Whelan Plays: 1: the Herbal Bed, the School of Night, the Accrington Pals (Contemporary Dramatists)

The first collection of plays by one of Britain's most acclaimed contemporary playwrights

THE ACCRINGTON PALS The young men of a Lancashire mill town leave their homes and lovers for the trenches of the Somme. A moving and often comic evocation of the suffering of the women they left behind.

THE HERBAL BED Stratford-upon-Avon in 1613, and Susannah, eldest daughter of William Shakespeare must defend her good name when she is slandered by her husband's servant. Whelan's entertaining exploration of morality and desire, set in the post-Elizabethan era.

THE SCHOOL OF NIGHT Charged with treason and heresy Christopher Marlowe is on the run from the law. As he sits in the Rose Theatre, hiding, and composing his greatest lyric, Marlowe reflects upon the intrigues that have brought him to the brink of ruin, and contemplates his escape from England before the inevitable and mysterious bar-room brawl that will end his life on 30 May 1593.

"I can't call to mind any male playwright since Chekhov in the Three Sisters who has presented the loves, longings and sufferings of women with such humour and poignancy" - New Statesman

"Whelan is a writer who gets more interesting with every play" - Guardian