Placing texts within contexts, this book critically grapples with the multidimensionality of the trajectory which is labeled ‘Modern European Drama’. Why do we call it Modern? Do the playwrights and their plays have a common connect with the socio political and cultural events and movements of their times? Do they have similar artistic and /or ideological visions? Or are there radical departures from each other and from earlier dramatic writing? What kind of audiences did they cater to and did they intend to have a particular impact upon their viewers? What devices did they use in order to do so? What are the theoretical underpinnings of Modern European drama?

Indeed, these questions are only the tip of the iceberg as the dozen essays in this extremely reader friendly book cover a far greater terrain.