First Run: New Plays by New Writers

Presenting five of the best new plays by new writers to have been staged in Britain during the 12 months up to autumn 1988, this volume is compiled and introduced by the Literary manager of London's Royal Court Theater, the foremost arena for new state writing. Each of the five marks a breakthrough for author from promise to achievement. Each also gives vent to distinctive voices from different parts of the British Isles and from different cultural backgrounds. In "Inventing a New Colour," a war-time Exeter family takes in an evacuee from London. "Prickly Heat," is a surreal, sensuous comedy by a young Scottish writer/performer. "Leave Taking," shows the conflict between a West Indian woman and her English-born daughters. "Low Level Panic," looks at the effects of pornography on three young women. And in "A Handful of Stars," rituals of male supremacy are played out in a Southern Irish billiard room.