A bloody conflict on Europe’s eastern border escalates at an alarming rate, while every urgent effort is made behind closed doors to find peace. Two sides, divided by ethnic and religious differences, make attempts toward a peaceful resolution to their history of conflict and brutality as the world looks on. This epic drama provides a rare look at the processes of mapping out a delicate peace as it moves thrillingly between the drama of the negotiating table and the theatre of war. In do so, playwright David Edgar comments on not only the recent history of Eastern Europe, but on a wide range of conflicts and negotiations throughout the world. The play opened in 2001 at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and is the third play in Edgar’s trilogy about the changing social and political landscape following the end of the Cold War. The production features fourteen actors in more than forty roles, and spans twelve years of history.

"Enthralling…Edgar’s erudition and appetite for major subject-matter have paid off. This must be seen." Daily Telegraph

"Riveting theatre…it will engage audiences and encourage all manners of discussion." The Daily Mail

"An intellectual delight…a cross between a philosophical play of ideas and a political thriller…a play that will fascinate anybody interested in the way that war starts and ends." British Theatre Guide