One-Act Plays by Modern Authors

Isabella Augusta Persse, later Lady Gregory, was born at Roxborough, County Galway, Ireland, in 1859. One who saw her in the early years of her married life describes her thus:...

NORA. The young priest says he's known the like of it. "If it's Michael's they are," says he, "you can tell herself he's got a clean burial by the grace of God, and if they're n...

PAUL. I am only a peasant and I do not know many things. But you live in the town and you must know. They say, mademoiselle, they have told me, that there are miracles on Christ...

_A Night at an Inn_ is one of Dunsany's contributions to the revival of romance in our generation. In an article published ten years ago, called _Romance and the Modern Stage_,...

THE UNCLE. Not to know where one is, not to know where one has come from, not to know whither one is going, not to be able to distinguish midday from midnight, or summer from wi...

PIERRETTE. Come in. [_The door swings slowly open, as though of its own accord, and without, on the threshold, is seen THE MANUFACTURER, standing full in the moonlight. He is a...

DOUCE-COEUR. I cannot bear thy music. In my heart No answering chords respond. The past is dead. I hear the tears of thousands in thy voice. When Sorrow speaks--I hear no tones...

MAGISTRATE. He must have found escape difficult--he is trying to brazen it out. A convict in the Andaman Islands tried the same game, but he could not escape my system! Stand as...

Speak low, her sleep is light. Her road is hard As well as thine. For all this year, since thou Didst bring her to Rieto here to us, Hath she lain on her bed, broken with pain,...

MARY [_apart_]. Forgot again. O the capricious tides, the hateful calms, And the too eager ship that would be gone Adventuring against uncertain winds, For some new, utmost sigh...

EILIR MORRIS [_who thinks his uncle has been drinking, speaks to him as if he would humor his whim_]. Aye, Uncle, I'm kin, an' I promise. Tell on. What is it? Are ye sick?

At the present time, then, the theatre in the schools means a variety of things. It means first and foremost, as suggested by the latest college entrance requirements, the study...

The function of dialogue is the same both in the long and in the short play. For, of course, both forms have many things in common. For instance, as in the full-length play it i...

VIOLA [_secretly_]. H'sh! [_She smiles lovingly at him, and then says aloud._] Oh, won't it? It's got to appear in the papers, "A marriage has been arranged between Miss Viola W...

GILES [_scandalized_]. Come, wench! Ha' done gawking about, and haste! [_ANNE goes at right._] 'Er be a forrard gel, zur, though hendy. I be glad 'er's none o' mine, but my brot...

VALSIN. It does seem a pity. [_He folds the warrant slowly and replaces it in his pocket._] Yes, a great pity. She was the one amusing thing in all this somberness. She will be...

VALSIN [_tossing the pistol to DOSSONVILLE_]. Call the lieutenant. [_DOSSONVILLE goes to the window, leans out, and beckons. VALSIN writes hastily at the desk, not sitting down....

THE UNCLE. The light! The light! [_At this moment, quick and heavy steps are heard in the room on the left.--Then a deathly silence.--They listen in mute terror, until the door...

Calm is it yonder, very calm; the air For mortals' breath is too refined and rare; Hard by a green lagoon our palace rears Its dome of agate through a myriad years. A hundred ch...

_It is a June day before the War in the morning-room of ROBERT CRAWSHAW's town house. Entering it with our friend the house-agent, our attention would first be called to the del...

[_THE PLAYER seems to listen once more, his face turned towards the door. He lifts his hand as if to hush DICKON, lets it fall, and looks back at the fire. DICKON regards him wi...

ELOISE [_suddenly volcanic_]. Then "_now_" you'll perhaps be "patient" enough to explain why I shouldn't leave you instantly. Understand fully that I have come thus far with you...

There are certain facts about the artistic transformation that the theatre is undergoing in the twentieth century with which students of the drama need to be familiar in order t...

The one-act play has shown no tendency, however, to rival the short-story in the matter of local color. Kentucky, California, Iowa, Louisiana, to name but a few of the favored s...

But after all there can be no infallible recipes for dramatic writing. With the successful professional playwright, apprenticeship is often an unconscious stage. Plays succeed t...

ANNE. I have my passport; you shall see. [_With wildly shaking hands she takes from her blouse the passport and the "permit," crumpled together._] It is in proper form--[_She is...

Had not both authors and publishers acted with the greatest generosity, this collection could not have been made. Though the editor cannot adequately express her sense of obliga...

AMERICAN. The Germans are great readers. Vurry stimulating practice. I read most anything myself! [_The GERMAN holds up the book so that the title may be read._] "Don Quixote"--...