The Top 99 Plays
This is a stripped-down and ranked version of the longer and chronological Greatest Plays list.
You may also be interested in The Top 99 works of literature, The Top 99 Novels, The Top 99 Stories, and The Top 99 Poems.
The top 99 plays
Latest update: March 16, 2026
1. Oedipus Rex, Sophocles, Greece, play, 429 BCE
2. Hamlet, William Shakespeare, England, play, 1601
3. Antigone, Sophocles, Greece, play, 442–441 BCE
4. King Lear, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1606
5. Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett, Ireland, play, 1952
6. Medea, Euripides, Greece, play, 431 BCE
7. Macbeth, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1606
8. A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen, Norway, play, 1879
9. Romeo and Juliet, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1596
10. Tartuffe, Jean Baptiste P. de Molière, France, play, 1664
11. Lysistrata, Aristophanes, Greece, play, 411 BCE
12. The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde, Ireland, play, 1895
13. The Bacchae, Euripides, Greece, play, 406 BCE
14. Life Is a Dream, Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Spain, play, 1635
15. The Cherry Orchard, Anton Chekhov, Russia, play, 1903
16. Othello, William Shakespeare, England, play, 1604
17. Death of a Salesman, Arthur Miller, United States, play, 1949
18. Oedipus at Colonus, Sophocles, Greece, play, 401 BCE
19. A Streetcar Named Desire, Tennessee Williams, United States, play, 1947
20. Long Day's Journey Into Night, Eugene O'Neill, United States, play, 1956
21. Uncle Vanya, Anton Chekhov, Russia, play, 1900
22. The Tempest, William Shakespeare, England, play, 1611
23. Hedda Gabler, Henrik Ibsen, Norway, play, 1891
24. Phèdre, Jean Racine, France, play, 1677
25. A Midsummer Night's Dream, William Shakespeare, England, play, 1594
26. Six Characters in Search of an Author, Luigi Pirandello, Italy, play, 1921
27. Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand, France, play, 1898
28. Mother Courage and her Children, Bertolt Brecht, Germany, play, 1939
29. The School for Scandal, Richard Sheridan, England, play, 1777
30. Pygmalion, George Bernard Shaw, Ireland, play, 1913
31. The Misanthrope, Jean Baptiste P. de Molière, France, play, 1666
32. Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare, England, play, 1601–1602
33. The Frogs, Aristophanes, Greece, play, 405 BCE
34. A Raisin in the Sun, Lorraine Hansberry, United States, play, 1959
35. The Trojan Women, Euripides, Greece, play, 415 BCE
36. Angels in America, Tony Kushner, United States, play, 1991–1992
37. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Edward Albee, United States, play, 1962
38. Henry IV, Part 1, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1597
39. The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1597
40. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard, England, play, 1966
41. The Seagull, Anton Chekhov, Russia, play, 1896
42. Hippolytus, Euripides, Greece, play, 428 BCE
43. She Stoops to Conquer, Oliver Goldsmith, England, play, 1773
44. The Clouds, Aristophanes, Greece, play, 423 BCE
45. Our Town, Thornton Wilder, United States, play, 1938
46. The Crucible, Arthur Miller, United States, play, 1963
47. The Persians, Aeschylus, Greece, play, 472 BCE
48. The Bald Soprano, Eugène Ionesco, France, play, 1950
49. Julius Caesar, William Shakespeare, England, play, 1599
50. Three Sisters, Anton Chekhov, Russia, play, 1901
51. Endgame, Samuel Beckett, Ireland, play, 1957
52. Saint Joan, George Bernard Shaw, Ireland, play, 1923
53. The Government Inspector, Nikolai Gogol, Ukraine, play, 1836
54. Electra, Sophocles, Greece, play, c.420–410 BCE
55. Fefu and Her Friends, María Irene Fornés, United States, play, 1977
56. The Glass Menagerie, Tennessee Williams, United States, play, 1945
57. Miss Julie, August Strindberg, Sweden, play, 1889
58. The Three-Penny Opera, Bertolt Brecht, Germany, play, 1928
59. The Homecoming, Harold Pinter, England, play, 1965
60. Fences, August Wilson, United States, play, 1985
61. The Birds, Aristophanes, Greece, play, 414 BCE
62. Henry IV, Part 2, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1597
63. Henry V, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1599
64. Helen, Euripides, Greece, play, 412 BCE
65. Richard III, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1592
66. Shakuntala, Kālidāsa, India, play, c.400
67. Ajax, Sophocles, Greece, play, 442–441 BCE
68. Woyzeck, Georg Büchner, Germany, play, 1879
69. No Exit, Jean-Paul Sartre, France, play, 1944
70. Measure for Measure, William Shakespeare, England, play, 1604
71. Eunuchus, Terence, Rome, play, 161 BCE
72. Cloud 10, Caryl Churchill, England, play, 1979
73. Richard II, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1595
74. Doctor Faustus, Christopher Marlowe, England, play, 1594
75. The Bourgeois Gentleman, Jean Baptiste P. de Molière, France, play, 1670
76. Much Ado About Nothing, William Shakespeare, England, play, 1599
77. Andromache, Euripides, Greece, play, c.428 BCE
78. Electra, Euripides, Greece, play, 418 BCE
79. Man and Superman, George Bernard Shaw, Ireland, play, 1903
80. Everyman, Anonymous, England, play, 1485
81. Le Cid, Pierre Corneille, France, play, 1636
82. The School for Wives, Jean Baptiste P. de Molière, France, play, 1662
83. Arcadia, Tom Stoppard, England, play, 1993
84. Henry VIII, William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, England, play, 1613
85. The Way of the World, William Congreve, England, play, 1700
86. Topdog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks, United States, play, 2001
87. Glengarry Glen Ross, David Mamet, United States, play, 1984
88. Prometheus Bound, Aeschylus, Greece, play, c.450–425 BCE
89. Henry IV, Luigi Pirandello, Italy, play, 1922
90. Death and the King's Horseman, Wole Soyinka, Nigeria, play, 1975
91. R.U.R., Karel Čapek, Czechoslovakia, play, 1920
92. The Wild Duck, Henrik Ibsen, Norway, play, 1884
93. Tamburlaine the Great, Christopher Marlowe, England, play, 1587
94. Dyskolos, Menander, Greece, play, 317–316 BCE
95. Candida, George Bernard Shaw, Ireland, play, 1898
96. The Imaginary Invalid, Jean Baptiste P. de Molière, France, play, 1673
97. The Wasps, Aristophanes, Greece, play, 422 BCE
98. Coriolanus, William Shakespeare, England, play, c.1608
99. Betrayal, Harold Pinter, England, play, 1978
