The Politics and Poetics of Contemporary English Tragedy is a detailed study of the idea of the tragic in the political plays of David Hare, Howard Barker, Edwa

Introducing the reader to important topics in English Renaissance tragedy, this Companion presents fresh readings of key texts.

May 1945: victory in Europe and a Labour landslide in the UK. English traitor John Amery is arrested in Italy and brought back to London for trial. If convicted

By spring 1645, two years of civil war had exacted a dreadful toll upon England. People lived in terror as disease and poverty spread, and the nation grew ever

First published in English in 1961, this reissue relates the problems of form and style to the development of dramatic speech in pre-Shakespearean tragedy. The