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Alan Ayckbourn • Like Neil Simon • House & Garden o 2 different shows, same cast, performing at the same time in two different theatres David Hare • Started on Fringe theatre, now at National Theatre • Was a leftist in politics • Theme: how the desire to gain and maintain power & wealth undermine & destroy personal integrity, shared values, & concern for common good o Ex: Plenty (1978) • 1990s: trilogy about major British institutions (religion, legal, political) Caryl Churchill • Used collective creation • Cloud Nine (1979) o Act 1: colonial Victorian era Africa o Act 2: contemporary London, 100 years later but the characters are only 25 years older o Imaginative play o Uses cross gender casting to explore gender roles and repression • Top Girls (1982) o Gender and social issues Peter Schaffer • Amadeus (1979) • Equus (1973) o Questions how a Normal life can deaden the spirit and passion Harold Pinter • The seemingly every day is mixed with mystery and menace o Unexplained ambiguous motivation • The Birthday Party • Speech used to conceal rather than reveal • "Pinter pause" = silence filled with subtext • The Homecoming (1965) o Considered his best play • Old Times (1971) *watched clip* Tom Stoppard • Comedy of ideas • Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1967) o Spin-off of Hamlet o *watched clip* • Jumpers (1972) o Murder mystery farce which debuts existence of God and moral absolutes o Refers to jump one takes to God and acrobatics o Won Best New Play in London • Travesties (1974) o Debates function of art and role of artist o Won Best New Play in London • The Real Thing (1982) o Love and marriage o His most emotional and realistic play • Arcadia (1993) o Chaos theory