Methuen Drama imprint: 1030 books

This New Mermaids anthology brings together the four most popular and widely studied of Christopher Marlowe's plays: Tamburlaine, Parts 1 and 2, The Jew of Malta, Edward II and Dr Faustus. The new introduction by Brian Gibbons explores the plays in the context of early modern theatre, culture and...

Marlowe's play retains its power to shock even today, and this edition gives full value to its three overriding themes of sexual favouritism, political confrontation and sheer cruelty. Critics in the last twenty years, who have focused on the overtly sexual relationship between Edward and his favourite...

'Tell me worldlings, underneath the sun, If greater falsehood ever has been done' The Jew of Malta, written around 1590, can present a challenge for modern audiences. Hugely popular in its day, the play swings wildly and rapidly in genre, from pointed satire, to bloody revenge tragedy, to melodrmatic...

First major theatrical adaptation of EM Forster's classic novel for a contemporary audience Before deciding whether to marry Chandrapore's local magistrate, Adela Quested wants to discover the "real India" for herself. Newly arrived from England, she agrees to see the Marabar Caves...

'Scotland may be a savage nation, Lady, but the English wash their hands in blood.' Mary Stuart tells the story of the personal struggle between two extraordinary women - one French, one English - both captive to the demands of sovereignty and both caught in a tumult of political and religious...

All the world's an Xbox and you're a player Candide is an optimist. A dreamer. He believes that everything is for the best in the best of all possible worlds. But that belief is about to be tested as Candide's comfortable life is overtaken by an endless barrage of misfortune. First published...

Crash is a contemporary, satirical comedy, probing the feelings behind and reaction to the economic crisis and the people who caused it. The play follows a reunion of sorts, but on the basis of the characters' current situations, their common ground is at best elusive.  Nick is a Securities...

*The village has lied. William has lied. It is not because I am undeserving. Not because I am young and they are old. God has given them nothing. I know this now. Knives in Hens* is a brutal fable set in a timeless spartan rural community. First staged at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh in...

The Irish Dramatic Revival was to radically redefine Irish theatre and see the birth of Ireland's national theatre, the Abbey, in 1904. From a consideration of such influential precursors as Boucicault and Wilde, Anthony Roche goes on to examine the role of Yeats as both founder and playwright, the...

They call it a civil war, but there is nothing civil in this. Nothing civil at all. They came from Damascus, from Halab, from Banias where the bombs fall day and night and the wounded children look like sleeping angels. Now they live in camps and abandoned buildings in Lebanon or Jordan. Now...

The sea took my house and not yours, everything's different for me. Rising sea levels are threatening the ground beneath her house, but Ruby is distracted. She wants one final blowout before her best friend, Lucy, leaves for University. With the local community in favour of letting nature...

He who learns must suffer. Before setting out for the Trojan War, King Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia. Many years later, when Agamemnon returns to his palace, his adulterous Queen Clytemnestra takes her revenge by brutally murdering him and installing her lover on the throne. How will...

The spiritual rebellion of Stephen Dedalus and his restless search for self-expression is brought to life in a thrilling theatrical adaptation by Arthur Riordan. Based upon James Joyce's novel of the same name, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is a reworking of the classic coming-of-age...

Aphra Behn was among the wittiest and most prolific playwrights of her day The Widow Ranter is a tragi-comedy, The False Count concerns the marriage of a young woman to a much older man whilst The Lucky Chance ran into instant criticism for immorality. The Rover is her most famous comedy and...