The Red Letter Plays (US edition)

Two haunting riffs on Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel The Scarlet Letter, by a leading American playwright.

Hester La Negrita of In the Blood is an unapologetic mother of five illegitimate children, whose daily struggle among many is to master writing the alphabet, to help herself "one day get a leg up". She remains unable to get further than the letter A, scrawled in chalk beneath a railway bridge. The play was shortlisted for a Pulitzer Prize in 2000.

Hester Smith of Fucking A works the only job available – back-street abortionist – in order to save for a reunion picnic with her imprisoned son. Her branded A bleeds afresh every time a patient comes to see her.