With illustrations ranging from Shakespeare to Sheridan, from Caryl Churchill and Howard Brenton to Oscar Wilde and Brian Friel, playwright David Edgar explores the poetry of plays.

David Edgar's plays include Destiny, Nicholas Nickleby, Pentecost and Written on the Heart for the RSC, and The Shape of the Table, Albert Speer and Playing with Fire for the National Theatre. He founded Britain's first postgraduate course in playwriting studies (at the University of Birmingham in 1989) and is the author of How Plays Work.