Although he was long well known as a poet, the writer/physician Dannie Abse only belatedly came to be seen as a major theatrical voice. Despite generally favorable reviews, his plays were regarded as aloof from the main trends in English theater in the 1960s and 1970s; as ignoring the influences of Eugene O'Neill, Samuel Beckett, and Eugène Ionesco; and as having most affinity with radio plays, a genre in which Abse also worked. His career as a dramatist reflects his concern with complex philosophical issues, and his Jewish background has exerted an increasingly powerful influence on his work.

The youngest of four children, Abse was born on 22 September 1923 in Cardiff, the capital of Wales. His family provided a stimulating creative and artistic environment: his father, Rudolf, was part-owner and manager of a chain of movie theaters and played the violin; his mother, Kate, né...