Modern Drama refers to plays written in the 19th and 20th centuries whereas contemporary drama refers to plays written today. Modern dramatists include such playwrights as Tennessee Williams, Oscar Wilde, and Henrik Ibsen. Here are a few quintessential examples of modern drama:
A DOLL'S HOUSE by Henrik Ibsen
One of the best-known modern plays is A Doll's House. In a rich, naturalistic style, Ibsen examined the struggle against the unyielding constraints of social conformity, particularly as they are applied to women in their marriages. Nora, the protagonist, ultimately rejects the marriage that would smother her, something that genuinely shocked audiences around the world when the play first premiered in the late 1800s.
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE by Tennessee Williams
This much-beloved play tells the story of faded beauty Blanche DuBois and her enticing, if primitive, brother in law Stanley Kowalski. The play took home the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and is widely regarded to be just as powerful today as it was when it first premiered over half a century ago.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST by Oscar Wilde
This hilarious restoration comedy tells the story of philanderer Algernon and his friend Jack who is caught up in Algernon's web of lies -- as well as his own -- as he proceeds to woo the beautiful Gwendolyn. This is the perfect example of the well-made play, and is constantly revived.
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