Plays

Before mindless scrolling, television, and even radio, people turned to plays for entertainment. From the romantic and the dramatic to the comedic and thrilling, plays offer a diverse variety of stories, characters, settings, themes, and times.

Even a single play offers a wealth of entertainment. One can be staged any number of different ways, with different themes highlighted throughout.

Shakespeare plays
Despite the passing of hundreds of years, there’s still no one who can hold a match to William Shakespeare when it comes to plays. This famous playwright wrote an estimated 38 plays in total, although at least two of them have been lost to time. That said, many of his works are not just well known today, but are hugely influential across pop culture, language, and modern playwriting.

One of his most popular is A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a comedy set in Athens. It’s filled with his classic quick wit and cases of mistaken identity, with various subplots interweaving in hilarious, unexpected ways.

Another of his releases, Romeo and Juliet, is a universally beloved tragedy. It has been adapted, remade, re-acted in countless ways over the years, inspiring film, Jasper Jones, a play based on his book of the same name. This release was adapted by Kate Mulvany, and has created an opportunity for this modern story to take to the stage.

Other Australian plays explore deep topics, such as I’m With Her by Victoria Midwinter Pitt. This play shares women’s stories from the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements in a new and fresh format.

Browse the exceptional range of plays available online with Booktopia, and discover the huge diversity of stories and themes amongst their pages.