Author Description

Published here for the first time, the fifteen essays in this collection survey the plays of some of the most important British and Irish dramatists of our time. The essays not only consider the work of dramatists who began writing before 1960, such as Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, Peter Shaffer and Peter Nichols; they also discuss the work of more recent dramatists, among them Caryl Churchill, Brian Friel, Pam Gems, Tom Murphy, Edward Bond, Timberlake Wertenbaker, David Hare and Tony Harrison. They will be of special interest to the person who enjoys seeing and/or reading plays, but who feels the need of some help in coming to terms with them. The contributors are drawn from various parts of the English-speaking world, and provide a variety of original perspectives on the fifteen dramatists who are discussed.