Time flies when you no longer have study and assignments sitting on your shoulders.
Ten years ago I completed a distance education degree with the University of New England. I'm 60 years old now, so even then I was what would kindly be referred to as a "mature student." People who know me would struggle seeing the word mature linked to me in any way, but there you are.
I did three majors in that course... Politics, Media and Writing. The latter of those contained my favourite units of the course, including Scriptwriting for Theatre. That course included a small amount of content on some of the great playwrights... but only a small amount and not with a great deal of depth.
I always meant to get into a bit of personal study, reading plays I hadn't encountered and learning about their authors. Obviously I was only a little interested as I've done nothing about it. But now... as I've moved into yet another kindly intended aged category - a senior - I have some particularly nerdy bucket list items I'd like to tick off and on of them is to become more knowledgeable about plays... partly out of a burning interest in learning, and partly because I want to become a better writer.
So... what to do. Maybe there's a book that would walk me through =hat I wanted. Nope... well not one that addressed exactly what I'm after. Well... maybe there's a course? Again, not one that seems to curate all of the playwrights I wanted to read. And it's not like I wanted to shell out the money if I could afford it. With Vox Populi in production, it's going to be a tight year financially. And a busy one. So why am I trying to find another way to chew up my time?
Because I'm not right in the head.
So here is my self-challenge. 100 plays in 365 days. That's two a week. Quite a busy schedule, especially in view of my Vox Pop commitments and the other works I'm trying to write. But traditionally, I DO do better when I set myself a measurable challenge. AND, plays are typically quickish to read. AND... I'm giving myself the flexibility of consuming these plays in ANY way they are available. Written. Audiobook. Video.
Building the list was fun. I included all of the playwrights names I've heard of as the greats. I checked out lists of "must read plays" for additional suggestions, then researched additional plays representing Aussie, queer, indigenous and feminist content. Where possible, I've included 4-5 plays from individual playwrights to get a bit of a vibe on each (learning about the playwrights, not just the plays) and left out Shakespeare, the Greek plays (those would fill up a whole course) and Noel Coward and Oscar Wilde just because I've read a bunch of theirs before and wasn't enticed.
If anyone wants to join me on the nerd-quest, I'll welcome them. We can swap notes after each play etc. But it's fine by me if no-one wants to.
I'll try to do at least a brief blog (which I already know I'll start with good intentions but not continue). But IF I succeed I'll have a much better repertoire of the great plays, and hopefully will learn a thing or two about playwrighting.
| Playwright | Plays | Year |
| Ibsen, Henry | A Doll's House | 1879 |
| Ibsen, Henry | Ghosts | 1881 |
| Ibsen, Henry | An Enemy of the People | 1882 |
| Ibsen, Henry | The Wild Duck | 1884 |
| Ibsen, Henry | Hedda Gabbler | 1890 |
| Chekhov, Anton | Seagull | 1896 |
| Chekhov, Anton | Uncle Vanya | 1897 |
| Chekhov, Anton | Three Sisters | 1901 |
| Chekhov, Anton | Cherry Orchard | 1904 |
| O'Neill, Eugene | The Emperor Jones | 1920 |
| O'Neill, Eugene | Strange Interlude | 1928 |
| O'Neill, Eugene | Mourning Becomes Electra | 1931 |
| O'Neill, Eugene | Long Day's Journey into Night | 1941 |
| O'Neill, Eugene | The Iceman Cometh | 1946 |
| Brecht, Bertold | The Threepenny Opera | 1928 |
| Brecht, Bertold | Mother Courage and her Children | 1941 |
| Brecht, Bertold | The Life of Galileo | 1943 |
| Brecht, Bertold | The Caucasian Chalk Circle | 1945 |
| Wilder, Thornton | Our Town | 1938 |
| Williams, Tennessee | Glass Menagerie | 1944 |
| Williams, Tennessee | Streetcar named Desire | 1947 |
| Williams, Tennessee | Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | 1955 |
| Williams, Tennessee | Night of the Iguana | 1961 |
| Miller, Arthur | All my sons | 1947 |
| Miller, Arthur | Death of a Salesman | 1949 |
| Miller, Arthur | The Crucible | 1953 |
| Miller, Arthur | A View from the Bridge | 1955 |
| Beckett, Samuel | Waiting for Godot | 1953 |
| Beckett, Samuel | Endgame | 1957 |
| Beckett, Samuel | Krapp's Last Tape. | 1958 |
| Beckett, Samuel | Happy Days | 1961 |
| Osborne, John | Look back in Anger | 1956 |
| Pinter, Harold | The Birthday Party | 1957 |
| Pinter, Harold | The Caretaker | 1959 |
| Pinter, Harold | The Homecoming | 1964 |
| Pinter, Harold | No Man's Land | 1975 |
| Pinter, Harold | Betrayal | 1978 |
| Hansberry, Lorraine | A Raisin in the Sun | 1959 |
| Albee, Edward | Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf? | 1962 |
| Stoppard, Tom | Rosencrantz and Guildenstern | 1966 |
| Stoppard, Tom | Jumpers | 1972 |
| Stoppard, Tom | Travesties | 1974 |
| Stoppard, Tom | The Real Thing | 1982 |
| Stoppard, Tom | Arcadia | 1993 |
| Ayckbourn, Alan | How the Other Half Loves | 1969 |
| Ayckbourn, Alan | Absurd Person Singular | 1972 |
| Ayckbourn, Alan | The Norman Chronicles | 1973 |
| Ayckbourn, Alan | A Chorus of Disapproval | 1984 |
| Ayckbourn, Alan | Woman in Mind | 1985 |
| Williamson, David | The Removalists | 1972 |
| Williamson, David | The Club | 1973 |
| Williamson, David | Don's Party | 1978 |
| Williamson, David | Emerald City | 1987 |
| Williamson, David | Brilliant Lies | 1993 |
| Norman, Marsha | Night Mother | 1983 |
| Nowra, Louis | The Golden Age | 1985 |
| Nowra, Louis | Byzantine Flowers | 1989 |
| Nowra, Louis | Cosi | 1992 |
| Nowra, Louis | Summer of the Aliens | 1992 |
| Nowra, Louis | Radiance | 1993 |
| Bovell, Andrew | After Dinner | 1988 |
| Bovell, Andrew | Speaking in Tongues | 1996 |
| Bovell, Andrew | Who's Afraid of the Working Class | 1998 |
| Bovell, Andrew | When the Rain Stops Falling | 2008 |
| Bovell, Andrew | The Secret River | 2013 |
| Bovell, Andrew | Things I know to be true | 2016 |
| Wallace, Naomi | One Flea Spare | 1995 |
| Kane, Sarah | Blasted | 1995 |
| Kane, Sarah | Phaedra's Love | 1996 |
| Kane, Sarah | Cleansed | 1998 |
| Kane, Sarah | Crave | 1998 |
| Kane, Sarah | 4:48 Psychosis | 1999 |
| Murray-Smith, Joanna | Honour | 1995 |
| Murray-Smith, Joanna | The female of the Species | 2006 |
| Murray-Smith, Joanna | Scenes from a Marriage | 2008 |
| Murray-Smith, Joanna | Switzerland | 2014 |
| Murray-Smith, Joanna | Julia | 2023 |
| Kaufman, Moises | The Laramie Project | 2000 |
| Valentine, Alana | Run Rabbit Run | 2004 |
| Valentine, Alana | Parramatta Girls | 2007 |
| Valentine, Alana | Letters to Lindy | 2016 |
| Wright, Tom | The Lost Echo | 2006 |
| Wright, Tom | The War of the Roses | 2009 |
| Wright, Tom | Black Diggers | 2014 |
| Miller, Suzie | Reasonable Doubt | 2008 |
| Miller, Suzie | Prima Facie | 2019 |
| Miller, Suzie | Inter Alia | 2025 |
| Lui, Nakkiah | I should have told you before we made love (that I'm black) | 2012 |
| Lui, Nakkiah | This Heaven | 2013 |
| Lui, Nakkiah | Blackie Blackie Brown: The Traditional Owner of Death | 2013 |
| Lui, Nakkiah | Kill the Messenger | 2015 |
| Lui, Nakkiah | Power Plays | 2016 |
| Purcell, Leah | The Drover's Wife | 2016 |
| James Elazzi | Lady Tabouli | 2019 |
| James Elazzi | Queen Fatima | 2021 |
| Lewis Treston | An Ideal Husband | 2022 |
| Lewis Treston | Hubris & Humiliation | 2023 |
| Lewis Treston | Hot Tub | 2024 |
| Lewis Treston | IRL | 2025 |
| Mattana, Emmanuelle | Trophy Boys | 2022 |
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