In a Japanese prison camp on Java in 1942, two British officers, John Lawrence and Jack Celliers, encounter camp commander Yonoi and his sergeant Hara. Things had been going pretty well, until charismatic, rebellious Celliers arrived. Yonoi is a devotee of the samurai ideal; neither he nor Hara can understand the stoic way in which the British prisoners accept their situation of defeat. Lawrence speaks Japanese, and ceaselessly tries to mediate between...

After the murder of Richard II, Henry assumes the throne, and is immediately confronted with rebellion by Owen Glendower, Douglas of Scotland, Northumberland and his son Hotspur. The play also treats the moral development of the king's son Hal (later Henry V) as he appears to waste his youth in London taverns in the company of the irresponsible Sir John Falstaff.

Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a completely independent Irish republic.

At the height of the Cold War, a former agent for the British Secret Intelligence Service is called back to root out a Russian spy who has infiltrated the organization's highest levels.

In 1968, the female workers at the Ford Dagenham car plant walked out in protest against sexual discrimination. Their actions played a major role in the battle for equal pay, both nationally and internationally.