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"Hamlet" was first performed, probably in 1601 at the Globe Theatre, by the Lord Chamberlain's Men. Richard Burbage took the role of Hamlet. Tradition proposes, with uncertain authority, that Shakespeare may have played the Ghost of Hamlet's father. Other actor sharers included John Heminges, Henry Condell, Thomas Pope, Augustine Phillips, Will Sly, and Robert Armin, who had joined the company in 1598 and seems to have specialized in comic roles, including probably the Gravedigger in this play.

The popular version of Molière's "Tartuffe" is the third version of the play. It was originally written as a three-act play for a festival at court in 1664, but it was denounced as an open attack on religion, and Molière was forbidden to present it in public.

For its fifth production Moscow Art Theatre staged Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull", a play that had failed in its first production. With its revival of "The Seagull," the theatre not only achieved its first major success but also began a long artistic association with one of Russia's most celebrated playwrights: in Chekhov's artistic realism, the Art Theatre discovered a writer suited to its aesthetic sensibilities.

"The Threepenny Opera" created a sensation when it opened on 31 August 1928, "a date that was to go down in the history of twentieth-century theater." Up until the 'Kanonensong' ('Cannon Song') the audience was rather reserved. But then came a breakthrough. The audience grew increasingly excited; approving murmurs and applause swelled to a crescendo. By the end, the triumphant success in which no one had believed had become a reality." The play was performed over 350 times at Theater am Schiffbauerdamm.