Suggested Plays

By Genre

Plays with asterisks (*) have several modern editions and are therefore most recommended. Some more obscure plays are now available in the Routledge Anthology of Early Modern Drama.

Tragedies

Domestic Tragedy / True Crime

Anonymous, A Warning for Fair Women (1599)
Robert Yarington, Two Lamentable Tragedies (1601)
Thomas Heywood, A Woman Killed with Kindness (1603)*
Anonymous [Thomas Middleton?], A Yorkshire Tragedy (1605)
William Rowley, Thomas Dekker, and John Ford, The Witch of Edmonton (1621)

Revenge and Horror

Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine Parts 1 and 2 (1587)*
Thomas Kyd, The Spanish Tragedy (1587)*
Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta (1589-90)*
Anonymous, The First Part of Jeronimo (1592)
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (1594)*
John Marston, Antonio’s Revenge (1600)*
Henry Chettle, The Tragedy of Hoffman (1602)*
Barnabe Barnes, The Devil’s Charter (1607)                                                                                     [demonic conjuration]
Thomas Middleton, The Revenger’s Tragedy (1607)*
Thomas Middleton and Thomas Dekker,The Bloody Banquet (1608)                          [cannibalism]
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, The Maid’s Tragedy (1608-11)
Cyril Tourneur, The Atheist’s Tragedy (1611)*
Thomas Middleton, The Lady’s Tragedy (aka The Second Maiden’s Tragedy) (1611)     [necrophilia]
George Chapman, The Revenge of Bussy D’Ambois (1612)
John Webster, The White Devil (1612)*
John Webster, The Duchess of Malfi (1612-13)*
Thomas Goffe, The Tragedy of Orestes (1613-21)
John Fletcher, The Tragedy of Valentinian (1614)
John Fletcher et al., The Bloody Brother; or Rollo, Duke of Normandy (1617-19)
Philip Massinger, The Duke of Milan (1621-2)
Thomas Middleton, Women Beware Women (1621-27)*
Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, The Changeling (1622)*
James Shirley, The Maid’s Revenge (1626)
William Heminge, The Jews’ Tragedy (1626-8)
William Davenant, Albovine, King of the Lombards (1627)
John Ford, The Broken Heart (1627-31)
John Ford, ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore (1629-33)*
James Shirley, The Traitor (1631)
John Ford, Love’s Sacrifice (1632)
Nathaniel Richards, The Tragedy of Messalina, the Roman Empress(1634-6)
William Heminge, The Fatal Contract (1638-9)
James Shirley, The Cardinal (1641)*

Turk Plays

Thomas Kyd, Soliman and Perseda (1592)
Anonymous [Thomas Dekker?], Lust’s Dominion, or the Lascivious Queen (1600)
Robert Daborne, A Christian Turn’d Turk
Thomas Goffe, The Raging Turk, or Bajazet the Second
Thomas Goffe, The Couragious Turk
Robert Greene, Selimus
Fulke Greville, Mustapha
John Mason, The Turke
Philip Massinger, The Renegado
George Peele, The Battle of Alcazar
William Percy, Mahomet and his Heaven (1601)
Christopher Marlowe, The Jew of Malta

Tragedies of State and Other

Thomas Preston, Cambises (1560)
Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville, The Tragedy of Gorboduc (1561)
Christopher Marlowe, Edward II (1592)
Christopher Marlowe and Thomas Nashe, Dido Queen of Carthage (1593)
Ben Jonson, Sejanus His Fall (1603)
George Chapman, Bussy d’Ambois (1603-4)
John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, The Tragedy of Sir John van Olden Barnavelt (1619)
Philip Massinger, The Roman Actor (1626)

Comedies

Ben Jonson, Every Man in his Humour (1598)                        [satirical comedy based on humoral theory]
Ben Jonson, Volpone, or the Fox (1606)                                    [Venice, satire of avarice and social climbing]
Robert Armin, The History of the Two Maids at More-Clacke (1607-8)        [Hamlet parody]
Ben Jonson, Epicoene, or The Silent Woman (1609)               [Gender, crossdressing, same-sex marriage]
John Fletcher, The Woman’s Prize, or the Tamer Tamed (1611)      [Counterblast to Taming of the Shrew]
Philip Massinger, A New Way to Pay Old Debts (1625).       [“villain” play, social realism, class mobility]
Richard Brome, A Jovial Crew (1641)

City Comedy

Thomas Heywood, Four Prentices of London (1592)
George Chapman, An Humorous Day’s Mirth (1597)
Thomas Dekker, The Shoemaker’s Holiday (1599)
Anonymous, The Fair Maid of the Exchange (1601)
John Marston, The Malcontent (1603)
John Marston, The Dutch Courtesan (1604)
John Marston, Parasitaster, or The Fawn (1604)
Thomas Dekker [and Thomas Middleton?], The Honest Whore Parts I and II (1604-5)
Thomas Middleton, A Mad World, My Masters (1605)
George Chapman, Ben Jonson, and John Marston, Eastward Ho! (1605)
Thomas Dekker and John Webster, Westward Ho! (1605)
Thomas Dekker and John Webster, Northward Ho! (1607)
Francis Beaumont, The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607)
Thomas Dekker, If This Be not a Good Play, the Devil Is In It (1611)
Thomas Dekker and Thomas Middleton, The Roaring Girl  (1611)
Ben Jonson, The Alchemist (1611)                                               [con-artistry]
Thomas Middleton, A Chaste Maid in Cheapside (1613)
Ben Jonson, Bartholomew Fair (1614)                                      [anti-Puritan satire, carnival]
Ben Jonson, The Devil is an Ass (1616)
Philip Massinger, The City Madam (1632)

Supernatural

Anonymous, The Merry Devil of Edmonton
Robert Greene, Friar Bungay and Friar Bacon
Ben Jonson, The Devil is an Ass
Thomas Middleton, The Witch 

Romances and Tragicomedies

Pastoral

Anonymous, Mucedorus
John Fletcher,The Faithful Shepherdess
Thomas Heywood, The Escapes of Jupiter
John Lyly, Galatea
John Lyly, Endymion, The Man in the Moon

Political

John Marston, Antonio and Mellida (1599)
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, Philaster
Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher, A King and No King

Adventure

Anonymous, Guy of Warwick (1594?)
Anonymous, Captain Thomas Stuckley (1596)
John Fletcher, The Island Princess (1619-21)                                          [spice islands, race]
John Fletcher and Philip Massinger, The Sea Voyage (1622).        [in dialogue with The Tempest]
Anonymous [Thomas Heywood?], Dick of Devonshire (1626)
Philip Massinger, The Picture (1629)
Thomas Heywood, The Fair Maid of the West Parts 1 and 2 (1631)

Sex/Farce/Tragedy?

John Marston et al., The Insatiate Countess (1613)
Thomas Middleton and William Rowley, with Philip Massinger, The Old Law (1614-18?)

Closet Dramas

Elizabeth Cary, The Tragedy of Mariam
Samuel Daniel, Philotas
Fulke Greville, Mustapha
John Milton, Samson Agonistes

Histories / Sword and Sandal

Christopher Marlowe, Tamburlaine Parts 1 and 2 (1587-8)
Anonymous, The Famous Victories of Henry V (1588)
Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle, rev. by Thomas Heywood, Thomas Dekker, and William Shakespeare, Sir Thomas More [1591-3]
Christopher Marlowe, Edward II (1592)
Anonymous, Edward III (1596)
Ben Jonson, Sejanus His Fall (1603)
George Chapman, Caesar and Pompey (1611)
John Ford, Perkin Warbeck (1630?)
Philip Massinger, The Roman Actor (1626)

Neo-Morality Plays

Anonymous, Pathomachia, or the Battle of the Affections
Nathaniel Woodes, The Conflict of Conscience