Stuart Gilbert does the translation, and the author contributes an amusing, a little deprecatory, interpretative introduction to the four plays which were written between 1938 and 1950: Caligula, an "actor's and director's play"; The Misunderstanding, an attempt to create a modern tragedy; State of Siege, an allegory which was slashed by the critics; and The Just Assassins, more successful, which has its basis in history. Camus has his claque which creates an assumed audience.
