Wilson Plays: 1 (Methuen Contemporary Dramatists)

The first collection of plays by one of Britain's most original dramatists

This first volume of Snoo Wilson's plays contains a mixture of his best early work from the 1970s and more recent efforts. Long considered to be a legend of Fringe theatre, Snoo Wilson's early plays had such absurd titles as Girl Mad as Pigs and Ella Daybellfesse's Machine. All of Wilson's plays search out strange psychological states in his characters and situations. Blowjob is a dark study in alienation and violence; in Pigsnight a Lincolnshire farm is taken by a sinister gang and turned into a machine for the organised butchering of animals. The Soul of the White Ant explores the weird world of the South African naturalist Eugene Marais whose ideas about a corporate soul lead to insanity. The volume also includes two plays with a Freudian perspective: More Light and Darwin's Flood. The volume includes an introduction by the author and notes by his various collaborators.

"Snoo Wilson tackles dark pockets of human endeavour with an original wit and a savage humour" (Financial Times).