Emily Romrell

Estimated Reading Time 8 Minutes

The drama 100 : a ranking of the greatest plays of all time by Daniel S. Burt :

1. King Lear
2. Oedipus the King
3. Hamlet
4. The Oresteia
5. Macbeth
6. Long Day’s Journey into Night
7. Othello
8. Waiting for Godot
9. Medea
10. Twelfth Night
11. A Doll’s House
12. The Cherry Orchard
13. The Bacchae
14. The Importance of Being Earnest
15. Antigone
16. Tartuffe
17. Antony and Cleopatra
18. Mother Courage and Her Children
19. Lysistrata
20. Death of a Salesman
21. Woyzeck
22. Volpone
23. Henry IV
24. The Way of the World
25. A Streetcar Named Desire
26. The Tempest
27. Major Barbara
28. Endgame
29. Sakuntala
30. Miss Julie
31. The Peony Pavilion
32. The Misanthrope
33. Three Sisters
34. Life Is a Dream
35. Hedda Gabler
36. The School for Scandal
37. The Playboy of the Western World
38. The Iceman Cometh
39. Love Suicide of Sonezaki
40. Everyman
41. Angels in America
42. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
43. Six Characters in Search of an Author
44. Man and Superman
45. Phèdre
46. Romeo and Juliet
47. Look Back in Anger
48. The Homecoming
49. Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
50. The Plough and the Stars
51. The Alchemist
52. Trojan Women
53. Saint Joan
54. Blood Wedding
55. The Marriage of Figaro
56. The Glass Menagerie
57. The Good Person of Szechwan
58. She Stoops to Conquer
59. Murder in the Cathedral
60. The Bald Soprano
61. The Ghost Sonata
62. The Inspector General
63. The Crucible
64. Marat/Sade
65. Translations
66. The Beggar’s Opera
67. Amphitryon
68. No Exit
69. A Raisin in the Sun
70. Our Town
71. The Country Wife
72. Travesties
73. The Lower Depths
74. Private Lives
75. Fool for Love
76. A Flea in Her Ear
77. Glengarry Glen Ross
78. King Ubu
79. Cloud 9
80. At the Hawk’s Well
81. Orpheus
82. “Master Harold” . . . and the Boys
83. The Well-Curb
84. The Other Shore
85. The Little Foxes
86. Fences
87. The Dybbuk
88. The Visit
89. The Weavers
90. Le Cid
91. The Rover
92. Awake and Sing!
93. The Brothers
94. The Balcony
95. Accidental Death of an Anarchist
96. The Hostage
97. The Heidi Chronicles
98. The King’s the Best Magistrate
99. Cyrano de Bergerac
100. Peter Pan

NT2000 One Hundred Plays of the Century

In Autumn 1998 playwrights, actors, directors, journalists and other theatre professionals were asked by the Royal National Theatre in London to nominate ten English language, twentieth century plays that they considered “significant.”  As a result 188 authors were nominated for 377 different plays. Arthur Miller was the most nominated author, closely followed by Harold Pinter and Samuel Beckett.

The results of this canvassing form the basis of NT2000 — a year long Platforms project charting the progress of drama through the twentieth century, as represented by 100 plays.

By including each playwright only once, with their most voted for work, the project aims to present a broad and diverse picture of the last 100 years of theatre.
ï the one hundred plays in the NT2000 Platform series
ï most selected playwrights
ï plays receiving the most votes

1. 1904 ~ Peter Pan ~ J.M. Barrie
2. 1905 ~ The Voysey Inheritance ~ Harley Granville Barker
3. 1907 ~ The Playboy of the Western World ~ J. M. Synge
4. 1909 ~ Strife ~ John Galsworthy
5. 1912 ~ Rutherford and Son ~ Githa Sowerby
6. 1912 ~ Hindle Wakes ~ Stanley Houghton
7. 1914 ~ Pygmalion ~ George Bernard Shaw
8. 1916 ~ Hobson’s Choice ~ Harold Brighouse
9. 1921 ~ The Circle ~ W. Somerset Maugham
10. 1924 ~  Juno and the Paycock ~ Sean O’Casey
11. 1926 ~ The Widowing of Mrs. Holroyd ~ D. H. Lawrence
12. 1928 ~ Journey’s End ~ R. C. Sherriff
13. 1928 ~ The Front Page ~ Ben Hect and Charles MacArther
14. 1928 ~ Plunder ~ Ben Travers
15. 1928 ~  Machinal ~ Sophie Treadwell
16. 1930 ~ Private Lives ~ Noel Coward
17. 1930 ~ Once in a Lifetime ~ George Kaufman and Moss Hart
18. 1934 ~ The Children’s Hour ~ Lillian Hellman
19. 1934 ~ Love on the Dole ~ Ronald Gow
20. 1935 ~  Murder in the Catherdral ~ T. S. Eliot
21. 1935 ~ Night Must Fall ~ Emlyn Williams
22. 1935 ~ Waiting for Lefty ~ Clifford Odets
23. 1938 ~ Our Town ~ Thornton Wilder
24. 1938 ~ Gaslight ~ Patrick Hamilton
25. 1945 ~ An Inspector Calls ~ J. B. Priestley
26. 1947 ~ A Streetcar Named Desire ~ Tennessee Williams
27. 1947 ~ Men Should Weep ~ Ena Lamont Stewart
28. 1948 ~ The Lady’s Not for Burning ~ Christopher Fry
29. 1949 ~ The Death of a Salesman ~ Arthur Miller
30. 1952 ~ The Pink Room ~ Rodney Ackland
31. 1952 ~ The Deep Blue Sea ~ Terence Rattigan
32. 1952 ~ Dry Rot ~ John Chapman
33. 1952 ~ The Mousetrap ~ Agatha Christie
34. 1955 ~ Waiting for Godot ~ Samuel Becket
35. 1956 ~ Long Day’s Journey into Night ~ Eugene O’Neill
36. 1956 ~ Look Back in Anger ~ John Osborne
37. 1958 ~ The Hostage ~ Brendan Behan
38. 1958 ~ A Taste of Honey ~ Shelagh Delaney
39. 1959 ~  Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance ~ John Arden
40. 1959 ~ Roots ~ Arnold Wesker
41. 1959 ~ A Raisin in the Sun ~ Lorraine Hansberry
42. 1960 ~ The Caretaker ~ Harold Pinter
43. 1960 ~ A Man for All Seasons ~ Robert Bolt
44. 1960 ~ Billy Liar ~ Willis Hall and Keith Waterhouse
45. 1961 ~ The Knack ~ Ann Jellicoe
46. 1962 ~ Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf ~ Edward Albee
47. 1963 ~  Oh, What a Lovely War ~ Joan Littlewood
48. 1964 ~ The Royal Hunt of the Sun ~ Peter Shaffer
49. 1965 ~  Saved ~ Edward Bond
50. 1965 ~ Loot ~ Joe Orton
51. 1965 ~ The Amen Corner ~ James Baldwin
52. 1965 ~ The Odd Couple ~ Neil Simon
53. 1966 ~ Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead ~ Tom Stoppard
54. 1967 ~ A Day in the Death of Joe Egg ~ Peter Nichols
55. 1967 ~ Zigger Zagger ~ Peter Terson
56. 1968 ~ The Ruling Class ~ Peter Barnes
57. 1970 ~ The Philanthropist ~ Christopher Hampton
58. 1970 ~ Sleuth ~ Anthony Shaffer
59. 1970 ~ Home ~ David Storey
60. 1973 ~ The Norman Conquests ~ Alan Ayckbourn
61. 1973 ~ The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil ~ John McGrath
62. 1975 ~ Comedians ~ Trevor Griffiths
63. 1975 ~ East ~ Steven Berkoff
64. 1976 ~ Dusa, Fish, Stas and Vi ~ Pam Gems
65. 1976 ~ AC/DC ~ Heathcote Williams
66. 1977 ~ Abigail’s Party ~ Mike Leigh
67. 1979 ~ Bent ~ Martin Sherman
68. 1979 ~ Educating Rita ~ Willy Russell
69. 1980 ~ Translations ~ Brian Friel
70. 1980 ~ True West ~ Sam Shepard
71. 1980 ~ Nicholas Nickleby ~ David Edgar
72. 1980 ~ The Dresser ~ Ronald Harwood
73. 1980 ~  The Romans in Britain ~ Howard Brenton
74. 1981 ~ Quartermaine’s Terms ~ Simon Gray
75. 1981 ~ Noises Off ~ Michael Frayn
76. 1981 ~ Good ~ C. P. Taylor
77. 1982 ~ Top Girls ~ Caryl Churchill
78. 1982 ~  Master Harold. . . and the Boys ~ Athol Fugard
79. 1982 ~ Insignificance ~ Terry Johnson
80. 1983 ~ Run for Your Wife ~ Ray Cooney
81. 1983 ~  Glengarry Glen Ross ~ David Mamet
82. 1983 ~  Victory ~ Howard Barker
83. 1983 ~ Masterpieces ~ Sarah Daniels
84. 1984 ~ Bouncers ~ John Godber
85. 1985 ~ The Normal Heart ~ Larry Kramer
86. 1985 ~ Fences ~ August Wilson
87. 1985 ~ Pravda ~ David Hare and Howard Brenton
88. 1985 ~ Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme ~  Frank McGuinness
89. 1986 ~ Road ~ Jim Cartwright
90. 1987 ~ My Mother Said I Never Should ~ Charlotte Keatley
91. 1988 ~ Our Country’s Good ~ Timberlake Wertenbaker
92. 1990 ~ Racing Demon ~ David Hare
93. 1990 ~ The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus ~ Tony Harrison
94. 1991 ~ The Madness of George III ~ Alan Bennett
95. 1993 ~ Angels in America ~ Tony Kushner
96. 1994 ~ My Night with Reg ~ Kevin Elyot
97. 1995 ~ The Steward of Christendom ~ Sebastian Barry
98. 1996 ~ The Seven Streams of the River Ota ~ Robert Lepage
99. 1997 ~ Closer ~ Patrick Marber
100. 1997 ~ The Weir ~ Conor Mcpherson