Stage Pages
Reading list · 14 plays

Wilde's Society Comedies, Ranked

Oscar Wilde's four society comedies are, taken together, the high-water mark of nineteenth-century comic dialogue. The order below is a defensible if not unanimous ranking.

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  1. Lady Windermere's Fan

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Drama

    Lady Windermere's Fan (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. The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Comedy

    A defining work of Realism & Naturalism, The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People by Oscar Wilde (first published 1900) continues to attract directors, dramaturgs, and student companies looking for material that rewards close…

  3. A Woman of No Importance

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Drama

    Written by Oscar Wilde (first published 1900), A Woman of No Importance stands as one of the durable works of Realism & Naturalism, regularly revived for its richly playable scenes and theatrically generous structure.

  4. 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.

  5. An Ideal Husband

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Drama

    Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband (first published 1900) is a script directors return to whenever they want a vehicle that combines language of real beauty with characters actors actually fight to play.

  6. A Florentine Tragedy; La Sainte Courtisane

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Tragedy

    A Florentine Tragedy; La Sainte Courtisane (first published 1900) is a stage play by Oscar Wilde, a touchstone of the Realism & Naturalism repertoire that has been performed continuously for generations.

  7. The noble lord

    by Percival Wilde · 1953 · One-Act Play

    The noble lord (first published 1953) is a stage play by Percival Wilde, a touchstone of the Realism & Naturalism repertoire that has been performed continuously for generations.

  8. The reckoning

    by Percival Wilde · 1953 · One-Act Play

    Percival Wilde's The reckoning (first published 1953) is a script directors return to whenever they want a vehicle that combines language of real beauty with characters actors actually fight to play.

  9. For Love of the King: A Burmese Masque

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · One-Act Play

    A defining work of Realism & Naturalism, For Love of the King: A Burmese Masque by Oscar Wilde (first published 1900) continues to attract directors, dramaturgs, and student companies looking for material that rewards close reading and bold…

  10. Vera; Or, The Nihilists

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Drama

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

  11. Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Tragedy

    Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act (first published 1900) is a stage play by Oscar Wilde, a touchstone of the Realism & Naturalism repertoire that has been performed continuously for generations.

  12. Alias Santa Claus

    by Percival Wilde · 1953 · Drama

    Percival Wilde's Alias Santa Claus (first published 1953) is a script directors return to whenever they want a vehicle that combines language of real beauty with characters actors actually fight to play.

  13. Intentions

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Drama

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

  14. Miscellanies

    by Oscar Wilde · 1900 · Drama

    A defining work of Realism & Naturalism, Miscellanies by Oscar Wilde (first published 1900) continues to attract directors, dramaturgs, and student companies looking for material that rewards close reading and bold staging.

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.