Books in the Modern Plays series

"Europe", a play inspired by Bosnian refugees waiting in a bus on the border for a country prepared to grant them asylum, is a black, bleak comedy. The protagonist of "Architect", Leo Black, used to be an idealistic architect, but now his buildings and his family are falling apart.

This is the script of a play in which an old woman lying in her bed remembers her past as the vivid present.

This work is partly an art installation and partly a tense generational conflict, set in and around a house poised to fall into the sea.

A gothic science-fiction thriller, Observatory details the entangled lives of four people across two centuries

A collection of plays from writer/performer/poet/comedian Claire Dowie. "The Year of the Monkey", originally written for BBC Radio 3, comprises "Bonfire Night", "Arsehammers", and "The Allotment". Also included is "Designs for Living"; and "Sodom".

The macabre business of blight and death, of wakes and murder, of poisoned love and lost hope, and the scandal of an emigration policy that was in effect one of transportation, and include some of the modern Irish theatre's most powerful and poetic scenes.

This is a screenplay about a recently retired insurance manager who is ill. He decides to combat his illness by walking from Land's End to John O'Groats and in doing so becomes a healthier and more aware human being. It is a gentle comedy with serious overtones by the author of "Clockwise".

Two gripping plays by one of America's most exciting playwrights

An original stage play from the author of "Trainspotting". Within the sound-proof walls of a recording studio a score is being settled. Two inner city low-lifes take the law into their own hands to satisfy their craving for fun, fear and a freakish sense of justic.

This is David Hare's version of Brecht's classic play which was premiered by the National Theatre, London, in November 1995.

A play involving three off-beat characters - a criminologist, an actress and a gay waiter. Previously unacquainted, their paths intersect as they work to unravel the mystery of a murdered woman. This is the first play to be published in English by French-Canadian director Robert Lepage.

Set in Provincetown, Cape Cod, in 1940, Kip is a character on the verge of adulthood learning about love, his sexuality and the poetry that breathes within him. The play echoes Williams' own experiences during that "pivotal summer when I was on the brink of growing up."

The Madame MacAdam Travelling Theatre is a small English touring company of players. It arrives in a provincial Irish town, sometime in the early 1940s during the turmoil of World War II. This play explores what happens when players and townspeople interact.

Set in Nigeria, amid the scenes of everyday racketeering and general disquiet, the police try to clear the area of undesirables, as a traditional wedding between two illustrious and ambitious families is about to take place. This play is by Nobel Prize-winner Wole Soyinka.

"Terry Johnson is that rare creature: a moralist with wit. He writes with responsible gaiety" (Guardian)

A haunting and brutally funny story of heroism and human values

An hilarious comedy set on a South London council estate. When a young schoolteacher accepts an invitation from one of his pupils to a birthday party, little does he suspect that both the girl's mother and her uncle will spend the evening desperately trying to get him into bed.

A volume containing the scripts of two Joe Penhall plays which were premiered at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs during 1994 and 1995.

This work comprises five pieces from this performer and playwright.

A Bollywood classic adapted for the stage by the theatre company Tamasha. Pooja falls in love with Rajesh. Prem, Rajesh's brother, falls in love with Nisha, Pooja's sister. When Pooja dies suddenly, Nisha finds herself betrothed to the wrong brother. Will Nisha's secret love for Prem be discovered?

Sleeping Around is by four top British playwrights from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales: Mark Ravenhill, Hilary Fannin, Stephen Greenhorn and Abi Morgan

A mother, a daughter and their love hurtle towards tragedy in Verga's passionate Italian drama, first performed in 1894. The play has been translated and reworked by David Lan.

A play by the author of "Speed-the-Plow", "Oleanna", "House of Games" and "Glengarry Glen Ross".

"Godber is one of the best contemporary British playwrights"(Financial Times)

One of a series of drama texts published to coincide with theatrical premieres of new plays and translations.

Two plays of haunting lyricism by one of Scotland's most dynamic playwrights

A playscript about a young rake who sexually plunders and pillages his way through London leaving a dozen angry cuckolds in his wake.

A provocative double-bill taking a candid look at life on Britain's council estates over a 20-year period.

A modern retelling of the classic tale of pride, folly and the ultimate wager

Dublin, the 1960s. After Da's funeral, Charlie returns to his childhood home only to find his father's ghost stubbornly unwilling to leave. As the events of Charlie's youth and Da's troubled relationship with Mother are replayed, we discover the relationships that existed between father and son.