As Jez Butterworth’s epochal drama returns, our critic chooses the 25 best plays since Jerusalem – from exploited boxers to warring kings No exit: the best plays about confinement, from Sophocles to Sartre Dramatists have long focused on the agonies and irritations of self-imposed or enforced isolation Michael Billington

Michael Billington has written about theatre for the Guardian since 1971. Michael Billington will be going head to head with John Lahr at a Guardian Live event on 30 October to determine the five greatest plays to grace the stage. Billington is "Britain's longest-serving theatre critic" and the author of biographical and critical studies relating to British theatre and the arts. He was drama critic for The Guardian from 1971 until his retirement in 2019. Having surveyed post-war British drama in State of the Nation, Michael Billington now looks at the global picture.In this provocative and challenging new book, he offers his highly personal selection of the 101 greatest plays ranging from the Greeks to the present-day. His books include The 101 Greatest Plays and State of the Nation: British Theatre Since 1945 Michael Billington's 101 Greatest Plays The 101 plays featured in Michael Billingston's book "The 101 Greatest Plays: From Antiquity to the Present". Michael Keith Billington OBE (born 16 November 1939) is a British author and arts critic.

Britain's longest-serving theatre critic Michael Billington's provocative and highly personal selection of the 101 greatest plays ranging from the Greeks to the present-day. The 101st play is … Topics Stage It is the hit that transformed British theatre. 101 extended essays - and occasional dialogues - put the plays in context, justify their inclusion, explain their significance and trace their performance history. Michael Billington’s The 101 Greatest Plays hasbeen described as ‘the essential companion to the greatest plays ever written’.