Stage Pages
Reading list · 8 plays

Plays About Revenge

Revenge is one of the oldest engines of dramatic plot. The list below collects revenge-driven plays from the Greek tragedians through the Jacobeans to the modern era.

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  1. The Duchess of Padua

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Tragedy

    The Duchess of Padua (first published 1900) is a stage play by Oscar Wilde, a touchstone of the Realism & Naturalism repertoire that has been performed continuously for generations.

  2. Hamlet

    by William Shakespeare · 1616 · Tragedy

    William Shakespeare's Hamlet (first published 1616) is a script directors return to whenever they want a vehicle that combines language of real beauty with characters actors actually fight to play.

  3. Captain Brassbound's Conversion

    by Bernard Shaw · 1950 · Drama

    A defining work of Realism & Naturalism, Captain Brassbound's Conversion by Bernard Shaw (first published 1950) continues to attract directors, dramaturgs, and student companies looking for material that rewards close reading and bold staging.

  4. Hamlet The First ('Bad') Quarto

    by William Shakespeare · 1616 · Tragedy

    Hamlet The First ('Bad') Quarto (first published 1616) is a stage play by William Shakespeare, a touchstone of the Renaissance & Elizabethan repertoire that has been performed continuously for generations.

  5. Hamlet A Study with the Text of the Folio of 1623

    by William Shakespeare · 1616 · Tragedy

    William Shakespeare's Hamlet A Study with the Text of the Folio of 1623 (first published 1616) is a script directors return to whenever they want a vehicle that combines language of real beauty with characters actors actually fight…

  6. The Miraculous Revenge

    by Bernard Shaw · 1950 · Drama

    The Miraculous Revenge (first published 1950) is a stage play by Bernard Shaw, a touchstone of the Realism & Naturalism repertoire that has been performed continuously for generations.

  7. Within the Law: From the Play of Bayard Veiller

    by Marvin Dana · 1926 · Drama

    A defining work of Realism & Naturalism, Within the Law: From the Play of Bayard Veiller by Marvin Dana (first published 1926) continues to attract directors, dramaturgs, and student companies looking for material that rewards close reading and…

  8. The Maids Tragedy

    by Francis Beaumont · 1616 · Tragedy

    Written by Francis Beaumont (first published 1616), The Maids Tragedy stands as one of the durable works of Renaissance & Elizabethan, regularly revived for its richly playable scenes and theatrically generous structure.

How this list was put together

The selections above were drawn from the full Stage Pages archive of 520 public-domain stage plays. Where ranking is implied by the order, that ranking is editorial — defensible, but not unanimous. Where the list is alphabetical or chronological, we say so.

If you have a candidate we missed, the whole library is one click away from the main scripts index; we add titles to lists as the catalogue grows.