Based on a play by Spanish writer Guillen de Castro, The Cid is a love story where the hero fights to uphold justice and honor.  It is an important play for the period because:

◘ It is a great example of how playwrights borrowed ideas from each other and tailored them to their own cultures.

◘ Shows how some plays did not follow neoclassical rules.  For example, critics accused Corneille of trying to fit too much action into 24 hours.

Molière

Moliere led a very eventful life (even his death was controversial), and this drama definitely makes its way into his plays.  They are all fun to read and even more fun to perform.  On top of the fact that Moliere is a comic genius, here are some reasons to read his works:
◘ He writes in rhyming couplets, which in some translations was preserved for the English script as well.
◘ His plays often include a deus ex machina, or a dramatic devise that doesn't relate much to the story, but is just used to resolve the plot in the last scene of the play.
◘ It is interesting to see the commedia dell'arte influence on his works.
◘ This play caused a big controversy because it is about a man who pretends to be very religious but is only out for money and women.  The king of France (Louis XIV) loved it, but the church hated it, so for years Moliere fought for the right to stage the play.  He had his official premiere in 1669 and the play was very popular.

 

Although this play wasn't successful at the time it was first performed, it still one of the most famous French plays.  It is based on Euripides' Hippolytus.

◘ It is a great example of an adaption of a Greek play

◘ It follows all neoclassical rules
◘ Like Greek plays, it has a great exposition to clue the audience in on what happened before the action takes place (since the action can only take place within 24 hours).
◘ A superb example of alexandrine poetry (Racine's writing style influenced French theatre immensely).