Special Sub-Topic: Name That Play III Click Here To Play: Name That Play III

This 1935 verse drama (and 1952 movie) by T. S. Eliot follows archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket accepting martyrdom as he is killed by four knights on the order of Henry II. This is "Murder in the ___________".

Cathedral. In real life, Thomas Becket was killed on December 29, 1170. Actually, the place in "The Canterbury Tales" where the pilgrims were going was to his shrine.

An alternate name for this 1601 Shakespeare work is "What You Will". Characters in this comedy are Viola, Sebastian, Orsino, Olivia, and the steward Malvolio. Trite comic relief is provided by Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

Twelfth Night. "Twelfth Night" was first performed for the Queen of England in 1601. "The Comedy of Errors" was written in 1591, "The Tempest" in 1610, and "As You Like It" in 1599.

This was the first and most successful play by Alexandre Dumas fils. It was made into 6 different movies, including a 1936 film with Greta Garbo, and recounts Parisian courtesan Marguerite Gautier and her unyielding, yet fruitless desire for her lover, Armand Duval.

Camille. "Camille"'s French title is "La Dame aux Camélias". It was originally a novel in 1848 and then turned into a play in 1852. The plot is based on Verdi's popular 1853 opera, "La Traviata".

This Eugene O'Neill two-part drama circa 1928 tells the story of Nina Leeds as she experiences personal tragedy and sexual frustration with the three main men in her life: her vain father, her loveless husband, and her eventually dead lover.

Strange Interlude. "Strange Interlude" won the 1928 Pulitzer Prize as well as a small fortune for Eugene O'Neill.

This tragedy by J. M. Synge tells about Christy Mahon, a man who becomes a young hero when he claims to have killed his father, only to have his father return. The play ends with the villagers turning on the young hero. This is "The Playboy of the _________ _________".

Western World. "The Playboy of the Western World" was written in 1907 and was a financial success for J. M. Synge.

This Henrik Ibsen work is about architect Halvard Solness as he cheats on his invalid wife, Aline, with a younger woman whom he knew earlier in his life named Hilde Wanger. The play's final act has Halvard climbing the tallest structure he has designed to show his love for Hilde, but he falls off and dies on his way up.

The Master Builder. "The Master Builder" was written in 1892 and translated into English a year later, in 1893.

This 1939 work was the most famous for playwright Bertolt Brecht. Along with her mute daughter and two sons, the heroine in this play follows the army and sees all her children taken away from her one by one, only for the heroine to keep following the army, despite her lost loved ones.

Mother Courage. The whole title is "Mother Courage and Her Children" and the army that the cast is following are fighting the Thirty Year's War in Europe.

This play by Irish-born playwright Samuel Beckett was written in French and then translated into English by Beckett himself. The story is about two men, Vladimir and Estragon, who recount their troubles in life on a road, with absolutely no action going on around them.

Waiting for Godot. "En attendant Godot" was published in 1952 and translated into English as "Waiting for Godot" in 1954.

This 1900 work by Swedish playwright August Strindberg follows a literal "battle of the sexes" between Edgar and his wife, Alice, which begins with the two moving to a remote island off the coast of Sweden and Alice flirting with her cousin, Kurt. The play ends with Alice getting her wish that Edgar would die, only to have Alice think she loved Edgar all along.

The Dance of Death. Strindberg is commonly known as the father of modern dramatic expressionism.

This Shakespeare tragedy was written in 1606 (later published in 1623) and tells the story of a villain-hero who feels his own guilt in life and is convinced into murdering King Duncan by his wife.

Macbeth. "Macbeth"'s historical inaccuracies lend themselves to Raphael Holinshed's 1587 work "Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland".