Help with Classic Play ideas please!

[GoodnightJude1]

Hi, my DD16 is doing English Lit at 6th form. She needs to compare 2 plays. She’s chosen Twelfth Night and needs another one, written around the same time that isn’t by Shakespeare…..

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Anyone??

A Christopher Marlowe? Faustus? Though how one would begin to compare it to 12th night I'm not certain...

Volpone (Ben Jonson) might be a better bet.

If I were doing it, I'd find the other play first, then work out which would be a good Shakespeare play to compare it to, rather than pick the Shakespeare first.

Thankyou both for your replies! I’m passing them on to a very baffled looking DD!

I’d agree with pp’s suggestion of finding her ‘other play’ first and then choosing the Shakespeare and I suspect tragedy might be easier than comedy: dr Faustus is a brilliant play, but maybe also look at Duchess of Malfi of the white devil by or the Jew of Malta (which has a pretty obvious comparison with the merchant of Venice!)

She’s just asked me to ask you all if Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw might be a good one?

Unfortunately I’m very little help when it comes to English Literature 😬

Has she not been given some guidance by her teacher?

Your earlier post said she needs a contemporary of Shakespeare. It's not difficult to establish that George Bernard Shaw was not a contemporary of Shakespeare.

@OMGsamesame

Sorry, I wasn’t clear. It doesn’t have to be a contemporary of Shakespeare.

Volpone by Ben Jonson? Both have elements of disguise, are comedies, were written around the same time, have elements of cruelty in the comedy....I did Volpone for A Level along with Much Ado, Dr Faustus and Antony and Cleopatra

If it doesn't have to be by a contemporary of shakespeare how about Importance of Being Ernest? Also a comedy based on confusions of identities etc?
(NB Don't trust anything I say, I'm STEM background not Arts!)

Edited to add - completely cross posted with PP!

Or what about The Importance of Being Earnest? Another comedy about tangled love lives, but from a completely different era .

Glad @MagicianMoth has had same suggestion.

Brilliant, thanks so much everyone!

Ahhh, yes it wasn’t clear that the play was not be a Shakespeare contemporary: that does make things easier! Importance of being earnest is a great shout and such a fun play (there’s an upcoming production at the NT with Ncuti Gatwa depending on how much you want to encourage her!! )