Set between 1860 and 1880, four deserters bring the body of a dead soldier back to his home town, a mining community in the grip of a coal strike and cut off by snow. Their leader, Serjeant Musgrave, plans to hold the town at gunpoint and confront its people with the realities of warfare. Arden's play questions the military principle of "Obey or suffer" and the cruelty and futility of war. Serjeant Musgrave's Dance was first performed at the Royal Court Theatre in 1959.This volume contains expert notes on the author's life and work, historical and political background to the play and a glossary of difficult words and phrases.

This series presents a wide choice of 20th-century drama. The books offer scene-by-scene analysis, structured questions and assignment suggestions for GCSE. In this play, four deserting soldiers return to their North England home and attempt to turn their townspeople against war.

First performed in Glasgow in 1964, Arden's three act historical drama is in Scots dialect, with some verse and songs. Although a study of 16th century political intrigue on the Scottish border, it sheds new light on the experience of conscript soldiers at the tail end of colonialism in the 1960s, being partly inspired by contemporary events in the Congo.

The Changeling is a popular Renaissance tragedy in which the relationship between money, sex, and power is explored. Frequently performed and studied in University courses, it is a key text in the New Mermaids series.

A standard work on play writing, this book has been steadily in demand in Britain, the USA and other countries around the world since its first publication by Heinemann Educational Books in 1982. Reprinted five times since, this book has indeed proved valuable not only for playwrights, but for many who are interested in the theatre, whether as students, teachers or playgoers. It is an expansion of the notes on play construction that the author originally wrote for writers when he joined BBC Television.

This portrait of a Southern family’s downfall was the literary debut of the #1 New York Times–bestselling author of Sophie’s Choice. A finalist for the National Book Award, Lie Down in Darkness centers on the Loftis family—Milton and Helen and their daughters, Peyton and Maudie. The story, told through a series of flashbacks on the day of Peyton’s funeral, is a powerful depiction of a family doomed by its failure to forget and its inability to love. Written in masterful prose that “achieves real beauty” (The Washington Post), William Styron’s debut novel offers unflinching insight into the ineradicable bonds of place and family. The story of Milton, Helen, and their children reveals much about life’s losses and disappointments. Lie Down in Darkness, poignant and compelling, is a classic of modern American literature from the author who went on to earn high critical acclaim—with a Pulitzer Prize for The Confessions of Nat Turner and a National Book Award for Sophie’s Choice—and a place at the top of the New York Times bestseller list. This ebook features a new illustrated biography of William Styron, including original letters, rare photos, and never-before-seen documents from the Styron family and the Duke University Archives.