Books in the Plays and Playwrights series

This book offers a major critical appraisal of playwright Peter Barnes. It argues that many of his plays have remarkable contemporary relevance, and are formally far more innovative than has hitherto been recognised.

This collection of provocative essays reveals how some of the great Irish poets and dramatists, of the past and present, have drawn on Greek myths and used these stories, which have travelled across 3000 years, to bring new insights on the world in which we now live.

Includes a selection of plays and non-dramatic writing by Gorky.

Brecht is an important lyrical voice of the 20th century, and is honoured as Germany's greatest modern poet. Yet his poetry is relativley little known in the English speaking world. This title takes its cue from a poem about the artist's legacy and looks at how Brecht's work might read today.

Founder of the Theatre of Cruelty and a strong influence on Peter Brook, Artaud dedicated his life and sanity to purging the French theatre of its enervating bourgeois tendencies. This book includes his major writings about theatre.

This is a study of the work of Caryl Churchill who wrote "Fen", "Top Girls" and "Serious Money". Linda Fitzsimmons examines the development of Churchill's powerful style from her earliest work to the major plays.

A guide to all of Brecht's key plays that sets them in their historical, dramaturgical and political contexts

Updated to cover Harold Pinter's most recent plays, including "Mountain Language", "The New World Order" and "Party Time", this revised edition offers a comprehensive survey of the whole span of Pinter's writing career.

Women playwrights speak about their art and the theatre in this collection of interviews about a key decade of British drama

This title offers a survey into the place and purpose of theatre in Ancient Greece. It provides an author-by-author examination of the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes and Menander plus how and where the plays were performed, who acted them out and who watched them.

At the Sharp End is a critical examination of the work of five leading dramatists who have made an indelible mark on today's theatre. An analysis of the work of David Edgar, Mark Ravenhill, David Greig, Tanika Gupta and Tim Etchells of Forced Entertainment is combined with an interview with each of the dramatists.

A perfect companion to British theatre from 2000-2010 that examines the burgeoning 'new writing' system, provides a study of the principle theatres associated with it and explores in themed chapters the key concerns being addressed by the main playwrights who have gained acclaim in the last ten years.

Euripides Our Contemporary is a major assessment and study of all of Euripides' plays organised by theme. For students, teachers and practitioners it's a perfect companion to Euripides' work and will lead to a deeper appreciation of the timeless appeal and the connections between his plays.

Containing over a hundred interviews conducted over the last fifteen years with leading directors, actors and writers at the National Theatre, Buzz Buzz! is a fantastic compendium that offers unrivalled insight into the work and practice of the best theatre talent.

Contains the plays, television plays and screenplays of the writer Peter Nichols, as well as his non-dramatic writing. The book also has a chapter in which Nichols discusses his work.

This is the story of the Cottesloe Company of actors, operating from the National Theatre, told by two of its leading members. It includes accounts of all the major productions including The Mysteries and Larkrise to Candleford.

Part of a series which assembles vital facts about playwrights and their work, this book on Oscar Wilde offers a checklist of all his plays, a detailed performance history, excerpted reviews and a selection of Wilde's own comments on his work drawn from essays, interviews, letters and diaries.

One in a series of magazine-style reviews of the performing arts, this book presents an introduction to the writers who are helping to shape the future of the British theatre. They range from Sarah Kane's controversial "Blasted" to Patrick Marber's humorous "Dealer's Choice".

Antonin Artaud's theatre of cruelty is a frequently misunderstood concept. This study looks closely Artaud's work as a playwright, director, actor, designer, producer and critic. Tracing the theatre of cruelty's earliest orgins, it examines Artaud's six plays for form and meaning.

The second revised edition of this study in which Willett sets in context not only Brecht the theatre practitioner but Brecht the writer and man of his time, with chapters on his relationships and attitudes to politics, English and American literature, Expressionism, music, art and cinema, as well as to figures such as Auden, Kipling and Piscator.

A brilliantly perceptive study of the most ambiguous and perceptually fascinating figure of the twentieth-century European theatre

Dominic Dromgoole, a key figure in new British drama, witnessed the explosion of new writing that took place at the end of the millennium. In a series of profiles of over 50 British playwrights this title looks at new plays and theatres which have changed the shape of contemporary British drama.

"The best review I've ever had was when Michael Billington said, 'like Balzac, David Edgar seems to be a secretary for our times'...I'd like to be a secretary for the times through which I'm living." (David Edgar)

This volume contains a comprehensive checklist of the work of Michael Frayn; a detailed performance history of each play; excerpts from contemporary and subsequent reviews; Frayn's own comments on his work drawn from interviews, essays, letters and diaries; and a chronology.

A unique book of criticism that brings both theatre and film studies within a single theoretical framework