This first volume in a series of drama anthologies invites readers to experience five of the best new plays being produced in 1993-1995 in Ireland's most famous theatre, The Abbey Theatre. This collection includes plays produced at the Abbey within the previous three years. Michael Harding's ""Hubert Murray's Widow"", his fourth play for theatre, is a surreal nightmare revolving around a killing and a funeral. With a macabre sense of humour, he explores the sense of confusion and harsh reality of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland's border counties today. Neil Donnelly has had five plays produced by the National Theatre Society since 1980. The comedy, ""The Duty Master"" deals with an Irish-born school teacher who has rejected his roots to the extent that he has become ""more English that the English"". Marital strife combined with a visit from his brother to the exclusive public school north of London where he works results in his being forced to reconsider his personal and national identity. O'Kelly presents the plight of an illegal African immigrant. Niall William's ""A Little Like Paradise"" deals with hope and humour - the regeneration of a small Western Irish town unknown to the European community and ignored by Dublin. The final play in the collection, Tom MacIntyre's ""Sheep's Milk on the Boil"" is set on a remote island off the Irish coast.