This collection of award-winning plays features works from the cutting edge of Central and Eastern European theatre. With a foreword by Gerald Lidstone, Eastern Promise brings together seven women writers who have all experienced living at a time when their countries were part of a larger political entity. For Gabriela Preissova, it was the Austro-Hungarian Empire, for the others, the soviet bloc. Some of the moral and political dilemmas their characters face range from the killing of a child, to the betrayal of a comrade, to reinventing oneself as a way of living in exile. Includes the plays: Belgrade Trilogy, The Tender Mercies, Tulip Doctor, The Chosen Ones, Jenufa (Her Stepdaughter), Nascendo, and, The Umbilical Cord. The Plays Belgrade Trilogy by Biljana Srbljanovic (Yugoslavia): Set in Sydney, Los Angeles and Prague on New Year's Eve, the everyday life of young exiles from the Balkans, winner of the Slobodan Selenic Prize. The Tender Mercies by Sladjana Vujovic (Montenegro): Edinburgh Fringe First winner. "...dazzling play upon the savagery of war." The Scotsman Tulip Doctor by Vera Filo (Hungary): Set against the background of war, life becomes a cartoon, where anything can happen and will. The Chosen Ones by Elena Popova (Belorussia): Winner of the European play competition, described as "poignant portrayal of post-communist society". Jenufa (Her Stepdaughter) by Gabriela Preissova (Czech): Portrays a secret birth and infanticide, the play aroused controversy when first written in 1890. It was the basis for Janacek's opera Jenufa and is translated into English now for the first time. Nascendo by Alina Nelega (Romania): Set in a Maternity ward on the eve of the revolution patients and staff reflect the divided nature of Romanian society. The Umbilical Cord by Krystyna Kofta (Poland): An intense family relationship, where ritual has replaced real life, interrogates "... A generation suffering moral defeat".

This collection features four new plays about war, tyranny and discrimination by Eastern and Central European writers. Includes the plays The Body of a Woman as a battlefield in the Bosnian war by Matei Visniec, Cordon by Nebojsa Romcevic, When I want to whistle, I whistle... by Andreea Valean, Soap Opera by Gyoergy Spiro The title of this volume alludes to the history of political double-dealing in a troubled region within southern Europe, surrounded by the Adriatic, Aegean and Black Seas. G.B. Shaw wrote Arms and The Man about a small Balkan plot in the 19th century. It's in this tradition, rather than in a geographical sense that we use the title Balkan Plots. The plays in this volume are dramatic works which have emerged from, or which take as their subject matter, the struggle of individuals within societies affected by recent political upheaval. The writers explore aspects of freedom and rebellion, ethnicity and discrimination, loyalty and betrayal in situations where conventional attitudes and beliefs are severely tested. In some plays, the conflict is between traditional socialist attitudes and western capitalism. In others, the values and beliefs of the younger generation collide with and challenge those of the older generation. Within each of the plays, the way in which the personal and the political interacts, is very much in evidence.