Bernard-Marie Koltes is a classic of our time, who, since 1990 is the French author most performed abroad (Le Monde) In Black Battles with Dogs the battles take place not only between individuals but also between societies, cultures, ideologies. Return to the Desert enacts a conflict that is to do with ownership: Adrien and Mathilde (brother and sister) fight about who can lay claim to the family property, the last play Roberto Zucco pits the outlaw Roberto Zucco against the whole of law-abiding society (David Bradby, Royal Holloway, London University)Koltes's plays present a vision of the harsh realities of late twentieth-century life, influenced by Genet and Fugard, combined with a formal approach to dramatic dialogue in the French classical tradition.