In his introduction to this collection, Stephen Gray states that 'there can be no artistic grounds on which to uphold a belief that "short" implies "lesser"'; he goes on to make the point that 'Fugard seems naturally to be most at ease when working in compact dense forms'. This collection brings together all the available shorter plays by Athol Fugard not accessible to readers and performers, and demonstrates through these plays the crucial stages of Fugard's development as a great man of the theatre.