#ReadaPlayaWeek 2014

Since the beginning of 2014, I’ve tweeted about one play a week that I recommend reading. Of course, plays are meant to be seen rather than read, yet if you are either unable to see a particular play, fancy brushing up on the classical canon, or just want to read a playtext, then #ReadaPlayaWeek offers a wide range of scripts. From the challenging and the classical to the popular and the contemporary, from a host of playwrights, both well-known and obscure, from all over the world, here are 2014’s #ReadaPlayaWeek suggestions:

January

The Caretaker (1960), Harold Pinter

The Night Heron (2002), Jez Butterworth

The Winterling (2006), Jez Butterworth

Separate Tables (1954), Terence Rattigan

A Taste of Honey (1958), Shelagh Delaney

February

The Shape of Things (2001), Neil LaBute

The Weir (1997), Conor McPherson

random (2008), debbie tucker green

All My Sons (1947), Arthur Miller

March

Twelfth Night (c.1602), William Shakespeare

Mother Clap’s Molly House (2001), Mark Ravenhill

Plenty (1978), David Hare

England People Very Nice (2009), Richard Bean

April

The History Boys (2004), Alan Bennett

Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick (1998), Terry Johnson

Awake and Sing! (1935), Clifford Odets

Jerusalem (2009), Jez Butterworth

May

Old Times (1971), Harold Pinter

Shopping and Fucking (1996), Mark Ravenhill

The Permanent Way (2003), David Hare

Birdland (2014), Simon Stephens

Body Language (1990), Alan Ayckbourn

June

Noises Off (1982), Michael Frayn

Arcadia (1993), Tom Stoppard

Volpone (1606), Ben Jonson

The Secret Rapture (1988), David Hare

July

Glengarry Glen Ross (1984), David Mamet

The Trial of Ubu and King Ubu (2012), Simon Stephens, King Ubu after Alfred Jarry (1896)

Chimerica (2013), Lucy Kirkwood

The Unexpected Man (1998), Yasmina Reza

The Seagull (1896), Anton Chekhov

August

Uncle Vanya (1898), Anton Chekhov

Parlour Song (2008), Jez Butterworth

Dead Funny (1994), Tony Johnson

August, Osage County (2007), Tracy Letts

September

Beyond Therapy (1981), Christopher Durang

Quartermaine’s Terms (1981), Simon Gray

The Imaginary Invalid (1673), Moliere

Bluebird (1998), Simon Stephens

October

Stuff Happens (2004), David Hare

The Lady’s Not For Burning (1948), Christopher Fry

Anne Boleyn (2010), Howard Brenton

Blue Heart (1997), Caryl Churchill

The Invisible Man (1991), Ken Hill after HG Wells’ novel

November

A Dream Play (2005), Caryl Churchill after Strindberg (1907)

The River (2012), Jez Butterworth

The Philadelphia Story (1939), Philip Barry

Christmas (2004), Simon Stephens

December

Absurd Person Singular (1972), Alan Ayckbourn

Almost, Maine (2004), John Cariani

Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell (1989), Keith Waterhouse

Not I (1972), Samuel Beckett

Breath (1969), Samuel Beckett

#ReadaPlayaWeek will continue in 2015.