The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century is quite a weak period. The most important authors started to appear mostly after the Second World War.

BRITISH DRAMA

George Bernard Shaw (1856 – 1950)
He was born in Dublin, but spent most of his life in London. Under the impact of Ibsen, he chose different characters and concentrate on different subjects. As a socialist he became (in 1884) a founder member of the Fabian Society – a left-wing group that aimed the transformation of English intellectual and political life. His middle class characters are representing different qualities and the way Shaw monitors these qualities was strongly marked by his inclination to irony.
Mrs Waren’s profesion – Shaw was the first to mention subjects that were inadmissible before. Saint Joan – the problems of British patriotism.
Man&Superman – critised Nitze’s philosophy and fascist ideology.
Other plays: Plays Plesant and Unplesant, Three plays for Puritans, Major Barbara, Pygmalion, Too True to be Good, The Apple Cart, …

John Osborne (1929 – 1994)
His play Look Back in Anger (1956) was a milestone in the development of the British drama. It made it’s author famous as a first “angry young man”. He attacked upper middle class advantages. Luther – historical drama with true rebel.
Other plays: The Entertainer

Samuel Beckett (1906 – 1989)
Irish-born dramatist of the theatre of the absurd, reresents the strongest experiment of the Post-war period. He studied the works of René Descatres and became a friend of James Joyce. Beckett lived and wrote in France. He received a Nobel Prize in 1969. He had very strong inclination to Existencialist notion of human faith and gradually to the minimalistic representation. For Beckett the world get thinner and thinner. The material world is reduced. Human reactions slow down. Memory is reduced and if it is envoked it brings tragedy. In Britain, Beckett was not immitating of followed.
Waiting for Godot (1952) – Two tramps suffer cold, hunger and pain while waiting for the mysterious Godot to appear. They argue, consider leaving each other, contemplate suicide, but do nothing. This work established Beckett’s reputation as a major exponent of the theater of the absurd. Peter Shaffer (1926)
Representative of drama based on the conflict of thoughts.