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50 of the Greatest Playwrights

Criteria: These Playwrights of western culture were chosen and ranked considering their lasting impact, influence and originality, as well as the initial and lasting popularity of their works.

Plus examples of their greatest plays.


List Begun: 2023-01-17

Greatest Playwrights
1. William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
   • Much Ado About Nothing
   • Macbeth
   • Hamlet

2. Anton Chekov (1860-1904)
   • The Cherry Orchard
   • The Seagull
   • Uncle Vanya

3. Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816)
   • The School for Scandal
   • The Rivals

4. Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906)
   • A Doll's House
   • Ghosts
   • The Wild Duck

5. Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) (1622-1673)
   • Tartuffe
   • The Misanthrope

6. Sophocles (496-406 BC)
   • Oedipius Rex
   • Antigone
   • Electra

7. Tennessee Williams (1911-1983)
   • The Glass Menagerie
   • A Streetcar Named Desire
   • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

8. Aristophanes (427-386 BC)
   • Lysistrata
   • The Frogs

9. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
   • The Importance of Being Earnest
   • A Woman of No Importance

10. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
   • Pygmalion
   • Man and Superman

11. Eugene O'Neill (1888-1953)
   • Long Day's Journey Into Night
   • The Iceman Cometh
   • Mourning Becomes Electra

12. Lorraine Hansbury (1930-1965)
   • A Raisin in the Sun

13. Neil Simon (1927-2018)
   • The Odd Couple
   • Barefoot in the Park
   • Plaza Suite
   • Biloxi Blues

14. Arthur Miller (1915-2005)
   • Death of a Salesman
   • The Crucible
   • A View from the Bridge

15. Aeschylus (524-456 BC)
   • Prometheus Bound
   • Agamemnon
   • The Persians

16. Noel Coward (1889-1973)
   • Private Lives
   • Blithe Spirit 

17. Thorton Wilder (1897-1975)
   • Our Town
   • The Matchmaker
   • The Skin of our Teeth

18. Lillian Hellman (1905-1984)
   • The Children's Hour
   • The Little Foxes

19. Tom Stoppard (1937- )
   • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
   • Night and Day
   • Arcadia

20. Harold Pinter (1930-2008)
   • The Birthday Party
   • The Dumbwaiter

21. Aphra Behn (1640-1689)
   • The Rover
   • The Young King

22. T.S. Eliot (1888-1964)
   • Murder in the Cathedral 

23. Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774)
   • She Stoops to Conquer
   • The Good Natur'd Man

24. David Mamet (1947- )
   • Glengarry Glen Ross

25. Alan Bennett (1934- )
   • The History Boys

26. Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)
   • The Three Penny Opera

27. Arthur Schnitzler (1862-1931)
   • Anatol

28. Moss Hart (1904-1961)
   • You Can't Take it With You
   • The Man Who Came to Dinner

29. Sophie Treadwell (1885-1970)
   • Machinal

30. Sidney Howard (1891-1939)
   • They Knew What They Wanted

31. Eugene Ionescu (1909-1994)
   • The Bald Soprano

32. August Wilson (1945-2005)
   • The Piano Lesson
   • Fences

33. Eric Bogosian (1953- )
   • Talk Radio
   • subUrbia 

34. Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987)
   • The Women
   • Kiss the Boys Goodbye

35. Clifford Odets (1906-1963)
   • Awake and Sing

36. Howard Lindsey / Russel Crouse (1889-1968/1893-1966)
   • Life with Father

37. August Strindberg (1849-1912)
   • Miss Julie
   • The Father

38. Tony Kushner (1956- )
   • Angels in America

39. Ben Johnson (1572-1637)
   • Volpone 
   • Every Man in His Humour

40. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
   • Tamburlaine 
   • Doctor Faustus

41. Wendy Wasserstein (1950-2006)
   • The Heidi Chronicles 

42. Christopher Isherwood (1904-1986)
   • The Ascent of F6

43. Karel Capek (1890-1938)
   • Rossum's Universal Robots

44. Sam Shepard (1943-2017)
   • True West

45. John Millington Synge (1871-1909)
   • The Playboy of the Western World

46. John Cocteau (1889-1963)
   • The Infernal Machine

47. Euripedes (480-406 BC)
   • Medea
   • Electra
   • The Trojan Women

48. Edward Albee (1928-2016)
   • Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf
   • The Zoo Story

49. Katori Hall (1981- )
   • The Mountaintop

50. David Hare (1947- )
   • Plenty
   • Stuff Happens
Playwright William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare





Playwright Anton Chekov
Anton Chekov





Playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan
Richard Brinsley Sheridan





Playwright Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen





Playwright Molière
Molière





Playwright Sophocles
Sophocles





Playwright Lorraine Hansbury
Lorraine Hansbury





Playwright Arthur Miller
Arthur Miller