Helen Edmundson's 'The Clearing' is an original play about the effects of Oliver Cromwell's military campaign in Ireland. It was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in November 1993.

A powerful drama about a clash between organized religion and personal faith, full of intrigue, danger, ruthless ambitions and desire.

Hortense yearns for a new life away from rural Jamaica. Gilbert dreams of becoming a lawyer. Queenie longs to escape her Lincolnshire roots. Three intimately connected stories, tracing the tangled history of Jamaica and Britain. Andrea Levy's epic novel, adapted for the stage by Helen Edmundson, journeys from Jamaica to Britain in 1948 - the year that HMT Empire Windrush docked at Tilbury. Small Island was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in 2019, in an acclaimed production directed by Rufus Norris. This revised edition of the play was published alongside the revival of the production in 2022.

"Life is a Dream," a work by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, is centered on issues of freedom and predestination. The play unfolds around Segismundo, Prince of Poland, imprisoned since birth by his father, King Basilio, due to a prophecy predicting the ruin of the kingdom under his rule. When Basilio decides to test fate by releasing Segismundo, the plot explores the consequences of this decision. The narrative addresses Segismundo's internal struggle with his destiny and the nature of reality, questioning whether life is a dream from which one can awaken. Other characters, such as Rosaura and Astolfo, weave subplots that interconnect personal desires and social duties, reflecting on justice, honor, and love. Set in a context that blends elements of drama, philosophy, and politics, the play investigates the complexity of the human condition, the ethics of leadership, and the power of repentance and personal transformation. With a structure that includes intrigue, plot twists, and reflections on being and seeming, "Life is a Dream" invites the audience to ponder freedom and determinism.

A vivid, compelling and harrowing tale from Whitbread award winning Jamila Gavin. The Coram man takes babies and money from desperate mothers, promising to deliver them safely to a Foundling Hospital in London. Instead, he murders them and buries them by the roadside, to the helpless horror of his mentally ill son, Mish. Mish saves one, Aaron, who grows up happily unaware of his history, proving himself a promising musician. As Aaron's new life takes him closer to his real family, the watchful Mish makes a terrible mistake, delivering Aaron and his best friend Toby back into the hands of the Coram man.

A heartbreaking tale of orphans, angels, murder and music - dramatised from the Whitbread Award-winning novel set in 18th-century England. In 18th-century Gloucestershire, the evil Otis Gardner preys on unmarried mothers, promising to take their babies (and their money) to Thomas Coram's hospital for foundling children. Instead, he buries the babies and pockets the loot. But Otis's downfall is set in train when his half-witted son Meshak falls in love with a young girl, Melissa, and rescues the unwanted son she has had with a disgraced aristocrat. The child is brought up in Coram's hospital, and proves to have inherited the startling musical gifts of his father - gifts that ultimately bring about his father's redemption and a heartbreaking family reunion. Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Jamila Gavin's award-winning novel, Coram Boy, was first performed at the National Theatre, London, in 2005. It won the Time Out Live Award for Best Play. 'A rich and almost Gothic drama' - Philip Pullman

This volume is a collection of interviews that spans feminist views from 1968 to the 1990s. Including over eight years of research. Part of the Comtemporary Theatre Studies series, it will be of special interest to everyone involved in theatre and useful to students and those who oare interested in women's theatre.

Contributions review a diverse range of works, from postcolonial revision to postmodern fantasy, from imaginary after-lives to science fiction, from plays and Hollywood movies to opera, from lithographs and illustrated editions to comics and graphic novels.