Satire
Buried Alive
An ingenious satire, "Buried Alive" is Arnold Bennett at his most charming and wittiest. The story follows a renowned but exceedin…
Forty Years On
Alan Bennett's acclaimed satirical comedy, Forty Years On, explores the tensions between tradition and change at Albion House, where the ret…
What Not
The Great War is finished: England is once more at peace. What can have caused such a War, except stupidity? What, if not intelligence, can …
The Pleasures of Ignorance
From the pen of the Irish poet and essayist, Robert Lynd, comes a collection of humorous and satirical essays on topics as wide ranging as c…
Candide
Candide, ou l’Optimisme, (“Candide, or Optimism”) (1759) is a picaresque novel by the Enlightenment philosopher Voltaire. Voltaire never ope…
Mervyn Wall Unfortunate Fursey
The Unfortunate Fursey is based on the novel by Mervyn Wall and adapted by Christina Reid. When Satan invades a medieval monastery, he wants…
The School for Husbands
In 1661 and 1662 Moliere presented the plays The School for Husbands (this one) and then The School for Wives. "The central situations …
Mr. Dooley in Peace and in War
In Chicago lay a street called Archey Road, which stretched through a neighborhood which was mostly Irish immigrants, among whom was Martin …
A Battle of the Books
"When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for an author to dissolve the bands which have connected him with his publis…
The Litigants
This play, which is neither a comedy or a farce but has elements in common with each, was first performed in 1668 at Paris, and afterwards a…
Zadig or The Book of Fate
"there is no Evil under the Sun, but some Good proceeds from it:" -- this quote from this novel sums it up. One of Voltaire's most…
An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting
An Essay on the Art of Ingeniously Tormenting was a conduct book written by Jane Collier and published in 1753. The Essay was Collier's firs…
The Satyrs of Decimus Junius Juvenalis
16 satires in verse of the celebrated classical poet of the 1st and 2nd Century translated into verse by John Dryden an English satirist of …
Don Quixote in England
"The Audience, I believe, are all acquainted with the Character of Don Quixote and Sancho. I have brought them over into England, and i…
Mont Oriol
Young bride Christiane arrives in Auvergne to "take the waters" with her husband, described as "a sickly flower, or a sucking…
Bill Nye's Sparks
Humorist Bill Nye, in his brief 46 years, served as justice of the peace, newspaperman, miner, and postmaster in the rough town of Laramie, …
Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair is a 19th century social satire by William Makepeace Thackeray. The novel follows the adventures and dealings of Becky Sharp and…
The Knight of the Burning Pestle
The Knight of the Burning Pestle is a play in five acts, first performed in 1607. It is the first whole parody (or pastiche) play in English…
Bob And Ray
Join the comedic duo Bob and Ray in this classic radio broadcast from WOR on December 20, 1973. Their unique blend of humor and wit brings a…
Froth
Clementina is losing her youth in the fashionable world of late-nineteenth century Madrid and takes a younger lover. Meanwhile her father, t…