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The establishment of the new National Theatre of Scotland has revived interest in Scottish drama, both at home and around the world. James Bridie is one of Scotland’s greatest playwrights, and one of the leading British dramatists of the twentieth century. His work is a celebration of the human spirit, its mixture of ‘dirt and deity’, the opposition of appearance and reality, the deflation of pretension and the investigation of moral dilemmas, all presented with irony, wit and serious levity. This collection of five acting scripts has been thoroughly corrected and re-set, and brings some of Bridie’s greatest works back into the public domain. Dr Carruthers’ extensive introduction provides an essential critical background to Bridie’s life and work, and the comprehensive notes make the plays more accessible and enjoyable.

Dr Gerard Carruthers is a Reader in the Department of Scottish Literature at the University of Glasgow. He is editor of the new Everyman edition of Robert Burns’ poems. He co-edited English Romanticism and the Celtic World and Beyond Scotland: New Contexts for Twentieth Century Scottish Literature.

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CONTENTS

Introduction 

THE SUNLIGHT SONATA (1928) 
THE ANATOMIST (1933) 
A SLEEPING CLERGYMAN (1933) 
MR BOLFRY (1943) 
DAPHNE LAUREOLA (1949) 

Notes

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Cover illustration: Alastair Sim as Dr Knox in The Anatomist (Westminster Theatre, London, 1948). 
Photograph by Houston Rogers. Reproduced by permission of V&A Images/Theatre Museum.

Cover design: Mark Blackadder