A rhinoceros suddely apears in a small town, tramping through its peaceful streets. Soon there are two, then three, until the "movement" is universal: a transformation of average citizens into beasts, as they learn to "move with the times." Finally, only one man remains. "I'm the last man left, and I'm staying that way until the end. I'm not capitulating!" Rhinoceros is a commentary on the absurdity of the human condition made tolerable only by self-delusion. It shows us the struggle of the individual to maintain integrity and identity alone in a world where all others have succumbed to the "beauty" of brute force, natural energy and mindlessness.

    They are "Death of Bessie Smith", "Zoo Story", "American Dream", and "Sand Box".

    Winner of the Antoinette Perry Award for Best Play of the Season, Anouilh's monumental work—introduced in this edition by the acclaimed writer and critic Andre Aciman—draws from historical events in the Norman conquest of England to paint a profound and enduring portrait of the saint and martyr.

    Actor, director, and playwright, Moli�re (1622-73) was one of the finest and most influential French dramatists, adept at portraying human foibles and puncturing pomposity. The School for Wives was his first great success; Tartuffe, condemned and banned for five years, his most controversial play. The Misanthrope is his acknowledged masterpiece, and The Clever Women his last, and perhaps best-constructed, verse piece. In addition this collection includes a spirited attack on his enemies and a defense of his theater, in the form of two sparkling short plays, The School for Wives Criticized and The Impromptu at Versailles.

    A former army officer and other lodgers endeavour to return the stole. The plan is devised with care and all of them take such delight in the secretive scheme that they wonder why they don't do this more often. They form a syndicate for stealing and returning furs. Everything goes well until a loss is reported and the police come charging in. The maid is horrified to discover what has been going on behind her back, but agrees to employ her talents to bail the amateurs out of trouble if they agree to never touch another fur. She succeeds, the police leave, and life returns to its humdrum ways until someone remembers that it was only furs they had promised not to touch!

    During the week he is joined by his mistress—a fact (although Howard doesn't realize it) of which his wife is well aware. As the action begins the departing mistress is (apparently) run over and killed by the wife as she enters the driveway, and Howard gallantly offers to dispose of the body. Thereafter begins a sequence of events in which one unexpected turn follows another, as a seemingly gullible police inspector accepts the story cooked up by Howard and his wife to cover their tracks. But their relief is short-lived as blackmail, another murder, and questions as to the real fate of the mistress enter the picture—and all are deftly used by the inspector (who is more clever than they thought) to set the trap which untangles the twisted web of lies and brings the real murderer to justice.

    A powerful and compelling drama, the entire action takes place in front of back drops. This is the kaleidoscopic drama of a young boy of the slums from the moment of his birth in a charity hospital until his tragic death. In an effort to find something besides "hardness and hitting out, and twisted people all afraid," Tommy turns to narcotics, and thus creates his own world: one in which he is not constantly gnawed by an acute awareness of the meaninglessness of what is going on around him. He meets Alice in whom he sees his lifelong search for beauty: the rose behind the hard brick city. He knows that he has only touched this beauty for an instant, and he sees it moving farther away from him. At last, in a final escape from the squalor around him, he takes an overdose of narcotics and ends his search.

    Certainly it was not ever thus, for in the nineteenth century English translations of Goethe and Schiller were widely read. But today most of those translations have gone as dead as the Victorian versionis of greek tragedy, and so, befor the Germans could be presented in the Classic Theatre series, translations new in spirit as well in fact had to be made. This volume presents five German classics in a new English dress: Egmont, perhaps the most lively of Goethe's plays; Don Carlos and Mary Stuart, which are perenially among the most popular plays of Schiller, the latter having been a recent success even in London and New York, the former familiar, at least, in its operatic form; and, finally, two of the greats plays of Heinrich von Kleist, a fixture who holds more interest for many readers today than Schiller or even Goethe. Penthesillea and The Prince of Homburg are among the most amazing plays ever written. This volume can mean the rediscovery of Goethe and Schiller-and the discovery of Kleist-for stage and study alike.