This volume of essays, based mostly on papers presented at the Jerusalem Theater Conference in 1986, examines the relationship between the play and its historical and cultural contexts. Transferring plays from one period or culture to another is an even more complex process than simply translating the wORD approaches vary from the theoretical to the practical, from the literary to the theatrical, with plays examined both in their own time and through history. The essays interact with each other, presenting a diversity of views of the central theme and establishing a dialogue among scholars of different cultures. With play texts quoted in English, the range of themes stretches from a Japanese interpretation of Chekhov, to Shakespeare in Nazi Germany, and to Racine borrowing from Sophocles.