As with a previous forum on theatre-maker Tim Crouch, this special issue of Contemporary Theatre Review focuses on a single writer, contemporary British playwright Martin Crimp. Titled ‘Dealing with Martin Crimp’, this issue documents and expands on a conference held at the Royal Court in 2013. As the articles in this issue address, the source of Crimp’s originality is composed of a variety of factors: distinctive writing strategies that continue to be refined, an understanding of internationalism but also of distinct cultural sensibilities, and the value of collaboration across a diverse range of genres and media.

Alongside our special issue on ‘Dealing with Martin Crimp’, these online Interventions complement and extend the discussion in the print journal.

Watch a video of Martin Crimp in conversation with composer George Benjamin about their collaboration on the 2012 opera Written on Skin.

Elisabeth Angel-Perez, who contributes a longer article to the special issue, reflects on the challenges of translating Crimp’s world where ‘acts of language are all there is to “see”‘.

Aleks Sierz, author of The Theatre of Martin Crimp, challenges the binary opposition of writer and director in Crimp’s work.

Dan Rebellato teases apart the reputation for realism at the Royal Court, where many of Crimp’s plays have premiered.