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The play centres on three sisters living without men in Andersonstown in the 1980s. They are the wives and girlfriends of prisoners. Anne Devlin lived in Andersonstown from 1963 to 1971. She says she simply imagined herself back into that situation. One of the sisters, Freida is a hairdresser but aspires to be a songwriter Josie is a political activist and Donna, a mother, is waiting for their brother to come out of prison. Their father is called Malachy, and the brother prisoner is Liam. The newcomer is Joe. Freida is in conflict with her father over a friendship with John McDermot and at the heart of Josie’s story is the questioning or interrogation of Joe’s motives.

"I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history," Arthur Miller wrote of his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria. In the rigid theocracy of Salem, rumors that women are practicing witchcraft galvanize the town's most basic fears and suspicions; and when a young girl accuses Elizabeth Proctor of being a witch, self-righteous church leaders and townspeople insist that Elizabeth be brought to trial. The ruthlessness of the prosecutors and the eagerness of neighbor to testify against neighbor brilliantly illuminates the destructive power of socially sanctioned violence. Written in 1953, The Crucible is a mirror Miller uses to reflect the anti-communist hysteria inspired by Senator Joseph McCarthy's "witch-hunts" in the United States. Within the text itself, Miller contemplates the parallels, writing, "Political opposition... is given an inhumane overlay, which then justifies the abrogation of all normally applied customs of civilized behavior. A political policy is equated with moral right, and opposition to it with diabolical malevolence."

The heroic Greek dramas that have moved theatergoers and readers since the fifth century B.C. Towering over the rest of Greek tragedy, the three plays that tell the story of the fated Theban royal family—Antigone, Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus—are among the most enduring and timeless dramas ever written. Robert Fagles's authoritative and acclaimed translation conveys all of Sophocles's lucidity and power: the cut and thrust of his dialogue, his ironic edge, the surge and majesty of his choruses and, above all, the agonies and triumphs of his characters. This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction and notes by the renowned classicist Bernard Knox. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

One of Zola's most famous realist novels, Therese Raquin is a clinically observed, sinister tale of adultery and murder among the lower classes in nineteenth-century Parisian society. Set in the claustrophobic atmosphere of a dingy haberdasher's shop in the passage du Pont-Neuf in Paris, this powerful novel tells how the heroine and her lover, Laurent, kill her husband, Camille, but are subsequently haunted by visions of the dead man, and prevented from enjoying the fruits of their crime. Zola's shocking tale dispassionately dissects the motivations of his characters--mere "human beasts", who kill in order to satisfy their lust--and stands as a key manifesto of the French Naturalist movement, of which the author was the founding father. Published in 1867, this is Zola's most important work before the Rougon-Macquart series and introduces many of the themes that can be traced through the later novel cycle.

Written in 1959 and premiered at the Royal Court Theatre, London, on October 22 of that year. In Arden's introductory note to the text, he describes it as "a realistic, but not a naturalistic" play. The work follows three privates in the British Army and their sergeant, all of whom are deserters from a foreign imperialist war. Serjeant Musgrave and his men, Hurst, Sparky and Attercliffe, come to a northern English coal mining town in 1879. The community is in the grip of a coal strike and cut off by winter snow. The one means of reaching the town is by canal barge. They arrive in the company of the Bargee, a foul-mouthed, disrespectful individual who teases and abuses everyone, especially those in authority. In the local inn the soldiers meet Mrs. Hitchcock, who runs the inn, and the barmaid Annie. The soldiers are greeted by the mayor, parson and constable, who ask them to recruit men in hopes of alleviating some of the town's unemployment as a way to rid the town of their economic dead weight. Musgrave pretends that this is indeed his goal, and asks Mrs. Hitchcock about Billy Hicks, a dead fellow soldier from the mining town. It is revealed that Billy was the father of Annie's illegitimate child, but the baby died, and Annie's sanity has suffered from the loss of both Billy and her child.

Antonio, the merchant of Venice, and Shylock the money-lender have struck a bargain whereby Shylock will lend Antonio some money provided that if Antonio cannot repay him, Shylock can claim a pound of Antonio's flesh. Antonio's ships are lost and Shylock seeks to enforce the contract. As Jew conflicts with Christian, the ancient argument for justice tempered by mercy is pleaded by Portia.

Escaping the Athenian court to marry, Hermia and Lysander take refuge in a nearby wood. There, too, are Helena and Demetrius and the King and Queen of the fairies, Oberon and Titania. Oberon orchestrates a series of mischievous and magical tricks by which love is transformed, misplaced, deceived, revealed and finally, restores. This edition of the text includes notes, a glossary and an introduction.

When nerdy Adam Sorenson, an English Literature major at Mercy, a fictitious Midwestern college, meets Evelyn Ann Thompson, an attractive graduate art student, at the local museum where he works, his life takes an unexpected turn. Never having the best success with women, he is flattered when Evelyn shows an interest in him and, at Evelyn's suggestion, gets a new hairstyle, begins a regular exercise regimen, eats healthier foods, dresses more stylishly, acts more confident and dominant, and begins wearing contact lenses instead of his usual eyeglasses. These initial changes regarding Adam's physical appearance are well received by Adam's friend, Phillip, and Phillip's fiancee, Jenny. Jenny takes such a liking to Adam's new physique that she makes a move on Adam and the two share a passionate kiss.  Later, Evelyn cajoles Adam into undergoing plastic surgery to fix his large and nautrallymisshapen nose and succeeds in persuading him to cut himself off from Phillip and Jenny, whose relationship she ruins.

Three plays by Stephen Adly Guirgis. Stephen Adly Guirgid has been hailed as one of the most promising playwrights at work in America today. A masterful poet of the downtrodden, Guirgis portrays life on New York's hardscrabble streets in a manner both tender and unflinching, while continually exploring the often startling gulf between who we are and how we perceive ourselves. This volume includes his most recent work, Our Lady of 121st Street, an acclaimed comic portrait of the graduates of Harlem Catholic school reunited at the funeral of a beloved teacher, along with his two previous plays: the philosophical jailhouse drama Jesus Hopped the A Train and In Arabia, We'd all Be Kings, an Iceman Cometh for the Giuliani era that looks at the effect of Times Square's gentrification on its less-desirable inhabitants.

No Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Othello on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right. It contains the complete text of the original play, line-by-line translation that puts Shakespeare into everyday language, list of characters with descriptions and helpful commentary.

The beautiful Scheherazade saved her life by entertaining the brutal King Shahryar with these tales of magical transformations, genies and wishes, terror and passion. Here are the famous adventures of 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves' and 'Aladdin and the Magic Lamp,' as well as less familiar stories. The tales have their origins in the cultures of India, Persia, and Arabia, and in this edition, based on Richard F. Burton's unexpurgated translation, gives the reader all the sensuality and lushness of the original Arabic.

Mary Zimmerman's acclaimed adaptation weaves ancient tales of wonder into a rich and poetic testament to the transformational power of storytelling.  King Shahryar marries, loves, then kills a young woman each night -  until he encounters Scheherezade. For 1001 nights, he delays her murder as he eagerly awaits her next tale of love, lust, hilarity or sorrow. The final scene brings the audience back to modern-day Baghdad, and distant air-raid sirens warn of the danger threatening the land that produced the encyclopedia of human experience, imagination, and poetry that is The Arabian Nights.