive versions of the major works of the father of modern theater.Translated and with a Foreword by Rolf FjeldeAnd an Afterword by Joan Templeton
Desdemona - Thryft
Sold out
Peter Sellars, Rokia Traoré, Toni Morrison  | Oberon Books

Desdemona

$7.67

Goodreads rating: 3.86

$7.67

The story of Desdemona from Shakespeare's Othello is re-imagined by Nobel Prize laureate Toni Morrison, Malian singer and songwriter Rokia Traoré, and acclaimed stage director Peter Sellars. Morrison's response to Sellars’ 2009 production of Othello is an intimate dialogue of words and music between Desdemona and her African nurse Barbary. Morrison gives voice and depth to the female characters, letting them speak and sing in the fullness of their hearts. Desdemona is an extraordinary narrative of words, music and song about Shakespeare’s doomed heroine, who speaks from the grave about the traumas of race, class, gender, war — and the transformative power of love. Toni Morrison transports one of the most iconic, central, and disturbing treatments of race in Western culture into the new realities and potential outcomes facing a rising generation of the 21st century.
The Importance Of Being Earnest : And Other Plays - Thryft
Sold out
Oscar Wilde, Sylvan Barnet  | Signet Classic

The Importance Of Being Earnest : And Other Plays

$4.03

Goodreads rating: 4.24

$4.03

A universal favorite, The Importance of Being Earnest displays Oscar Wilde's wit and theatrical genius at their brilliant best. Subtitled "A Trivial Comedy for Serious People," this hilarious attack on Victorian manners and morals turns a pompous world on it's head, lets duplicity lead to happiness, and makes riposte the highest form of art. Written, according to Wilde, "by a butterfly for butterflies," this, his last and greatest play, is not only wonderfully lighthearted, but a dazzling masterpiece of comic entertainment.Although it was originally written in four acts, The Importance of Being Earnest is usually performed in a three-act version. This authoritative edition features an appendix that restores valuable lines that appeared in the original.Also included in this special collection are Wilde's first comedy success, Lady Windermere's Fan and his richly sensual melodrama, Salome, which he called "that terrible coloured little tragedy I once in some strange mood wrote" - and which shocked and enraged the censors of his time.With an introduction by Sylvan Barnet, Professor of English at Tufts University.
Oxford School Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare, Roma Gill  | Oxford University Press

Oxford School Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet

$6.47

Goodreads rating: 3.74

$6.47

This edition of Romeo and Juliet is especially designed for students, with accessible on-page notes and explanatory illustrations, clear background information, and rigorous but accessible scholarly credentials. This edition includes illustrations, preliminary notes, reading lists (including websites) and classroom notes, allowing students to master Shakespeare's work.About the Series: Newly redesigned and easier to read, each play in the Oxford School Shakespeare series includes the complete and unabridged text, detailed and clear explanations of difficult words and passages, a synopsis of the plot, summaries of individual scenes, and notes on the main characters. Also included is a wide range of questions and activities for work in class, together with the historical background to Shakespeare's England, a brief biography of Shakespeare, and a complete list of his plays.
The Merchant of Venice: Intermediate - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Macmillan

The Merchant of Venice: Intermediate

$6.56

Goodreads rating: 3.78

$6.56

71% off est. retail
Recommendation: "The Merchant of Venice" is highly recommended for readers seeking thought-provoking dramas that explore complex themes of justice, revenge and betrayal. Written in a playscript format, this book provides original extracts and an immersive experience for the reader. Shakespeare masterfully weaves together the lives of a vengeful loan shark, a debt-laden merchant and star-crossed lovers to create a play that is both gripping and tragic. The play raises compelling questions about the nature of justice, mercy, and humanity that will surely leave readers spellbound.
The Ferryman - Thryft
Sold out
Jez Butterworth | Nick Hern Books

The Ferryman

$6.75

Goodreads rating: 4.37

$6.75

Armagh, 1981. The Carney farmhouse is a hive of activity with preparations for the annual harvest. A day of hard work on the land and a traditional night of feasting and celebrations lie ahead. But this year they will be interrupted by a visitor.Developed by Sonia Friedman Productions, The Ferryman premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, in April 2017, before transferring to the West End. The production was directed by Sam Mendes.
The Theban Plays - Thryft
Sold out
E.F. Watling, Sophocles  | Penguin Classics

The Theban Plays

$6.90 $4.90 29% off

Goodreads rating: 3.99

$6.90 $4.90 29% off

For anyone with an appreciation for classical literature and the enduring themes of fate and morality, "The Theban Plays" by Sophocles will resonate powerfully. Your journey through these plays will not only immerse you in ancient Greek tragedy but also present timeless questions about human nature and leadership. Sophocles' profound storytelling has a way of reaching into the soul, making it as relevant today as it was over two millennia ago.
Uncle Vanya - Thryft
Sold out
Anton Chekhov, David Mamet  | Grove Press

Uncle Vanya

$4.32

Goodreads rating: 3.85

$4.32

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet’s Uncle Vanya is a sparkling restoration of a masterpiece of the modern stage, marked by Mamet’s finely tuned ear for dialogue and memorable poetic imagery.In "Uncle Vanya," a retired professor and his beautiful young wife return to the country estate left by his deceased first wife to find themselves overwhelmed by the stagnant inevitability of the rituals of their life and class, and mercilessly taxed by the encroachment of age at the expense of youth. All of the play’s characters are plunged into that precarious state where, in Beckett’s words, “the boredom of living is replaced by the suffering of being.”Working from a literal translation by Vlada Chernomordik, Mamet, who has also adapted Chekhov’s Three Sisters and The Cherry Orchard, opens the way for a contemporary audience to establish immediate contact with a classic, infusing the power of Chekhov’s play with the potent precision of his own modern voice.
Pygmalion - Thryft
Sold out
George Bernard Shaw | Pearson Education

Pygmalion

$1.97

Goodreads rating: 3.89

$1.97

“You see this creature with her kerbstone English… Well sir, in three months I could pass that girl off as a duchess…” So begins Henry Higgins’ linguistic project to transform Eliza Dolittle’s speech. But he hadn’t bargained on Eliza’s feisty character or falling in love with her…(back cover)
Three Comedies - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Simon & Schuster

Three Comedies

$4.25

Goodreads rating: 4.06

$4.25

The authoritative edition of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers.The havoc wrought on lovers by magic in A Midsummer Night’s Dream , the furious battle of the sexes waged in The Taming of the Shrew , and a stranded woman finding her way in a man’s world in Twelfth Night —this collection of three of Shakespeare’s greatest comedies is based on the acclaimed individual Folger editions of the plays.This edition -Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play-Full explanatory notes-Scene-by-scene plot summariesThe Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world’s largest collection of Shakespeare’s printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.
A Doll's House and Other Plays - Thryft
Sold out
Peter Watts, Henrik Ibsen  | Penguin Books Ltd

A Doll's House and Other Plays

$8.32

Goodreads rating: 3.96

$8.32

Delivering three distinct and powerful visions of characters who choose to defy convention in the pursuit of happiness, Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House and Other Plays is translated with an introduction by Peter Watts in Penguin Classics. The League of Youth was Ibsen's first venture into realistic social drama and marks a turning-point in his style. By 1879 Ibsen was convinced that women suffer an inevitable violation of their personalities within the context of marriage. In A Doll's House, Ibsen caused a sensation with the his portrayal of Nora Helmer, a woman who, gradually arriving at an understanding of her own misery, struggles to break free from the stifling confines of her marriage. Continuing the theme of tensions within the family in The Lady from the Sea, Ibsen put forward the view that freedom with responsibility might at least be a step in the right direction. Peter Watts's lively modern translation is accompanied by an introduction examining Ibsen's life and times, with individual discussions of each of the three plays. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
A View from the Bridge - Thryft
Sold out
Arthur Miller | Penguin Books

A View from the Bridge

$4.62

Goodreads rating: 3.7

$4.62

Arthur Miller's play A View from the Bridge is a tragic masterpiece of the inexorable unravelling of a man, set in a close-knit Italian-American community in 1950s New York.Eddie Carbone is a longshoreman and a straightforward man, with a strong sense of decency and of honour. For Eddie, it's a privilege to take in his wife's cousins, Marco and Rodolpho, straight off the boat from Italy. But, as his niece Catherine begins to fall for one of them, it's clear that it's not just, as Eddie claims, that he's too strange, too sissy, too careless for her, but that something bigger, deeper is wrong - and wrong inside Eddie, in a way he can't face. Something which threatens the happiness of their whole family.
The Merchant of Venice - The Pelican Shakespeare
Sold out
Stephen Orgel, A.R. Braunmuller, William Shakespeare  | Penguin Classics

The Merchant of Venice - The Pelican Shakespeare

$8.90

Goodreads rating: 3.78

$8.90

64% off est. retail
If you're intrigued by the complexities of human emotion and the weight of justice versus mercy, "The Merchant of Venice" is a compelling choice. With its rich and controversial characters like Shylock and Portia, this Pelican Shakespeare edition brings a blend of authoritative text with insightful scholarship, ideal for both newcomers and seasoned readers of the Bard’s work. Whether you're studying for class or exploring Shakespeare for pleasure, the contextual essays and notes will deepen your appreciation of this classic drama.
She Stoops to Conquer - Thryft
Sold out
Oliver Goldsmith | Dover Publications

She Stoops to Conquer

$0.00

Goodreads rating: 3.65

$0.00

The action of She Stoops to Conquer (1773) is largely confined to a night and a day in Squire Hardcastle's somewhat dilapidated country house: Young Marlow, on his way there to meet the bride his father has chosen for him, loses his way and arrives at the house assuming it is an inn. The prospect of meeting the genteel Miss Hardcastle terrifies the diffident youngster; but the serving-girl Kate - in fact, Miss Hardcastle, who chooses not to clarify the misunderstanding - immediately catches his fancy and cannot complain of a lack of ardour in her well-born suitor. After a series of trifling confusions and the inevitable eavesdropping-from-behind-a-screen, all is resolved so pleasingly that the comedy has been a favourite with amateur and professional companies and their audiences for over 230 years.
Romeo And Juliet - Thryft
Sold out
Stephen Orgel, A.R. Braunmuller, William Shakespeare  | Penguin Classics

Romeo And Juliet

$7.35

Goodreads rating: 3.74

$7.35

This classic tale of Romeo and Juliet captures the essence of tragic love. From its iconic balcony scene to the heart-wrenching ending, Shakespeare's eloquent language and passionate storytelling will immerse you in the captivating world of forbidden love. Experience the beauty and complexity of this timeless masterpiece that continues to resonate with readers of all ages.
Hamlet
Sold out
William Shakespeare | William Collins

Hamlet

$8.90

Goodreads rating: 4.02

$8.90

If you're delving into Shakespeare, "Hamlet" is quintessential. As you navigate through Hamlet's turbulent pursuit of justice and truth, you'll be engrossed by the rich language and timeless themes of human conflict, morality, and existence that have resonated with readers for centuries. Shakespeare's ability to delve so deeply into the human psyche turns the pages for you, making this a compelling read for anyone intrigued by the complexities of the soul.
Twelfth Night : or, What You Will - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Signet

Twelfth Night : or, What You Will

$2.59

Goodreads rating: 3.97

$2.59

Twelfth Night: Or,what You Will (Penguin Popular Classics) Shakespeare, William
The Merchant of Venice - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Penguin Classics

The Merchant of Venice

$8.90 $4.90 45% off

Goodreads rating: 3.78

$8.90 $4.90 45% off

This classic play by William Shakespeare is a thought-provoking exploration of prejudice, love, and justice. Set in Venice, the story follows the noble but impoverished Venetian who seeks a loan to win the heart of an heiress. However, when he is forced to borrow from a Jewish moneylender and a chilling contract is signed, tensions rise and the true nature of justice is put to the test. With its complex characters and controversial themes, The Merchant of Venice will captivate readers who enjoy thought-provoking dramas filled with timeless lessons.
The House of Bernarda Alba : La Casa de Bernarda Alba - Thryft
Sold out
Gwynne Edwards, Federico García Lorca  | Methuen Drama

The House of Bernarda Alba : La Casa de Bernarda Alba

$1.64

Goodreads rating: 3.85

$1.64

Bernarda Alba is a widow, and her five daughters are incarcerated in mourning along with her. One by one they make a bid for freedom, with tragic consequences. Lorca's tale depicts the repression of women within Catholic Spain in the years before the war. The House of Bernarda Alba is Lorca's last and possibly finest play, completed shortly before he was murdered by Nationalist sympathisers at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. Inspired by real characters and described by the author as 'a true record of village life', it is a tragic tale of frustration and explosive passions in a household of women rulled by a tyrannical mother. Edited with invaluable student notes - a must for students of Spanish drama.
"Othello" - Thryft
Sold out
E.A.J. Honigmann, William Shakespeare  | Bloomsbury Arden

"Othello"

$16.84

Goodreads rating: 3.89

$16.84

Notes concerning the text and its literary sources accompany this edition of Shakespearce's play about jealousy, malice, and deceit
"Troilus and Cressida" - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Arden Shakespeare

"Troilus and Cressida"

$4.64 $2.00 57% off

Goodreads rating: 3.41

$4.64 $2.00 57% off

Book by Shakespeare, William
"Love's Labour's Lost" - Thryft
Sold out
William Shakespeare | Arden Shakespeare

"Love's Labour's Lost"

$1.50

Goodreads rating: 3.53

$1.50

This edition of Love''s Labour''s lost provide s a clear and authoritative text, detailed notes and comment ary on the same pages as the text and an in-depth survey of critical approaches to the play. '
"The Two Noble Kinsmen" - Thryft
Sold out
John Fletcher, William Shakespeare  | Bloomsbury Arden

"The Two Noble Kinsmen"

$1.51

Goodreads rating: 3.38

$1.51

Largely ignored for centuries because of doubts about its authorship and its subject matter, once considered distasteful, "The Two Noble Kinsmen" is surprisingly relevant to many current interests. Lois Potter supplies new information on sources and contexts, and drawing on extensive experience as a theatre critic, compares a number of late-20th century stagings of the play.
"Timon of Athens" - Thryft
Sold out
H.J. Oliver, William Shakespeare  | Arden Shakespeare

"Timon of Athens"

$1.50

Goodreads rating: 3.44

$1.50

"The New Penguin Shakespeare" offers a complete edition of the plays and poems. Each volume has been newly prepared from the original texts and includes an introduction, a list of further reading, a commentary, and a short account of the textual problems of the play.