Current Series Catalogue

The Great Pretenders

From assumed identities to switches at birth, dramas have long relied on the tool of pretense to drive their plots and reveal insights about the human condition – or simply to give the audience a good laugh. This series explores five different plays that center on both knowing and unknowing mistakes in identity.

Sophocles, Oedipus Rex
An unwitting pretender, it is Oedipus’ relentless search for truth that ultimately leads to his downfall.

William Shakespeare, Othello
Iago pretends to be Othello’s friend – the end result is murder.

Molière, Tartuffe
A religious hypocrite worms his way into a 17th-century French household through pretend piety.

Henrik Ibsen, A Doll’s House
Nora has committed forgery and lied to her husband to save him – but can she save herself?

Oscar Wilde, The Importance of Being Earnest
No one in this light comedy is quite who he seems, but all is resolved in the end.

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