Italy is home to one of the most vibrant contemporary playwriting scenes in Europe, yet Italian dramatists are little known to English-language readers and audiences: discover their stories and perspective in English for the very first time.

Written between 2013 and 2022 by award-winning authors, the plays in this collection document a theatre culture not only preoccupied with the personal dimension of intimate and family relations, good food and designer fashion, as some stereotypical views of ‘Italianness’ would have it, but with deeply political, socially engaged matters of global resonance.

Together the plays look at issues such as climate change (The Fattest Woman in the World)

gender equality (Gentleman Anne)

racism and citizenship (The Foreigner’s Smile)

history and memory (Portrait of the Artist as a Dead Man)

the world of work in neoliberal times (Bidibibodibiboo)

mental health, trauma and grief (Big Fright)

migration and the ‘refugee crisis’ (Antigone Power)

and life beyond Earth (Carbon). Each of these themes feature as key apprehensions in the characters’ lives and stories, creating engaging and contemporary works of drama.

Translated by leading practitioners and including a critical essay by the editor, The Methuen Drama Anthology of Contemporary Italian Plays acts as a perfect introduction to the world of contemporary Italian drama for both performance and study.