From Oedipus to The History Boys: Michael Billington's 101 greatest plays

“Why put my head on the chopping-block by writing a book hubristically entitled The 101 Greatest Plays?”, wondered the Guardian’s theatre critic Michael Billington recently. But write it he has – and here is the full list for the first time.

Unlike Robert McCrum’s recent list of the 100 best novels, Billington allowed himself more than one entry per writer – room for six Shakespeares, and two apiece from greats like Molière, Goldoni and Ibsen. He has focused on the west, “simply because of my ignorance of Asian drama.”

But has he made the right decisions? Why is there only one living female playwright in the list? And who has he unfairly overlooked? As Michael himself says, “the book was written not out of scholarly omniscience or in a spirit of truculent assurance but as a way of initiating a debate” – so what are you waiting for?

Michael Billington’s 101 greatest plays – the full list

1. The Persians by Aeschylus (c.525–456 bc)

2. Oedipus the King by Sophocles (c.495–406 bc)

3. Helen by Euripides (c.480–407 bc)

4. Assembly-Women by Aristophanes (c.448–380 bc)

5. The Brothers Menaechmus by Plautus (c.254–184 bc)

6. The Mysteries adapted by Tony Harrison (1937–)

7. Edward II by Christopher Marlowe (1564–93)

8. Love’s Labour’s Lost by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

9. Henry IV Parts One and Two by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

10. Hamlet by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

11. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

12. The Malcontent by John Marston (1576–1634)

13. A Mad World, My Masters by Thomas Middleton (1580–1627)

14. Macbeth by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

15. Coriolanus by William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

16. The Alchemist by Ben Jonson (1572–1637)

17. The White Devil by John Webster (c.1580–1633)

18. Fuenteovejuna by Lope de Vega (1562–1635)

19. Punishment without Revenge by Lope de Vega (1562–1635)

20. Life Is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600–81)

21. The Illusion by Pierre Corneille (1606–84)

22. Tartuffe by Molière (1622–73)

23. The Misanthrope by Molière (1622–73)

24. Andromache by Jean Racine (1639–99)

25. The Rover by Aphra Behn (1640–89)

26. Venice Preserv’d by Thomas Otway (1652–85)

27. Love for Love by William Congreve (1670–1729)

28. The Recruiting Officer by George Farquhar (1678–1707)

29. The Game of Love and Chance by Marivaux (1688–1763)

30. The Servant of Two Masters by Carlo Goldoni (1707–93)

31. La Triologia della Villegiatura by Carlo Goldoni (1707–93)

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32. She Stoops to Conquer by Oliver Goldsmith (c.1730–74)

33. The School for Scandal by Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751–1816)

34. The Marriage of Figaro by Pierre-Augustin Caron deBeaumarchais (1732–99)

35. Nathan the Wise by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–81)

36. Don Carlos by Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805)

37. Mary Stuart by Friedrich Schiller (1759–1805)

38. The Broken Jug by Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811)

39. The Prince of Homburg by Heinrich von Kleist (1777–1811)

40. The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol (1809–52)

41. Woyzeck by Georg Büchner (1813–37)

42. An Italian Straw Hat by Eugène Labiche (1815–88)

43. Brand by Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)

44. The Forest by Alexander Ostrovsky (1823–86)

45. A Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)

46. The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906)

47. The Power of Darkness by Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)

48. The Father by August Strindberg (1849–1912)

49. Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind (1864–1918)

50. The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)

51. Le Dindon by Georges Feydeau (1862–1921)

52. Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)

53. The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov (1860–1904)

54. Summerfolk by Maxim Gorky (1868–1936)

55. Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie (1860–1937)

56. Waste by Harley Granville Barker (1877–1946)

57. Professor Bernhardi by Arthur Schnitzler (1862–1931)

58. The Daughter-in-Law by D. H. Lawrence (1885–1930)

59. Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

60. Heartbreak House by George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

61. Exiles by James Joyce (1882–1941)

62. The Verge by Susan Glaspell (1876–1948)

63. Henry IV by Luigi Pirandello (1867–1936)

64. Juno and the Paycock by Sean O’Casey (1880–1964)

65. The Front Page by Ben Hecht (1894–1964) and Charles MacArthur (1895–1956)

66. Machinal by Sophie Treadwell (1885–1970)

67. Tales from the Vienna Woods by Ödön von Horváth (1901–38)

68. The Suicide by Nikolai Erdman (1900–70)

69. Design for Living by Noël Coward (1899–1973)

70. The House of Bernarda Alba by Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)

71. The Life of Galileo by Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)

72. Mr Puntila and His Man Matti by Bertolt Brecht (1898–1956)

73. Long Day’s Journey into Night by Eugene O’Neill (1888–1953)

74. Men Should Weep by Ena Lamont Stewart (1912–2006)

75. A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (1911–83)

76. The Chairs by Eugène Ionesco (1912–94)

77. The Deep Blue Sea by Terence Rattigan (1911–71)

78. The Crucible by Arthur Miller (1915–2005)

79. Summer of the Seventeenth Doll by Ray Lawler (1921–)

80. The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–90)

81. All That Fall by Samuel Beckett (1906–89)

82. The Entertainer by John Osborne (1929–94)

83. The Fire Raisers by Max Frisch (1911–91)

84. A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry (1930–65)

85. Serjeant Musgrave’s Dance by John Arden (1930–2012)

86. Chips with Everything by Arnold Wesker (1932–)

87. The Homecoming by Harold Pinter (1930–2008)

88. Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer (1926–)

89. Absurd Person Singular by Alan Ayckbourn (1939–)

90. Bingo by Edward Bond (1934–)

91. Death and the King’s Horseman by Wole Soyinka (1934–)

92. The Real Thing by Tom Stoppard (1937–)

93. Top Girls by Caryl Churchill (1938–)

94. Dancing at Lughnasa by Brian Friel (1929–)

95. Racing Demon by David Hare (1947–)

96. The Weir by Conor McPherson (1971–)

97. Copenhagen by Michael Frayn (1933–)

98. The Goat by Edward Albee (1928–)

99. The History Boys by Alan Bennett (1934–)

100. Jerusalem by Jez Butterworth (1969–)

101. King Charles III by Mike Bartlett (1980–)

• The 101 Greatest Plays: From Antiquity to the Present, by Michael Billington, is published September 3 by Faber/Guardian.
• Michael Billington will be going head to head with John Lahr at a Guardian Live event on 30 October to determine the five greatest plays to grace the stage.