Alexander Ostrovsky (1823-86), the acknowledged father of Russian drama, is represented in this second collection by four of his finest plays. In the best known, The Forest, a pair of young lovers in thrall to their tyrannical elders are prevented from marrying, until two strolling actors come to their rescue. In Artistes and Admirers, a comedy of theatre life, a dedicated young actress renounces true love in order to pursue her sacred calling. In Wolves and Sheep, Ostrovsky satirises the double-dealing and hypocrisy of the Russian landowning classes, while the melodrama Sin and Sorrow recounts the tragic consequences of a bored provincial wife's affair.