Harley Granville Barker, one of the most versatile figures in
twentieth-century theatre, was the leader of the campaign to reform the
English stage in the Edwardian period. His work as an actor, director,
playwright, and manager set new standards of production and gave Shaw
his first successful showings; his later career as a critic, after he
abandoned the stage, opened new interpretations of Shakespeare and led
the way to the establishment of a national theatre. This volume presents
three of Granville Barker's best plays: The Marrying of Ann Leete (about
a young woman rebelling against convention), The Voysey Inheritance
(digging at middle-class hypocrisy), and Waste (banned by the Lord
Chamberlain, the tragedy of a politician caught in a sexual trap).
Written between 1899 and 1907, and collected here for the first time in
a scholarly edition, they reveal Barker as an exciting, subtle and
innovative dramatist.