#OTD in 1892.
George Bernard Shaw's first play Widowers' Houses has its first performance, at the Royalty Theatre in London under the auspices of the Independent Theatre Society. The author is booed.
This is one of three plays Shaw published as Plays Unpleasant in 1898. The other plays in the group are The Philanderer and Mrs. Warren's Profession.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Widowers%27_Houses
Books by Bernard Shaw at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/467
#OTD in 1898.
Moscow Art Theatre's first season opens with a double bill of Emilia Matthai's Greta's Happiness and Carlo Goldoni's The Mistress of the Inn. The successful and influential Moscow Art Theatre production of The Seagull by Chekhov (its Moscow première), would open on 29 December 1898.
"Nothing is stranger to man than his own image."
#OTD in 1921.
World premiere of the science fiction play R.U.R. (Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti) by the Czech writer Karel Čapek in a theater in Hradec Králové. It introduced the word "robot" to the English language and to science fiction as a whole.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.U.R.
R.U.R. at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/59112
#OTD in 1895.
The première of Oscar Wilde's comedy An Ideal Husband takes place at the Haymarket Theatre in London. In April, on the last day of the Haymarket run, Wilde was arrested for gross indecency; his name was removed from the playbills and programmes when the production transferred to the Criterion Theatre, where it ran for a further 13 performances, from 13 to 27 April.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Ideal_Husband
An Ideal Husband at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/885
"There can be no freedom or beauty about a home life that depends on borrowing and debt."
Torvald Helmer, Act I
#OTD in 1879.
The first production of Henrik Ibsen's controversial "modern drama" A Doll's House takes place at the Royal Danish Theatre in Copenhagen, after publication there on December 4.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Doll%27s_House
A Doll's House at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2542
St Magnus International Festival 2026
19–28 June
2026 marks the 50th St Magnus International Festival, Orkney’s annual midsummer celebration of the arts, featuring a variety of events in literature, music, theatre, dance, & more
Programme & tickets now available
#Scottish #literature #culture #music #theatre #dance #festival #Orkney #StMagnus #StMagnusFestival
"We thought we believed in trial marriage. Nothing of the sort—trial separation! What marriage put asunder divorce has joined together."
#OTD in 1917.
Jesse Lynch Williams' Why Marry?, the first drama to win a Pulitzer Prize, opens at the Astor Theatre (New York).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Why_Marry%3F
Why Marry? at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35389
"If there's any illness for which people offer many remedies, you may be sure that particular illness is incurable, I think."
#OTD in 1904.
Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard, opens at the Moscow Art Theatre directed by Constantin Stanislavski.
Written in 1903, it was first published by Znaniye, and came out as a separate edition later that year in Saint Petersburg, via A.F. Marks Publishers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cherry_Orchard
Cherry Orchard at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7986
"Nothing can come of nothing: speak again."
#OTD in 1838.
William Macready opens a performance of King Lear at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, London, restoring most of Shakespeare's original text, including the character of the Fool.
The restored character of the Fool was played by Priscilla Horton. And Helen Faucit's final appearance as Cordelia, dead in her father's arms, became one of the most iconic of Victorian images.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Lear
"What seems to us serious, significant and important will, in future times, be forgotten or won’t seem important at all."
#OTD in 1901.
Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters premieres at Moscow Art Theatre in Russia under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(play)
Three Sisters at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7986
#OTD in 1904.
J. M. Synge's tragedy Riders to the Sea is first performed at Molesworth Hall, Dublin, by the Irish National Theatre Society, with Helen Laird playing Maurya.
Synge's use of phrasing from the Irish language is part of the Irish Literary Revival, a period when Irish literature looked to encourage pride and nationalism in Ireland.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riders_to_the_Sea
Riders to the Sea at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/994
"Hvad skal manden være? Sig selv, det er mit korte svar."
"What ought a man to be? Well, my short answer is ‘himself’."
Act IV
#OTD in 1876.
The stage première of the verse-play Peer Gynt by Henrik Ibsen (published 1867) with incidental music by Edvard Grieg, takes place in Christiania, Norway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer_Gynt
Peer Gynt at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66239
In Norwegian at @runeberg-org.bsky.social
https://runeberg.org/peergynt/
#OTD in 1920.
Beyond the Horizon, Eugene O'Neill's second full-length play, opens with a Morosco Theatre matinée in New York City, partly as a producer's experiment and partly to quiet the actor Richard Bennett, who sought to play the lead. Reviewers hail the play and O'Neill gains fame. It won the 1920 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_the_Horizon_(play)
Beyond the Horizon at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58569
#OTD in 1886.
The first performance of William Gillette's American Civil War drama Held by the Enemy is held at the Criterion Theater, Brooklyn, New York.
The play was a major step toward modern theater, in that it abandoned many of the crude devices of 19th-century melodrama and introduced realism into the sets, costumes, props, and sound effects.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Gillette
William Gillette at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/38243
#OTD in 1869.
Booth's Theatre opens on Manhattan with the owner, Edwin Booth, playing the male lead in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.
Some reports said it was one of the most elaborate productions of Romeo and Juliet ever seen in America; it was certainly the most popular, running for over six weeks and earning over $60,000 (equivalent to $1,000,000 in 2023).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet
Romeo and Juliet at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1513
#OTD in 1920.
Federico García Lorca's first play, The Butterfly's Evil Spell (El maleficio de la mariposa) is poorly received at its première in Madrid.
With only four performances, very poorly received by the public, including booing, it was a total failure for its author. The text, written in verse, is a parable about frustration, love and death; recurring themes in Lorca's work.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Butterfly%27s_Evil_Spell
Garcia Lorca at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/56772
#OTD in 1924.
Seán O'Casey's drama Juno and the Paycock opens at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin. It is set in the working-class tenements of Dublin in the early 1920s, during the Irish Civil War period.
It is the second of his "Dublin Trilogy" – the other two being The Shadow of a Gunman (1923) and The Plough and the Stars (1926).
The Cheviot, the Stag & the Black, Black Oil
Currently on the BBC iPlayer: the 1974 TV adaptation of John McGrath’s iconic 7:84 play about the exploitation of the Scottish people through history, from the aftermath of Culloden to the North Sea oil boom
My local theatre's production of "Godspell" has Judas dressed as an ICE agent, complete with mask, when he arrests Jesus and takes him away for crucifixion. It's a very effective costume choice.
Happy birthday Shakespeare (born #OTD in 1564)!
#OTD in 1932. To mark Shakespeare's birthday:
The Royal Shakespeare Company's new theatre opens at Stratford-upon-Avon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Shakespeare_Company
The Folger Shakespeare Library opens in Washington, D.C.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folger_Shakespeare_Library
Shakespeare at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/65
#OTD in 1896.
While Oscar Wilde is in prison, his play Salome (written in 1891) is premièred in its original French by Lugné-Poe's Théâtre de l'Œuvre company in Paris, perhaps at the Comédie-Parisienne. Because the play depicted biblical characters it was banned in Britain and was not performed publicly there until 1931.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salome_(play)
Salomé at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1339
#OTD in 1889.
Henrik Ibsen's symbolic drama The Lady from the Sea (1888) receives simultaneous first performances in Oslo (in Norwegian) and Weimar (in German). The drama introduces the character of Hilde Wangel who is again portrayed in Ibsen's later play The Master Builder.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lady_from_the_Sea
The Lady from the Sea at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/2765
"Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe;
Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law."
King Richard, scene iii
#OTD in 1817.
Junius Brutus Booth makes his stage debut in the title role of Shakespeare's Richard III at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_III_(play)
Richard III at PG:
https://gutenberg.org/ebooks/1503
#OTD in 1851.
The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the 1832 play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigoletto
Le Roi s'amuse at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29549
#OTD in 1889.
August Strindberg's naturalistic drama Miss Julie (Fröken Julie), 1888, is first performed, by the Scandinavian Experimental Theater at the University of Copenhagen. His wife Siri von Essen plays the title rôle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miss_Julie
Miss Julie at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14347
