The Ultimate Shakespeare Ranking: Every Play Evaluated
To celebrate the Bard's enduring legacy, a former theatre critic has undertaken the monumental task of ranking every single Shakespeare play. This comprehensive evaluation considers each work's theatrical impact, literary merit, and performance history across centuries of interpretation.
The Bottom Tier: Early Works and Problem Plays
Beginning at number 35, The Two Gentlemen of Verona stands as perhaps Shakespeare's least accomplished comedy. With its improbable plot featuring comic opera outlaws and a problematic attempted rape resolution, this early exploration of friendship and betrayal remains "no one's favourite comedy." Yet it contains hints of Shakespeare's future greatness, including memorable lines like "The uncertain glory of an April day" and has proven surprisingly stageable in productions like Greg Doran's Oxford student version.
At number 34, Cymbeline presents what Dr. Johnson called "unresisting imbecility" and George Bernard Shaw dismissed as "stagey trash." Despite its chaotic plot blending Holinshed, Boccaccio, classical Rome and Renaissance Italy, the play contains one of Shakespeare's most celebrated heroines in Imogen, beautifully embodied over decades by acting legends Peggy Ashcroft, Vanessa Redgrave and Judi Dench.
Collaborative Works and Historical Dramas
The Two Noble Kinsmen (number 33), now accepted as Shakespeare's final collaborative work with John Fletcher, draws from Chaucer's The Knight's Tale with two Theban cousins competing for the same woman. While containing authentically Shakespearean lines, the 1986 Swan Theatre opening revealed Fletcher's scenes involving Imogen Stubbs as a jailer's crazed daughter as particularly effective.
Henry VIII (number 32), another Shakespeare-Fletcher collaboration, famously caused the original Globe Theatre to burn down in 1613 due to cannon fire. The play contains fine farewell speeches and has seen memorable performances including Jane Lapotaire's virtuous Queen Katherine and a stirring Holy Trinity Church revival celebrating Elizabeth I's birth.
The Problematic Middle Ground
All's Well That Ends Well (number 31) presents challenges with its stubbornly unheroic hero and opportunistic heroine. Since Tyrone Guthrie's groundbreaking 1959 production blending Chekhov, farce and Franz Lehár elements, directors have proven the play highly stageable, particularly through the cowardly character Parolles who has attracted actors from Laurence Olivier onward.
King John (number 30) has enjoyed renewed popularity through productions by Deborah Warner and Northern Broadsides, resonating with modern audiences through its exploration of power's destructiveness and cynical expediency, perfectly captured in the Bastard's speech about "That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling commodity."
Rediscovered and Reinterpreted Works
Timon of Athens (number 29) has moved closer to contemporary relevance, as Peter Brook noted about Shakespeare's plays being "like planets that move nearer to us at certain moments." This story of compulsive philanthropy turning to neurotic misanthropry has found new life in modern-dress productions by Cardboard Citizens, Trevor Nunn and Nicholas Hytner's National Theatre version set amid towering office blocks.
Pericles (number 28), despite Ben Jonson's "mouldy tale" dismissal, showcases Shakespeare's dramatic arrival after two acts of functional verse with language of "thrilling density." Modern directors from Tony Richardson's oriental kaleidoscope to Yukio Ninagawa's refugee parable have given this loosely plotted work stylistic unity.
Controversial Classics
The Taming of the Shrew (number 27) presents obvious problems with its barbaric female subjugation theme, yet remains theatrically popular through directorial inventiveness. Approaches have ranged from treating it as a drunken tinker's dream to Michael Bogdanov's neo-Marxist attack on capitalism, with Greg Doran's production suggesting Petruchio and Kate as social outcasts finding healing power in love.
The Merchant of Venice (number 26) proves difficult to view as a fairytale in a post-Holocaust world but works powerfully when given strong social context. Productions have ranged from Peter Zadek's high finance setting to Trevor Nunn's 1930s Germany with rising Nazism and Rupert Goold's modern Los Angeles with Patrick Stewart's urbane tycoon Shylock.
The Great Tragedies and Comedies
The Tempest (number 25) represents what critic Anne Barton called "an extraordinarily obliging work of art that will lend itself to almost any interpretation." While a great poem, its minimal tension requires actors to create internal struggle, as demonstrated by John Wood's Freudian wreck Prospero, Michael Bryant's diabolism dabbler, and Simon Russell Beale's guilt-swathed bookish solitary.
Julius Caesar (number 24) fascinates despite structural momentum loss after the Forum scene. Solutions have included scrapping intervals or finding unifying concepts like Orson Welles's fascist setting, New York's Trump-style dictator, Greg Doran's modern Africa transposition, or Phyllida Lloyd's all-female prisoner production.
Beloved Standards
Romeo and Juliet (number 23) remains hugely popular despite a second half dependent on bad luck rather than character. The play often proves memorable for its Mercutios, from Alec McCowen jesting until death to Bernard Lloyd's savage doll dismembering and Derek Jacobi's ageing gallant enjoying male camaraderie.
The Merry Wives of Windsor (number 22), Shakespeare's sole bourgeois life comedy, shows remarkable civic richness adapting to contexts from traditional Elizabethan to postwar suburbia, Macmillan's materialist England and even World Cup settings. The character Ford, brilliantly played by Ian Richardson and Ben Kingsley, demonstrates jealousy as property-owning instinct extension.
Power Plays and Character Studies
Richard III (number 21) has been described both as "long, confusing, elephantine in its ironies" and "a horrific analysis of power, politics and violence." The title role has gifted actors from Richard Burbage onward, with Laurence Olivier establishing the satanic joker image later escaped by Ian Holm's historical mechanism participant, Antony Sher's disability-energized version, and Ian McKellen's militaristic fascist.
Much Ado About Nothing (number 20) uniquely features a subplot outclassing its main plot, with Beatrice and Benedick relationships memorable from Judi Dench and Donald Sinden's colonial India to Zoë Wanamaker and Simon Russell Beale's Sicilian mansion bonding and Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh's sunlit Tuscan film scintillation.
Tragic Masterpieces
Othello (number 19) experienced a watershed moment in 1981 when Jonathan Miller's BBC production casting Anthony Hopkins provoked outcry, making white actors in the role rare. This shift produced magnificent Othellos including Willard White, Ray Fearon, Chiwetel Ejiofor and David Harewood, placing the title character rather than Iago at the center of this pulsating if philosophically shallower tragedy.
Henry VI Trilogy (number 18) achieved landmark status through the 1960s Wars of the Roses adaptation, with Terry Hands's 1978 uncut version featuring Alan Howard's saintly king and Helen Mirren's blood-lusting Queen Margaret, and Michael Boyd's 2006 complete trilogy resurrection proving Part Two a harbinger of Shakespeare's future achievements.
Comic Genius
The Comedy of Errors (number 17) elevates Plautus's plot by doubling identical twins, creating classic farce enriched by self-exploration and biblical sorcery background. The play's rediscovery began with Clifford Williams's 1962 production where Alec McCowen's visiting Antipholus, after 37 lines of impassioned blank verse from his supposed wife, gravely inquired: "Plead you to me, fair dame?"
Titus Andronicus (number 16) has rightly swung back into fashion since Peter Brook's landmark 1955 production, particularly attracting female directors including Jane Howell, Deborah Warner, Lucy Bailey and Blanche McIntyre to its wit, learning and rich humanity. The moving moment when Titus responds to his brother's observation on mutilated Lavinia with "Why, Marcus, so she is" stands among Shakespeare's most poignant.
Timely Satires
Troilus and Cressida (number 15), this cynic's Iliad casting satiric eyes on war realities, speaks powerfully to contemporary times with language running what Peter Porter called "the gamut of human depravity." Since Juliet Stevenson's 1985 performance, Cressida has transformed from female changeability icon into manipulative patriarchy victim.
Richard II (number 14), described as "Charles I in the first half, Jesus Christ in the second" regarding Ian Richardson's performance, has seen fine Richards including Alan Howard, Samuel West, Jonathan Slinger and Adjoa Andoh in this most lyrical of history plays.
Forests and Morality
As You Like It (number 13), called "Shakespeare's most Mozartian comedy" by Helen Gardner, features the Forest of Arden as discovery place where characters find true selves. The play tends to be defined by its Rosalinds, memorably including Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Fleetwood, Helen McCrory and Adrian Lester in Declan Donnellan's all-male production.
Measure for Measure (number 12), once deemed unacceptably bawdy, now seems thrillingly timely in its sexual-political power link portrait. The shock of recognition when Angelo responds to whistleblowing threats with "Who will believe thee, Isabel?" resonates across productions from Nicholas Hytner's strong-voiced Duke to Trevor Nunn's Freudian Vienna and Simon McBurney's Guantanamo Bay uniforms.
Epic Romances
Antony and Cleopatra (number 11) contains what Ivor Brown called "the most heart-searching poetry that Shakespeare ever wrote" but can prove exhausting. The play works best when leads appear as self-intoxicating fantasy victims, perfectly captured in Peter Hall's 1987 dreamlike self-delusion staging and Peter Zadek's 1994 German-language version emphasizing vanity over grandeur.
Henry V (number 10) achieves greatness through ambivalence, viewable simultaneously as heroic Christian king mirror or ruthless Machiavellian tyrant. Contrasting movie visions from Olivier and Branagh complement stage complexities captured by Albert Finney, Alan Howard, Adrian Lester and Geoffrey Streatfeild.
Late Masterworks
The Winter's Tale (number 9) represents Shakespeare's "most exuberant and resolutely moving achievements" according to Paul Edmondson, blending psychological realism with potent strangeness in Hermione's restoration. This resurrection myth grips through memorable Hermiones including Judi Dench, Samantha Bond and Alexandra Gilbreath.
Coriolanus (number 8), Shakespeare's greatest Roman play due to political, moral and emotional ambivalence, has been claimed by both left and right. As Greg Doran noted: "Shakespeare sees both sides, empathises with both and yet is critical of both." The contradictory title role has yielded terrific performances from Laurence Olivier, Ian McKellen, Greg Hicks and Ralph Fiennes.
Penultimate Perfections
Love's Labour's Lost (number 7) shows Shakespeare's first full genius flowering, where verbal exuberance and high spirits shadow transience, time and death. John Barton's perfect 1978 Chekhovian production achieved greatness when Glenda Jackson's French princess learned of her father's death and "the scene behind her darkened as though the wing of a vulture had flapped slowly over the sun."
King Lear (number 6), while magnificent, contains flaws with improbabilities "far surpass[ing] those of other great tragedies in number and grossness" according to AC Bradley. Memorable Lears include Paul Scofield's testy patriarch, John Wood's insane contradictions, Ian McKellen's intellectual curiosity, and Glenda Jackson's gender-transcending humanity.
The Final Four
Macbeth (number 5) stands as simultaneously great poem and play, compact, relentless and intensely musical in thematic language use. Shakespeare's genius shows in minor character generosity, with the First Murderer hauntingly noting: "The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day." Intimate stagings from Trevor Nunn, Greg Doran, Rupert Goold and Kenneth Branagh have given the play new life making audiences complicit.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (number 4), despite Samuel Pepys calling it "the most insipid, ridiculous play," has enchanted centuries with endless staging varieties from Beerbohm Tree's 1900 live rabbits to Peter Brook's 1970 white cube circus and Tim Supple's 2007 seven south Asian languages innovation.
Hamlet (number 3) possesses vitality residing "in its plurality," taking different colors depending on time, place, text and casting. As Oscar Wilde observed: "There are as many Hamlets as there are melancholies," with limitless variations from Michael Redgrave's tortured sensibility to Albert Finney's dangerous muscularity, Mark Rylance's pyjama-clad solitariness, Angela Winkler's damaged vulnerability and Maxine Peake's ferocious moral disgust.
Twelfth Night (number 2) confirms Shakespeare's interweaving of comedy and tragedy through mirth and melancholy, joy and cruelty, reality and dream intertwinings. The gulling of Malvolio proves hilarious yet savagely consequential, with climactic marital pairings implying erotic confusion future. This most lyrical play ends with song about human life and theatrical performance transience, yielding unforgettable productions including Peter Hall and John Barton's and Sam Mendes's Chekhovian pairing with Uncle Vanya.
The Ultimate Shakespearean Achievement
Henry IV Parts One and Two (number 1) represent what Kenneth Tynan called "the twin summits of Shakespeare's achievement" seventy years ago, and this ranking concurs heartily. These plays offer extraordinary range: private father-son drama, public divided realm portrait, and national diversity sense stretching from London taverns to Gloucestershire orchards.
Rich ambivalence permeates these works. Prince Hal can be viewed as calculating cold-blooded politician or man undertaking self-imposed kingship education. The king himself appears simultaneously as unforgiving rebellion-stirring patriarch and guilt-ridden insomniac yearning religious absolution.
Falstaff embodies both life-enhancing wit, vitality and intellectual resourcefulness alongside ruthless predator with casual human life disregard. Actors have highlighted different aspects: Robert Stephens tragically aware of childlessness, Antony Sher as archetypal pub-charmer with savage underside, and Ian McKellen's beribboned fraudulent military hero.
Beyond character dual perspectives, these plays boast fugal delicacy in English life portrait. The Cotswold scenes where Justice Shallow leaps from mortality thoughts to mundane bullock prices demonstrate not just Shakespeare's faultless ear but generous compassion making these plays enduring masterpieces. Through this movement from profound to prosaic, Shakespeare captures human nature's essence, securing these works' position at his canon's pinnacle.
