Fifty Modern and Contemporary and Dramatists is a critical introduction to the work of some of the most important and influential playwrights from the 1950s to the present day. The figures chosen are among the most widely studied by students of drama, theatre and literature and include such celebrated writers as:

- Samuel Beckett

- Caryl Churchill

- Anna Deavere Smith

- Jean Genet

- Sarah Kane

- Heiner Muller

- Arthur Miller

- Harold Pinter

- Sam Shephard

Each short essay is written by one of...