The Playboy of the Western World and Other Plays: Riders to the Sea; The Shadow of the Glen; The Tinker's Wedding; The Well of the Saints; The Playboy . of the Sorrows (Oxford World's Classics)

Synge was one of the key dramatists in the flourishing world of Irish literature at the turn of the century. This volume offers every one of his plays, which range from racy comedy to stark tragedy, all sharing a memorable lyricism. The introduction to this new, definitive edition sets the plays in the context of the Irish literary movement, with special attention to Synge's role as one of the founders of the Abbey Theatre and his work alongside W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory.

Editor of The Collected Letters of J. M. Synge (OUP, 2 vols, 1983, 1984), Ann Saddlemyer is Professor of English and Drama, and Master of Massey College at the University of Toronto.