Oberon Classics – serie

Therese Raquin is a clinically observed, sinister tale of adultery and murder among the lower orders in nineteenth-century Paris. Emile Zola’s dispassionate dissection of the motivations of his characters, mere ‘human beasts’ who kill in order to satisfy their lust, is much more than an atmospheric Second Empire period-piece. Therese Raquin stands as a key early manifesto of the French Naturalist movement, of which Zola was the founding father. Even today, this novel has lost none of its power to shock. It proved a great success in this translation by Pip Broughton when it was premiered at the Liverpool Playhouse and later revived at the Warehouse Theatre, Croydon.

Fraud, theft, extortion and sexual corruption are the themes in this eighteenth-century masterpiece of French comedy.

"A comedy written for the Shakespeare's Globe, telling the story of an insatiably curious young man who, wishing to turn himself into a wise owl, takes the wrong drug and finds himself transformed into an ass. His subsequent travels lead him to encounter the chaos of human desire from the perspective of a servile donkey. The most exquisite tale in this wonderful epic, as originally told by Lucius Apuleius, is the first known account of the marriage of Cupid and Psyche, which is perhaps the archetypal myth behind modern psychology. Inspired by The Golden Ass, Peter Oswald has written a riotous erotic comedy of love and desire, which premiered at the Globe Theatre, London in August 2002. This version is true to the original: in the words of C S Lewis is 'a strange compound of picaresque novel, horror comic, mystagogue's tract, pornography and stylistic experiment.'"

"The Mayor of Zalamea, Life's a Dream, The Great Theatre of the World In The Mayor of Zalamea, commissioned by the Royal National Theatre, peasants' honour clashes with military discipline. Life's a Dream is Calderon's most famous philosophical play. The Great Theatre of the World is an allegorical work that would originally have been performed in the street to the accompaniment of music and dancing."

"Sara, Minna von Barnhelm Two contrasting plays by the influential German playwright and critic, Gotthold Lessing. Sara is a compelling domestic tragedy that is as popular now as when it was first performed in 1755. Minna von Barnhelm is a delightful romantic comedy."

Don Juan Tenorio is an important and influential Spanish classic which gives a softened, romanticised version of the infamous hero and ends, uniquely, in his repentance and salvation. First seen in 1844, it is Zorrilla's best-known play and is still performed every year in Spain on All Souls' Day. The play, in Ranjit Bolt's stunning rhyming verse translations, was given an extensive tour by the Oxford Stage Company in late 1990.

An influential and controversial work by Joost van den Vondel (1587-1679), the colossus of Dutch literature, regarded as a major influence on Milton’s Paradise Lost. An angel returns from Eden, his wings singed by the beauty of Adam and Eve’s world, longing for the pleasures of their flesh.

" Don Juan Comes Back from the War, Figaro Gets Divorced Two modern classics by Austrian dramatist, Odon von Horvath. Hampton's Don Juan Comes Back from the War was first performed at the Royal National Theatre. Figaro Gets Divorced, in which an aristocratic couple and their two servants are on the run from a revolution, premiered at London's Gate Theatre."

"Monsieur Jordan is greedy for culture at all costs and aspired to dizzy social heights. Moliere's ferociously funny interchanges between the gullible hero and a succession of dancing masters, philosophy tutors, dubious tailors and penniless aristocrats make this a hugely enjoyable play which exposes the hypocrisy of the connoisseur. This adaptation of Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme was produced at the National Theatre to great acclaim. "

In The Game of Love and Chance, a pair of prospective lovers each swap places with their servants, while their relatives, fully apprised of both deceptions, look on in amusement. Neil Bartlett's adaptation, first performed at the Lyric Hammersmith, finds incentive modern equivalents for Marivaux's ludic theatricality and its roots in the Commedia dell'Arte.

"In the year of the bicentenary of the death of Carlo Goldoni, one of Italy's most brilliant dramatists, two of his greatest comedies are brought to life in Ranjit Bolt's vibrant translations. The Venetian Twins is a classic tale of mistaken identity and the ensuing confusion. The play was given its premiere at the Royal Shakespeare Company in a production directed by Michael Bogdanov. Mirandolina is one of Goldoni's best known works and was produced at the Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh. "

Kenneth McLeish's stunning translations of three plays exploring the Trojan War, by one of the great Athenian dramatists. Each play shows the aftermath of war from a different standpoint. Women of Troy is set amongst a group of captives waiting to be shipped from Troy as slaves - Queen Hecuba is their comforter but in Hecuba she is driven to the edge of insanity by her own great personal loss. Helen takes place seven years after the end of the War. In Egypt - treated as a backwater, far from 'real' events - Helen waits anxiously for her husband Menelaus to rescue her._x000D_One of the greatest and most influential of the Greek tragedians, Euripides, is said to have produced 92 plays, the first of which appeared in 455BC.

"Madness in Valencia, in a version by David Johnston, exploresthe thin divide between sanity and madness in a world where no one is quite what they appear to be. Peribanez and the Comendador of Ocana, in a version by Nick Drake, is the tale of a brave peasant, bound to defend the honour of his beautiful wife against a tyrannical overlord intent on seducing her. With an introduction by Isabel Torres."

Georges Feydeau, master of farce, displays all his tricks of the trade in this witty, seamless and acutely funny translation. An Absolute Turkey was a West End hit following its London premiere at the Globe Theatre in 1993.“Sharp, natty, decorously indecent dialogue” - Sunday Times

This translation of one of Calderón’s greatest plays was premiered by the RSC. An ageing painter is driven to double vengeance when his young bride’s lover returns from the dead.Cast size: 16

This Spanish golden age drama blends seventeenth-century Spanish revenge drama with the Old Testament. It tells the story of the rape of Tamar by her half-brother Ammon.

Nise and Finea are famous beauties. Their father, Don Octavio, a wealthy businessman, is doing his best to marry them off and an exotic collection of determined young suitors are competing for the prizes. The sticking point? Nise, the elder sister, is too clever for her own good, whilst younger sister Finea is notoriously stupid.Can the family hide Finea’s shortcomings long enough to hoodwink a suitor into marriage? Surely the combination of a dancing master and a huge dowry will do the trick? The ploy is more successful than anyone might have anticipated…A Woman of Little Sense is a big-hearted and hilarious romantic comedy which celebrates the power of love.

Punishment without Revenge is a dark and thrilling drama, an audacious blend of unbearable tension and delicious comedy, which both terrifies and delights. Regarded as the greatest tragedy of the Spanish Golden Age and the finest play of its presiding genius, Lope de Vega, this elegant work is set in the dangerous and glamorous world of Renaissance Italy. The Duke of Ferrara has lived a wild and unconventional life.An infamous womaniser, his only son, Federico, is a bastard whom he dreams will one day succeed him. When his subjects demand that he marry and provide them with the stability of a legitimate heir, the proud and beautiful Cassandra, Duchess of Mantua, is sent to be his bride. But everything does not fall happily into place.A passionate love develops - but not between the Duke and his Duchess - and, in a culture where honour is the highest virtue, there can be only one outcome…

When the seemingly perfect Tartuffe ingratiates himself with the wealthy Orgon and his mother Madame Pernelle, he is soon welcomed into their home and into their lives. His combination of charm, respectability and religious authority proves so irresistible that he is eventually promised the hand of Orgon’s daughter in marriage. But the rest of Orgon’s family have grave doubts – is there more to Tartuffe than meets the eye? When the threat of eviction for the family and imprisonment for Orgon become apparent, is it all too late to find out? This hilarious and irreverent whirlwind of lies, religious hypocrisy and family feuds features one of theatre’s most perfect comedy creations, the beguiling Tartuffe.

‘A story of paralysing passion’1860s Paris. In a small dusty haberdasher’s shop near the Seine in the dank, narrow Passage du Pont Neuf, the young and beautiful Thérèse Raquin is trapped into a loveless marriage to her sickly cousin, Camille.While her husband is out all day working, Thérèse spends her days confined behind the counter of a small shop and – every Thursday evening – watching her domineering aunt, Madame Raquin, play dominoes with an eclectic group of ne'er-do-wells.Until the Thursday evening that her husband Camille brings an old friend to the party – the alluring Laurent – and she embarks on an illicit affair that leads Thérèse to abandon all her inhibitions and loyalties as their brutal and overwhelming passion overturns both their lives and has results that nobody could have foreseen...In keeping with the innovative and challenging nature of the original work, this radical new musical adaptation features a company of twelve actor musicians playing the main roles of Thérèse, Laurent, Camille and Madame Raquin, as well as their Thursday night domino playing companions and a watchful and distrustful Chorus.

Nothing's newEverything's old.I'm exactly the same as everOnly more lazyMore aimlessMore curmudgeonly...'One of the high points of world drama, Chekhov's bittersweet tale of frustrated lives and unrequited loves - by turns witty, playful, nostalgic and tragic - is captured in all its complexity by Bryony Lavery's spirited, sharply-written adaptation, first produced at Birmingham Rep in 2007.

Nothing's newEverything's old.I'm exactly the same as everOnly more lazyMore aimlessMore curmudgeonly...'One of the high points of world drama, Chekhov's bittersweet tale of frustrated lives and unrequited loves - by turns witty, playful, nostalgic and tragic - is captured in all its complexity by Bryony Lavery's spirited, sharply-written adaptation, first produced at Birmingham Rep in 2007.

Mike Poulton's all-new version of this dark and liberating play, co-conceived with choreographer Mark Bruce and director Braham Murray. Think Hair meets Titus Andronicus

Don Juan Tenorio is an important and influential Spanish classic which gives a softened, romanticised version of the infamous hero and ends, uniquely, in his repentance and salvation. First seen in 1844, it is Zorrilla's best-known play and is still performed every year in Spain on All Souls' Day. The play, in Ranjit Bolt's stunning rhyming verse translations, was given an extensive tour by the Oxford Stage Company in late 1990.

Robert David MacDonald's majestic version of Ibsen's poem-drama about the triumph of will over compromise. Brand, a fiery priest-hero, urges his flock to sacrifice their lives to save their souls.Cast size: 12

The Robbers (1781) was written in great secrecy under the prison-like conditions of Württenberg's Karlsschule: Karl, the son of a count, is disinherited through the machinations of his brother Franz, and, turning his back on a social order he finds unjust and corrupt, becomes the leader of a band of robbers.

Nora loves her husband above everything. But when she risks her reputation in order to save him, the consequences force her to examine her devotion, and she finds herself struggling for her own life. Henrik Ibsen's ground-breaking play created a huge sensation at its premiere in 1879 and is as fresh and pertinent as ever, with an unfading capacity to shock.

Punishment without Revenge is a dark and thrilling drama, an audacious blend of unbearable tension and delicious comedy, which both terrifies and delights. Regarded as the greatest tragedy of the Spanish Golden Age and the finest play of its presiding genius, Lope de Vega, this elegant work is set in the dangerous and glamorous world of Renaissance Italy. The Duke of Ferrara has lived a wild and unconventional life.An infamous womaniser, his only son, Federico, is a bastard whom he dreams will one day succeed him. When his subjects demand that he marry and provide them with the stability of a legitimate heir, the proud and beautiful Cassandra, Duchess of Mantua, is sent to be his bride. But everything does not fall happily into place.A passionate love develops - but not between the Duke and his Duchess - and, in a culture where honour is the highest virtue, there can be only one outcome…

When the seemingly perfect Tartuffe ingratiates himself with the wealthy Orgon and his mother Madame Pernelle, he is soon welcomed into their home and into their lives. His combination of charm, respectability and religious authority proves so irresistible that he is eventually promised the hand of Orgon’s daughter in marriage. But the rest of Orgon’s family have grave doubts – is there more to Tartuffe than meets the eye? When the threat of eviction for the family and imprisonment for Orgon become apparent, is it all too late to find out? This hilarious and irreverent whirlwind of lies, religious hypocrisy and family feuds features one of theatre’s most perfect comedy creations, the beguiling Tartuffe.