The Drama 100 - A Ranking of the Greatest Plays of All Time

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

About this list

Book, 100 Books

Which plays are truly great, and why? This book by Daniel Burt profiles 100 of the greatest plays drawn from all cultures and periods of literature.

This list was originally published in 2007 and was added to this site about 2 years ago.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
131 King Lear William Shakespeare 1608 British English
106 Oedipus the King Sophocles -429 Greek Ancient greek
71 Hamlet William Shakespeare 1600 British English
285 Oresteia Aeschylus -458 Greek Ancient greek
155 Macbeth William Shakespeare 1606 British English
1305 Long Day's Journey Into Night Eugene O'Neill 1956 American English
1109 Othello William Shakespeare 1603 British English
101 Waiting for Godot Samuel Beckett 1953 Irish French
307 Medea Euripides -431 Greek Ancient greek
5988 Twelfth Night William Shakespeare 1602 British English
424 A Doll's House Henrik Ibsen 1879 Norwegian Norwegian
877 The Cherry Orchard Anton Chekhov 1904 Russian Russian
943 The Bacchae Euripides -405 Greek Ancient greek
1382 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde 1895 Irish English
125 Antigone Sophocles -441 Greek Ancient greek
984 Tartuffe Molière 1664 French French
1066 Antony And Cleopatra William Shakespeare 1606 British English
1084 Mother Courage and Her Children Bertolt Brecht 1941 German German
876 Lysistrata Aristophanes -411 Greek Ancient greek
627 The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus Christopher Marlowe 1604 British English
428 Death Of A Salesman Arthur Miller 1949 American English
1711 Woyzeck Georg Buchner 1879 German German
6242 Volpone Ben Jonson 1607 British English
3306 Henry IV, Part I William Shakespeare 1597 British English
4787 The Way Of The World William Congreve 1700 British English
599 A Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Williams 1947 American English
211 The Tempest William Shakespeare 1623 British English
5853 Major Barbara George Bernard Shaw 1905 British English
2865 Endgame Samuel Beckett 1957 Irish French
1869 The Recognition of Sakuntala Kālidāsa -400 Indian Sanskrit
4167 Miss Julie August Strindberg 1888 Swedish Swedish
14780 The Peony Pavilion Tang Xianzu 1598 Chinese Chinese
2052 The Misanthrope Molière 1666 French French
572 Three Sisters Anton Chekhov 1901 Russian Russian
529 Life Is a Dream Pedro Calderón de la Barca 1635 Spanish Spanish
2274 Hedda Gabler Henrik Ibsen 1890 Norwegian Norwegian
4091 The School For Scandal Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1777 British English
14851 The Playboy Of The Western World John Millington Synge 1907 Irish English
2261 The Iceman Cometh Eugene O'Neill 1946 American English
16512 The Love Suicides At Sonezaki Chikamatsu Monzaemon 1703 Japanese Japanese
1467 Everyman Unknown 1501 Unknown Middle english
7651 Angels In America Tony Kushner 1991 American English
1661 A Midsummer Night's Dream William Shakespeare 1595 British English
1386 Six Characters in Search of an Author Luigi Pirandello 1921 Italian Italian
4657 Man And Superman George Bernard Shaw 1903 British English
1177 Phèdre Jean Racine 1677 French French
337 Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare 1597 British English
2738 Look Back In Anger John Osborne 1956 British English
5989 The Homecoming Harold Pinter 1965 British English
12440 Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? Edward Albee 1962 American English
5896 The Plough And The Stars Sean O'Casey 1926 Irish English
10608 The Alchemist Ben Jonson 1610 British English
2199 Trojan Women Euripides -415 Greek Ancient greek
4667 Saint Joan George Bernard Shaw 1923 Irish English
14952 Blood Wedding Federico García Lorca 1933 Spanish Spanish
1990 Le Mariage De Figaro Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais 1784 French French
3458 The Glass Menagerie Tennessee Williams 1944 American English
4795 The Good Person of Szechwan Bertolt Brecht 1943 German German
3921 She Stoops to Conquer Oliver Goldsmith 1773 British English
2490 Murder In The Cathedral T. S. Eliot 1935 British English
2246 The Bald Soprano Eugène Ionesco 1950 French French
5898 The Ghost Sonata August Strindberg 1907 Swedish Swedish
1732 The Government Inspector Nikolai Gogol 1836 Russian Russian
9716 The Crucible Arthur Miller 1953 American English
13938 Marat Sade Peter Weiss 1963 German German
14985 Translations Brian Friel 1980 Irish English
5901 The Beggar's Opera John Gay 1728 British English
4785 Amphitryon Plautus -184 Roman Latin
1409 No Exit Jean Paul Sartre 1944 French French
11302 A Raisin In The Sun Lorraine Hansberry 1959 American English
3052 Our Town Thornton Wilder 1938 American English
5903 The Country Wife William Wycherley 1675 British English
6927 Travesties Tom Stoppard 1974 British English
2959 The Lower Depths Maxim Gorky 1902 Russian Russian
14191 Private Lives Noel Coward 1930 British English
14232 Fool For Love Sam Shepard 1983 American English
16913 A Flea In Her Ear Georges Feydeau 1907 French French
14232 Glengarry Glen Ross David Mamet 1984 American English
2007 King Ubu Alfred Jarry 1896 French French
14985 Cloud 9 Caryl Churchill 1979 British English
16951 At The Hawk's Well William Butler Yeats 1916 Irish English
16962 Orpheus Jean Cocteau 1926 French French
13941 Master Harold...And The Boys Athol Fugard 1982 South African English
16993 The Well Cradle Zeami Motokiyo 1430 Japanese Japanese
17152 The Other Shore Xingjian Gao 1986 Chinese Chinese
14162 The Little Foxes Lillian Hellman 1939 American English
3918 Fences August Wilson 1985 American English
4805 The Dybbuk S. Ansky 1914 Russian Yiddish
5511 The Visit Friedrich Dürrenmatt 1956 Swiss German
2789 The Weavers Gerhart Hauptmann 1892 German German
3376 Le Cid Pierre Corneille 1637 French French
14152 The Rover Aphra Behn 1677 British English
14209 Awake And Sing! Clifford Odets 1935 American English
14764 Adelphoe Terence -160 Roman Latin
6670 The Balcony Jean Genet 1957 French French
14985 Accidental Death Of An Anarchist Dario Fo 1970 Italian Italian
17152 The Hostage Brendan Behan 1958 Irish English
14985 The Heidi Chronicles Wendy Wasserstein 1989 American English
17134 The Best Mayor, The King Lope de Vega 1635 Spanish Spanish
303 Peter And Wendy J. M. Barrie 1911 Scottish English