Series:Student Editions Format:Paperback / softback 136 pages Publisher:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Imprint:Methuen Drama Edition:4 ed ISBN:9781350443662 Published:21 Aug 2025 Classifications:Plays, playscripts, Literary studies: plays & playwrights, Gender studies: women, Educational: drama studies Weight:128g Dimensions:128 x 198 x 13 (mm) Pub. Country:United Kingdom Country of Origin:GB Description Shelagh Delaney's 1958 play, written when she was only 19, brought the lives and struggles of northern, working-class people onto the stage. Initially dividing the critics - some of whom regarded it as 'immature' - it went on to become one of the most defining plays of the twentieth century. This Student Edition contains a commentary by Hannah Simpson, Lecturer at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which explores the following themes in relation to the play:- gender roles- homosexuality- race- class- youth- 1950s notions of familyIn addition, it looks at the play's production history, different ways it has been staged, and critical reception; the form of the kitchen-sink and drawing-room drama and to what extent the play conforms or disrupts these models; 1950s Britain and what it was like; and the play's ambiguous ending.