A testament to the millienium, Howard Barker's Ecstatic Bible sweeps through a landscape shaped by the European political and social experience of the twentieth century. A series of interlocking narratives take us through a strange landscape - streets, a chateau, a hospital ward of war wounded - inhabited by amoral and passionate characters. Provocative imagery and poetic language are suffused with a rich, dark humour. This intriguing collection of parables without morality carries within it the profound echoes of past pain and comic contradiction. A vast and strange work, the dilemmas facing the characters of The Ecstatic Bible are nonetheless all too familiar...Howard Barker's first plays were produced at the Royal Court Theatre and the Open Space in the 1970s. Themes such as madness, corruption and censorship are common. His plays are often set in the world of the underdog, and are characterised by sharp social critique and a strong attack on capitalism.