From Oedipus to The History Boys: Michael Billington's 101 greatest plays

This is one of the 759 lists we use to generate our main The Greatest Books list.

About this list

The Guardian, 102 Books

Michael Billington, In his new book, the Guardian’s theatre critic has selected what he thinks are the 101 greatest plays ever written, in any western language

This list was originally published in 2015 and was added to this site over 2 years ago.

View: List Grid Table
Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
613 The Persians Aeschylus -471 Greek Ancient greek
106 Oedipus the King Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
641 Bridget Jones's Diary Helen Fielding 1996 British English
4158 The Assemblywomen Aristophanes -391 Greek Ancient greek
14697 The Brothers Menaechmus Plautus -184 Roman Latin
17173 The Mysteries Tony Harrison 1985 British English
15732 Edward Ii Christopher Marlowe 1594 British English
15733 Love’s Labour’s Lost William Shakespeare 1598 British English
3305 Henry IV, Part I William Shakespeare 1597 British English
3813 Henry IV, Part II William Shakespeare 1600 British English
71 Hamlet William Shakespeare 1600 British English
5989 Twelfth Night William Shakespeare 1602 British English
5815 The Malcontent John Marston 1604 British English
15745 A Mad World, My Masters Thomas Middleton 1605 British English
155 Macbeth William Shakespeare 1606 British English
2715 Coriolanus William Shakespeare 1608 British English
10611 The Alchemist Ben Jonson 1610 British English
1249 The White Devil John Webster 1612 British English
5833 Fuente Ovejuna Lope de Vega 1619 Spanish Spanish
15772 Punishment Without Revenge Lope de Vega 1631 Spanish Spanish
529 Life Is a Dream Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1635 Spanish Spanish
15791 The Illusion Pierre Corneille 1636 French French
984 Tartuffe Molière 1664 French French
2053 The Misanthrope Molière 1666 French French
5846 Andromache Jean Racine 1667 French French
14152 The Rover Aphra Behn 1677 British English
5850 Venice Preserv'd Thomas Otway 1682 British English
5851 Love For Love William Congreve 1695 British English
5852 The Recruiting Officer George Farquhar 1706 Irish English
15846 The Game Of Love And Chance Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux 1730 French French
5856 The Servant Of Two Masters Carlo Goldoni 1746 Italian Italian
15859 La Triologia Della Villegiatura Carlo Goldoni 1761 Italian Italian
3921 She Stoops to Conquer Oliver Goldsmith 1773 British English
4092 The School For Scandal Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1777 British English
1990 Le Mariage De Figaro Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais 1784 French French
1178 Nathan the Wise Gotthold Ephraim Lessing 1779 German German
4732 Don Carlos Friedrich Schiller 1787 German German
5862 Mary Stuart Friedrich Schiller 1800 German German
2750 The Broken Jug Heinrich von Kleist 1808 German German
16512 The Prince Of Homburg Heinrich von Kleist 1821 German German
1731 The Government Inspector Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
1712 Woyzeck Georg Buchner 1879 German German
16532 An Italian Straw Hat Eugène Labiche 1851 French French
4803 Brand Henrik Ibsen 1866 Norwegian Norwegian
16547 The Forest Alexander Ostrovsky 1871 Russian Russian
424 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
14823 The Wild Duck Henrik Ibsen 1884 Norwegian Norwegian
5894 The Power Of Darkness Leo Tolstoy 1886 Russian Russian
4259 The Father August Strindberg 1887 Swedish Swedish
1725 Spring Awakening Frank Wedekind 1891 German German
1382 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde 1895 Irish English
16630 Le Dindon Georges Feydeau 1896 French French
1035 Uncle Vanya Anton Chekhov 1897 Russian Russian
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
16651 Summerfolk Maxim Gorky 1904 Russian Russian
303 Peter And Wendy J. M. Barrie 1911 Scottish English
16687 Waste Harley Granville Barker 1907 British English
16697 Professor Bernhardi Arthur Schnitzler 1912 Austrian German
16711 The Daughter In Law D. H. Lawrence 1913 British English
954 Pygmalion George Bernard Shaw 1913 British English
1788 Heartbreak House George Bernard Shaw 1919 British English
16746 Exiles James Joyce 1918 Irish English
16758 The Verge Susan Glaspell 1921 American English
14869 Henry Iv Luigi Pirandello 1922 Italian Italian
1781 Juno And The Paycock Sean O'Casey 1924 Irish English
14957 The Front Page Ben Hecht, Charles MacArthur 1928 American English
13511 Machinal Sophie Treadwell 1928 American English
16798 Tales From The Vienna Woods Ödön von Horváth 1931 Austrian German
16807 The Suicide Nikolai Erdman 1928 Russian Russian
16847 Design For Living Noel Coward 1933 British English
16854 The House Of Bernarda Alba Federico García Lorca 1936 Spanish Spanish
2424 Galileo Bertolt Brecht 1938 German German
16868 Mr Puntila And His Man Matti Bertolt Brecht 1940 German German
1306 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
16883 Men Should Weep Ena Lamont Stewart 1947 Scottish English
599 A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams 1947 American English
6403 The Chairs Eugène Ionesco 1952 French French
16911 The Deep Blue Sea Terence Rattigan 1952 British English
9719 The Crucible Arthur Miller 1953 American English
16932 Summer Of The Seventeenth Doll Ray Lawler 1955 Australian English
5512 The Visit Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1956 Swiss German
14972 All That Fall Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish English
16958 The Entertainer John Osborne 1957 British English
14975 The Fire Raisers Max Frisch 1953 Swiss German
11305 A Raisin In The Sun Lorraine Hansberry 1959 American English
17000 Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance John Arden 1959 British English
17016 Chips With Everything Arnold Wesker 1962 British English
5990 The Homecoming Harold Pinter 1965 British English
17030 Black Comedy Peter Shaffer 1965 British English
17173 Absurd Person Singular Alan Ayckbourn 1972 British English
17173 Bingo Edward Bond 1973 British English
4083 Death And The King's Horsemen Wole Soyinka 1975 Nigerian English
14986 The Real Thing Tom Stoppard 1982 British English
3950 Top Girls Caryl Churchill 1982 British English
17173 Dancing At Lughnasa Brian Friel 1990 Irish English
17173 Racing Demon David Hare 1990 British English
14986 The Weir Conor McPherson 1997 Irish English
14232 Copenhagen Michael Frayn 1998 British English
14986 The Goat, Or Who Is Sylvia? Edward Albee 2000 American English
12401 The History Boys Alan Bennett 2004 British English
14232 Jerusalem Jez Butterworth 2009 British English
17173 King Charles Iii Mike Bartlett 2014 British English