Resources > The Big List of Theatre Play Ideas for Charades - 100 Ideas (2022)

The Big List of Theatre Play Ideas for Charades - 100 Ideas (2022)

By Ciarán.

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Thinking of charades ideas can be tough, especially when it comes to theatre and plays. People can often only think of a small number of plays to act out - either the most famous plays, or ones they very recently saw.

While it’s perfectly fine to use these plays, it can be nice to have a few more theatre productions in your arsenal. Which is where we come in!

Continue reading for a full list of plays to act out in a game of charades.

List of Fun Theatre Play Charades Ideas

Image courtesy of Wagner.edu

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A lot of theatre productions can be very difficult to act out. There are a lot of plays that are unknown to those with a disinterest in theatre, and even some of the famous ones can be hard to act out from their titles. One way to perform famous plays with difficult titles, can be to act out a famous scene within the play. To make sure people know you’re acting out a scene and not a title, all you have to do is signal that you are going to do the entire concept. If you want a reminder on how to signal the entire concept, and how to signal you will be acting out a theatre title, you can check out our article on How to Play Charades.

If you’re reading this list because you’re trying to keep things difficult, you could also have a look at our article on Easy and Hard Charades for more challenging ideas to perform.

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Our lists below are split into 5 different categories of theatre, which are Tragedy, Comedy, Tragicomedy, Melodrama, and Musical - we hope you find the best ideas!

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Tragedy ideas

Tragedies are possibly one of the most well-known types of theatre productions, mainly due to Shakespeare. I’m sure there will be some recognisable play titles in our list below, but some may be quite new to you - try your best to act them out as well as you can!

  • Hamlet
  • Death of a Salesman
  • Fences
  • Long Day's Journey Into Night
  • King Lear
  • ‘Night, Mother
  • Oedipus Rex
  • Wit
  • Macbeth
  • Romeo and Juliet
  • Medea
  • Angels in America
  • The Father
  • Pillars of Society
  • The Laramie Project
  • Othello
  • The Trojan Women
  • Mourning Becomes Electra
  • Bent
  • The Master Builder

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Comedy ideas

After going through that list of tragedies, what better to do than have a look at some comedies? Get in touch with your theatrical side, and check out our list below for some comedy play ideas which can almost guarantee a great game of charades!

  • A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings
  • The Odd Couple
  • Home, I’m Darling
  • What the Butler Saw
  • The Importance of Being Earnest
  • As You Like It
  • Tartuffe
  • The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  • Fat Pig
  • The Play That Goes Wrong
  • Love’s Labour's Lost
  • The Lieutenant of Inishmore
  • Noises Off
  • The Comedy of Errors
  • The 39 Steps
  • Lobby Hero
  • All’s Well That Ends Well
  • Boston Marriage
  • God of Carnage
  • Charley's Aunt

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Tragicomedy ideas

We’ll combine the tears and laughs together for these tragicomedy play ideas. Our list below has both well and lesser known theatre productions for you to act out in charades. I just hope your performance is more comedic than tragic...

  • Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
  • Uncle Vanya
  • The Merchant of Venice
  • Waiting for Godot
  • The Caretaker
  • Marriage à la Mode
  • Rum & Vodka
  • The Cherry Orchard
  • This Is Our Youth
  • Ghosts
  • The Wild Duck
  • The Winter’s Tale
  • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
  • Endgame
  • The Tempest
  • Cymbeline
  • The Dumb-Waiter
  • Tonight We Improvise
  • A Wife for a Month
  • A Fair Quarrel

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Melodrama ideas

This is the one time you can be melodramatic without being told not to be so melodramatic! Again, our list below may have some plays you’re familiar with and some you’re not, but don’t be afraid to add some you know yourself - it could be a way to get a nice recommendation in!

  • The Glass Menagerie
  • Under the Gaslight
  • The Scout
  • The Kelly Gang
  • Hedda Gabler
  • The Colleen Bawn
  • Captain Brassbound's Conversion
  • The Still Alarm
  • The Poor of New York
  • London by Night
  • The Octoroon
  • Ben-Hur
  • The Devil’s Disciple
  • Five Star Final
  • The Gladiator
  • Three Sisters
  • The Stranger
  • A Tale of Mystery
  • The White Heather
  • The Blue Flame

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Musical ideas

Check out our list below for some musical play ideas to act out in a fun game of charades. Want some more ideas based around songs? Why not check out our article on Song Ideas for Charades for a full list of song titles you can perform!

  • Oklahoma!
  • Cats
  • Hamilton
  • Sunday in the Park with George
  • Billy Elliot The Musical
  • Rent
  • Into the Woods
  • Peter Pan
  • The Black Crook
  • Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
  • Company
  • She Loves Me
  • Kiss Me, Kate
  • The Book of Mormon
  • Falsettos
  • Wicked
  • The Phantom of the Opera
  • Les Misérables
  • Newsies
  • Mamma Mia!

Printable Charades Cards

100s of charades cards ready to print. Free and paid options available to support this site :)

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Wanting More Ideas?

If you want more ideas after reading this article, why not use our free Charades Ideas Generator? With our generator, you can filter through a wide range of categories - including theatre plays - to find the perfect words and titles to act out! If you would like more typed up lists like this one, you could also check out our Resources page for more articles. We hope you have a great game of charades!