The Greatest Books of All Time on Theater

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This list represents a comprehensive and trusted collection of the greatest books. Developed through a specialized algorithm, it brings together 759 'best of' book lists to form a definitive guide to the world's most acclaimed books. For those interested in how these books are chosen, additional details can be found on the rankings page.

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Rank Book Authors Year Country Language Actions
454 The Sea, The Sea Iris Murdoch 1978 British English
721 Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1795 German German
1361 The King In Yellow Robert W. Chambers 1895 American English
1381 Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel 2014 Canadian English
1386 Six Characters in Search of an Author Luigi Pirandello 1921 Italian Italian
1402 The Seagull Anton Chekhov 1896 Russian Russian
1800 The Deptford Trilogy Robertson Davies 1970 Canadian English
1924 Pages From The Goncourt Journal Edmond de Goncourt 1887 French French
2152 Conversations Of Goethe With Johann Peter Eckermann Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann 1836 German German
2215 The Threepenny Opera Bertolt Brecht 1928 German German
2374 The Vagabond Colette 1910 French French
2595 Bid Time Return Richard Matheson 1975 American English
2634 Tripmaster Monkey Maxine Hong Kingston 1989 American English
2673 Autobiographies William Butler Yeats 1926 Irish English
2697 Wise Children Angela Carter 1991 British English
2752 Mephisto Klaus Mann 1936 German German
2854 A Bullet In The Ballet Caryl Brahms &S. J. Simon 1937 British English
3006 Scaramouche Rafael Sabatini 1921 Italian English
3182 Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead Tom Stoppard 1966 British English
3458 Hamlet, Revenge! Michael Innes 1937 British English
4310 No Bed For Bacon Caryl Brahms, S. J. Simon 1941 British English
4310 The Case Of The Gilded Fly Edmund Crispin 1944 British English
4310 Charade John Mortimer 1947 British English
5336 Bones And Silence Reginald Hill 1990 British English
6125 The First Garden Anne Hébert 1988 Canadian French
6524 Le Coq Et L'arlequin Jean Cocteau 1918 French French
7216 An Essay On The Dramatic Character Of Sir John Falstaff Maurice Morgann 1777 British English
7216 Selected Works Alfred Jarry 1901 French French
7216 Selected Prose Hugo von Hofmannsthal 1900 Austrian German
7564 Enter Ghost Isabella Hammad 2023 British English
7738 Becoming Madame Mao Anchee Min 2000 American English
7820 Hugo Von Hofmannsthal And His Time Hermann Broch 1949 Austrian German
7861 The Rehearsal Jean Anouilh 1950 French French
7967 Saint Genet Jean Paul Sartre 1952 French French
7977 Trust Exercise Susan Choi 2019 American English
8032 The Muses Are Heard Truman Capote 1956 American English
8405 Wyrd Sisters Terry Pratchett 1988 British English
10069 What Bloody Man Is That? Simon Brett 1987 British English
10849 Orson Welles André Bazin 1972 French French
11278 The Playmaker Thomas Keneally 1987 Australian English
11663 Shakespeare In A Divided America James Shapiro 2020 American English
11663 Bernard Shaw, Vol. 1 Michael Holroyd 1988 British English
11663 The Magic Lantern Ingmar Bergman 1987 Swedish Swedish
11941 O'Neill, Son and Artist Louis Sheaffer 1973 American English
12042 Krieg Ohne Schlacht Heiner Müller 1992 German German
12326 Shylock John Gross 1992 British English
13362 Critic Richard Brinsley Sheridan 1779 British English
13938 Marat Sade Peter Weiss 1963 German German
14113 The Tragic Muse Henry James 1890 British English
14232 Noises Off Michael Frayn 1982 British English
14457 A Chair On The Boulevard Leonard Merrick 1907 British English
14620 City Of Girls Elizabeth Gilbert 2019 American English
14985 The Appeal Janice Hallett 2021 British English
14985 The Real Thing Tom Stoppard 1982 British English
15782 The Illusion Pierre Corneille 1636 French French
15916 Memoirs Of Lorenzo Da Ponte Lorenzo Da Ponte 1823 Italian Italian
15916 Act One Moss Hart 1959 American English
15916 Show Boat Edna Ferber 1926 American English
15916 Final Curtain Ngaio Marsh 1947 New Zealander English
16549 Notes On A Cowardly Lion John Lahr 1969 American English
17162 Samuel Pepys Claire Tomalin 2002 British English
17162 Enthusiasms Bernard Levin 1983 British English
17162 This Much Is True Miriam Margolyes 2021 British English
16873 The Man Who Came To Dinner George S. Kaufman, Moss Hart 1939 American English
17162 Bingo Edward Bond 1973 British English
17162 Mister Monkey Francine Prose 2016 American English
17162 Peg Woffington And Christie Johnstone Charles Reade 1853 British English
17162 At Freddie's Penelope Fitzgerald 1982 British English
17162 Full Dark House Christopher Fowler 2003 British English
17162 The Other Shore Xingjian Gao 1986 Chinese Chinese
17162 The Reckoning Charles Nicholl 1992 British English
17162 If We Were Villains M. L. Rio 2017 American English