CHANGING STAGES examines the work of these dramatists and their profound influences on 20th-century theatre. The generation that came of age during the 1960s and '70s turned to the theatre as an instrument of social change. During this tumultuous and exuberant period, artists turned for inspiration to Brecht, for whom theatre was fiercely political, and Beckett, whose vision was highly personal and poetic. In Britain, a new generation of political writers including Edward Bond and David Storey emerged, while Beckett's existential message was passed on to Harold Pinter. Edward Albee and Sam Shepard in America and David Hare in England created rich landscapes of the soul. Meanwhile, David Mamet and Amiri Baraka explored the mores of contemporary society. In performance clips and through Eyre's intimate interviews, CHANGING STAGES reveals the significance of this era on both sides of the Atlantic.