Recommendations based on Equusby Peter Shaffer

* statistically, based on millions of data-points provided by fellow humans

  1. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

    by Edward Albee
    A darkly comedic exploration of a troubled couple's tumultuous marriage.

    George and Martha engage in dangerous emotional games. George is an associate professor of history and Martha is the daughter of the president of the college where George teaches. After they return ... (Wikipedia)

  2. Long Day's Journey into Night

    by Eugene O'Neill
    Tragic story of a family's struggles with addiction, emotions and guilt.

    Eugene O'Neill's autobiographical play Long Day's Journey into Night is regarded as his finest work. First published by Yale University Press in 1956, it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957 and has since ... (Goodreads)

  3. Death of a Salesman

    by Arthur Miller
    Tragic story of a man's attempt to find success and happiness in a world of false promises.

    'For a salesman, there is no rock bottom to life. He don't put a bolt to a nut, he don't tell you the law or give you medicine. He's a man way out there in the blue, riding on a smile and a ... (Goodreads)

  4. A Streetcar Named Desire

    by Tennessee Williams
    A woman's struggle to come to terms with her past and present in a post-war New Orleans.

    After the loss of her family home to creditors, Blanche DuBois travels from the small town of Laurel, Mississippi , to the New Orleans French Quarter to live with her younger married sister, Stella , ... (Wikipedia)

  5. Hedda Gabler

    by Henrik Ibsen
    A woman's struggle against societal expectations and a search for freedom.

    Hedda, the daughter of an aristocratic and enigmatic general, has just returned to her villa in Kristiania (now Oslo) from her honeymoon. Her husband is George Tesman, a young, aspiring, and reliable ... (Wikipedia)

  6. The Importance of Being Earnest

    by Oscar Wilde
    A lighthearted comedy of manners, full of witty dialogue and satirizing Victorian society.

    Oscar Wilde's madcap farce about mistaken identities, secret engagements, and lovers entanglements still delights readers more than a century after its 1895 publication and premiere performance. The ... (Goodreads)

  7. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

    by Tom Stoppard
    A humorous exploration of fate and free will, seen through the eyes of two minor characters in Shakespeare's "Hamlet".

    Hamlet told from the worm's-eye view of two minor characters, bewildered Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Echoes of Waiting for Godot resound, reality and illusion mix, and where fate leads heroes to a ... (Goodreads)

  8. Othello

    by William Shakespeare
    A tale of jealousy, manipulation, and tragedy, as one man's descent into madness leads to disastrous consequences.

    In Othello, Shakespeare creates a powerful drama of a marriage that begins with fascination (between the exotic Moor Othello and the Venetian lady Desdemona), with elopement, and with intense mutual ... (Goodreads)

  9. The Tempest

    by William Shakespeare
    A story of magical revenge, redemption, and forgiveness set on a remote island.

    A ship is caught in a powerful storm, there is terror and confusion on board, and the vessel is shipwrecked. But the storm is a magical creation carried out by the spirit Ariel , and caused by the ... (Wikipedia)

  10. As I Lay Dying

    by William Faulkner
    A family's struggle to fulfill the dying wish of their mother, amidst personal and societal challenges.

    The book is narrated by 15 different characters over 59 chapters. It is the story of the death of Addie Bundren and her poor, rural family's quest and motivations—noble or selfish—to honor her wish ... (Wikipedia)

  11. The Pillowman

    by Martin McDonagh
    A darkly comic tale of a writer accused of murder, testing the limits of storytelling.

    Ariel and Tupolski interrogate Katurian in a police room, adopting a good cop/bad cop routine with Ariel happily playing the bad cop. At first Katurian does not know why he is being questioned, and ... (Wikipedia)

  12. To the Lighthouse

    by Virginia Woolf
    Exploration of the complexities of human relationships and family life.

    The novel is set in the Ramsays' summer home in the Hebrides , on the Isle of Skye . The section begins with Mrs Ramsay assuring her son James that they should be able to visit the lighthouse on the ... (Wikipedia)

  13. The Sound and the Fury

    by William Faulkner
    Tragic story of the decline of a southern family, exploring the human condition.

    The first section of the novel is narrated by Benjamin "Benjy" Compson, a source of shame to the family due to his diminished mental capacity; the only characters who show genuine care for him are ... (Wikipedia)

  14. Angels in America

    by Tony Kushner
    Epic story of America in the midst of the AIDS crisis, exploring themes of identity, loss, and hope.

    Set in New York City, the play takes place between October 1985 and February 1986. , The play begins with the funeral of Sarah Ironson, an elderly Jewish woman, whose rabbi eulogizes not only her, ... (Wikipedia)

  15. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay

    by Michael Chabon
    Two cousins create a comic book superhero and find success and adventure in 1940s New York.

    The novel begins in 1939 with the arrival of 19-year-old Josef "Joe" Kavalier as a refugee in New York City , where he comes to live with his 17-year-old cousin, Sammy Klayman. With the help of his ... (Wikipedia)

  16. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

    by Tennessee Williams
    A family struggling to confront hidden resentments and repressions that lurk beneath the surface.

    Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is the story of a Southern family in crisis, especially the husband Brick and wife Margaret (usually called Maggie or "Maggie the Cat"), and their interaction with Brick's ... (Wikipedia)

  17. A Midsummer Night's Dream

    by William Shakespeare
    Comedy of mistaken identities, love and dreams set in a mythical forest.

    The play consists of four interconnecting plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazon queen, Hippolyta , which are set simultaneously in the woodland and ... (Wikipedia)

  18. The Glass Menagerie

    by Tennessee Williams
    A young woman's struggle to find her place in society, while being held back by her family.

    The play is introduced to the audience by Tom, the narrator and protagonist, as a memory play based on his recollection of his mother Amanda and his sister Laura. Because the play is based on memory, ... (Wikipedia)

  19. Things Fall Apart

    by Chinua Achebe
    Exploration of African culture and traditions, grappling with the tension between modernity and tradition.

    The novel's protagonist , Okonkwo, is famous in the villages of Umuofia for being a wrestling champion, defeating a wrestler nicknamed "Amalinze The Cat" (because he never lands on his back). Okonkwo ... (Wikipedia)

  20. The Fall of the House of Usher - an Edgar Allan Poe Short Story

    by Edgar Allan Poe
    A man's descent into madness as he visits an ominous estate, beset by death and horror.

    The story begins with the unnamed narrator arriving at the house of his friend, Roderick Usher, having received a letter from him in a distant part of the country complaining of an illness and asking ... (Wikipedia)

  21. The Secret History

    by Donna Tartt
    A small group of misfit college students uncover a sinister secret and their lives become entangled with dangerous consequences.

    Under the influence of their charismatic classics professor, a group of clever, eccentric misfits at an elite New England college discover a way of thinking and living that is a world away from the ... (Goodreads)

  22. A Man for All Seasons

    by Robert Bolt
    The story of Sir Thomas More, a man who stood up for his beliefs against King Henry VIII's desire to divorce and remarry.

    The classic play about Sir Thomas More, the Lord chancellor who refused to compromise and was executed by Henry VIII. ... (Goodreads)

  23. The Crucible

    by Arthur Miller
    A group of teenage girls face accusations of witchcraft in a puritanical society.

    "I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote of his classic play about the witch-hunts and ... (Goodreads)

  24. The Master and Margarita

    by Mikhail Bulgakov
    A fantastical, satirical examination of Soviet life, intersecting with the supernatural.

    The novel has two settings. The first is Moscow during the 1930s, where Satan appears at Patriarch's Ponds as Professor Woland . He is accompanied by Koroviev, a grotesquely-dressed valet; Behemoth , ... (Wikipedia)

  25. The Virgin Suicides

    by Jeffrey Eugenides
    A dark and mysterious tale about the mysterious suicides of five teenage sisters in a suburban town.

    As an ambulance arrives for the body of Cecilia Lisbon, a group of anonymous adolescent neighborhood boys recalls the events leading up to her death. The Lisbons are a Catholic family living in the ... (Wikipedia)

  26. Watership Down

    by Richard Adams
    A group of rabbits embark on a treacherous journey to find a new home.

    In the Sandleford warren , ,[b], Fiver, a young runt rabbit who is a seer , receives a frightening vision of his warren's imminent destruction. , When he and his brother Hazel fail to convince their ... (Wikipedia)

  27. Perestroika

    by Tony Kushner
    A powerful look at the impact of political upheaval on the lives of ordinary people.

    Set in New York City, the play takes place between October 1985 and February 1986. , The play begins with the funeral of Sarah Ironson, an elderly Jewish woman, whose rabbi eulogizes not only her, ... (Wikipedia)

  28. Waiting for Godot

    by Samuel Beckett
    Two men wait for a mysterious figure who never arrives, reflecting on their lives and existence.

    Two men, Vladimir and Estragon, have met near a leafless tree. Estragon spent the previous night lying in a ditch and receiving a beating from some unnamed assailants. The two men discuss a variety ... (Wikipedia)

  29. An Enemy of the People

    by Henrik Ibsen
    A doctor confronts a public scandal, challenging expectations of morality and justice.

    In An Enemy of the People , Ibsen places his main characters, Dr. Thomas Stockman, in the role of an enlightened and persecuted minority of one confronting an ignorant, powerful majority. When the ... (Goodreads)

  30. A Raisin in the Sun

    by Lorraine Hansberry
    A black family's struggle for a better life and the dreams that accompany their journey.

    Walter and Ruth Younger, their son Travis, along with Walter's mother Lena (Mama) and Walter's sister Beneatha, live in poverty in a dilapidated two-bedroom apartment on Chicago's south side. Walter ... (Wikipedia)