Alfred Jarry (1873-1907) was a French symbolist writer who is best known for his play King Ubu (Ubu roi) (1896), an absurdist work featuring the character Pa Ubu, who reappears in later plays, Cuckold Ubu and Slave Ubu. He coined the term and philosophical concept of pataphysics, which uses absurd irony to portray symbolic truths (and playfully vice versa).

Kenneth McLeish was the most widely respected and prolific translator of drama in Britain and, until his early death in 1997, edited the NHB Drama Classics series.