The View from Row G

Three plays from one of Britain’s leading and most beloved literary figures: House of Cowards, The Dogs of Pavlov and Pythagoras (Smith). All previously performed in London, these prize-winning plays originate in Abse’s preoccupation with personal and public themes. ‘House of Cowards’, which won the Foyle Award for the best play produced outside the West End, concerns the willingness of people to surrender their individuality to a charismatic leader. ‘The Dogs of Pavlov’, which the Financial Times described as ‘a work of exceptional merit’ and ‘a superb creation’, explores the conditioning of people to perform unthinking evil; and ‘Pythagoras (Smith)’, which was awarded a Welsh Arts Council Literature Prize, focuses on the relationship between patient and doctor and of medicine and magic.