The Thrie Estaitis was first performed in the mid-sixteenth century to
an audience of royalty and commoners alike. With its high style and
penetrating political satire, it pressed for reform in Church and State
and even in kingship itself with a hilarious masque of vice and
corruption in high places.
Sir David Lindsay's great play is a milestone in world drama. After
almost 400 years it was revived by Tyrone Guthrie in a famous production
for the Edinburgh Festival of 1948. Ever since then this masterpiece has
been recognized as a key text in the resurgance of political theatre in
modern Scotland and it appears as irreverent today as it was in
Lindsay's troubled times.
This new editon has been fully edited and annotated by Professor
Roderick Lyall.