About Verse Drama
Verse drama is what the theatre did when it believed prose was not enough. The verse plays in our archive — Greek, Elizabethan, neoclassical French, German Romantic — use the formal pressure of metre to do what realist prose cannot: compress, elevate, and make ordinary speech do extraordinary work. Reading them on the page is only half the experience; speaking them aloud, even at a desk, reveals the other half almost immediately.
All verse dramas in the archive (114)
- The Storm — by Aleksandr Nikolaevich Ostrovsky
- Becket and other plays — by Alfred Tennyson, Baron Tennyson
- Queen Mary; and, Harold — by Alfred Tennyson, Baron Tennyson
- The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume II — by Aphra Behn
- The Works of Aphra Behn, Volume III — by Aphra Behn
- The Complete Plays of Gilbert and Sullivan — by Arthur Sullivan
- There Are Crimes and Crimes — by August Strindberg
- Plays by August Strindberg: Creditors. Pariah. — by August Strindberg
- Plays: the Father; Countess Julie; the Outlaw; the Stronger — by August Strindberg
- Plays: Comrades; Facing Death; Pariah; Easter — by August Strindberg
- The Road to Damascus, a Trilogy — by August Strindberg
- Plays by August Strindberg, Second series — by August Strindberg
- Plays by August Strindberg, Third Series — by August Strindberg
- Plays by August Strindberg, Fourth Series — by August Strindberg
- Plays by August Strindberg, First Series — by August Strindberg
- Legends: Autobiographical Sketches — by August Strindberg
- Every Man in His Humour — by Ben Jonson
- Every Man out of His Humour — by Ben Jonson
- Cynthia's Revels; Or, The Fountain of Self-Love — by Ben Jonson
- Epicoene; Or, The Silent Woman — by Ben Jonson
- Volpone; Or, The Fox — by Ben Jonson
- The Alchemist — by Ben Jonson
- The Poetaster — by Ben Jonson
- Every Man in His Humor — by Ben Jonson
- The Devil is an Ass — by Ben Jonson
- Three Dramas — by Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson
- Two Men of Sandy Bar: A Drama — by Bret Harte
- Tales from Shakespeare — by Charles Lamb
- The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 4 Poems and Plays — by Charles Lamb
- Tecumseh : a Drama — by Charles Mair
- Peg Woffington — by Charles Reade
- The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 3 (of 3) — by Christopher Marlowe
- The Works of Christopher Marlowe, Vol. 2 (of 3) — by Christopher Marlowe
- The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded — by Delia Salter Bacon
- The Story of My Life: Recollections and Reflections — by Ellen Terry
- Philaster; Or, Love Lies a Bleeding — by Francis Beaumont
- The Scornful Lady — by Francis Beaumont
- A King, and No King — by Francis Beaumont
- Wilhelm Tell — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Piccolomini: A Play — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Death of Wallenstein — by Friedrich Schiller
- Don Carlos: A Play — by Friedrich Schiller
- The Works of Frederick Schiller — by Friedrich Schiller
- Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith — by George Meredith
- Minna Von Barnhelm — by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
- Nathan the Wise; a dramatic poem in five acts — by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing
- Rosmersholm — by Henrik Ibsen
- Pillars of Society — by Henrik Ibsen
- An Enemy of the People — by Henrik Ibsen
- A Doll's House : a play — by Henrik Ibsen
- The Lady from the Sea — by Henrik Ibsen
- The Master Builder — by Henrik Ibsen
- Hedda Gabler — by Henrik Ibsen
- Early Plays — Catiline, the Warrior's Barrow, Olaf Liljekrans — by Henrik Ibsen
- A Doll's House — by Henrik Ibsen
- John Gabriel Borkman — by Henrik Ibsen
- Lady Inger of Ostrat: Henrik Ibsen's Prose Dramas Vol III — by Henrik Ibsen
- The wild duck — by Henrik Ibsen
- The Works of Henry Fielding, vol. 12 — by Henry Fielding
- Vautrin: A Drama in Five Acts — by Honoré de Balzac
- Shakspere and Montaigne An Endeavour to Explain the Tendency of 'Hamlet' from Allusions in Contemporary Works — by Jacob Feis
- Faust — Part 1 — by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- Faust [part 1]. Translated Into English in the Original Metres — by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
- The Elder Brother The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (Volume 2 of 10) — by John Fletcher
- The Faithful Shepherdess The Works of Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher (Volume 2 of 10). — by John Fletcher
- Don Juan Tenorio — by José Zorrilla
- Redemption and two other plays — by Leo, graf Tolstoy
- Contigo Pan y Cebolla — by Manuel Eduardo de Gorostiza
- The Inspector-General — by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol
- The Purgatory of St. Patrick — by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
- The Wonder-Working Magician — by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
- The Two Lovers of Heaven: Chrysanthus and Daria A Drama of Early Christian Rome — by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
- The School for Scandal — by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- A Trip to Scarborough; and, The Critic — by Richard Brinsley Sheridan
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 01 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 02 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 06 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 07 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 08 — by Robert Dodsley
- A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 09 — by Robert Dodsley
- Laura Secord, the heroine of 1812: A Drama; and Other Poems — by Sarah Anne Curzon
- The Dynasts: An Epic-Drama of the War with Napoleon — by Thomas Hardy
- Citation and Examination of William Shakspeare, Euseby Treen, Joseph Carnaby, and Silas Gough, Clerk — by Walter Savage Landor
- The Dramatic Works of John Dryden, Volume 1 With a Life of the Author — by Walter Scott
- The Way of the World — by William Congreve
- The Plays of W. E. Henley and R. L. Stevenson — by William Ernest Henley
- Characters of Shakespeare's Plays — by William Hazlitt
- The Taming of the Shrew — by William Shakespeare
- Love's Labour's Lost — by William Shakespeare
- Romeo and Juliet — by William Shakespeare
- The Merchant of Venice — by William Shakespeare
- The Merry Wives of Windsor — by William Shakespeare
- Much Ado about Nothing — by William Shakespeare
- As You Like It — by William Shakespeare
- Troilus and Cressida — by William Shakespeare
- All's Well That Ends Well — by William Shakespeare
- Measure for Measure — by William Shakespeare
- Cymbeline — by William Shakespeare
- The Winter's Tale — by William Shakespeare
- The Two Noble Kinsmen — by William Shakespeare
- Sir John Oldcastle — by William Shakespeare
- Shakespeare's First Folio — by William Shakespeare
- Shakespeare's play of the Merchant of Venice Arranged for Representation at the Princess's Theatre, with Historical and Explanatory Notes by Charles Kean, F.S.A. — by William Shakespeare
- The Tempest The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] — by William Shakespeare
- Two Gentlemen of Verona The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] — by William Shakespeare
- The Merry Wives of Windsor The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] — by William Shakespeare
- Measure for Measure The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] — by William Shakespeare
- The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 2 of 9] — by William Shakespeare
- The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 7 of 9] — by William Shakespeare
- The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 6 of 9] — by William Shakespeare
- The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 8 of 9] — by William Shakespeare
- The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9] — by William Shakespeare
- The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 4 of 9] — by William Shakespeare
- The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 3 of 9] — by William Shakespeare