Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play, The Mountaintop is a historical-fantastical two-hander that portrays the penultimate day in the life of Martin Luther King. This Modern Classics edition features a new introduction by Faedra Chatard Carpenter, Associate Professor at the University of Maryland.

Exactly one year ago, I stood in that crumbling pulpit in Riverside and shouted that this war would be our own violent undoing, freedom's suicide . . . Well, I'll tell you, there weren't too many Amens that Sunday. But who is a man who does not speak his mind? He is not a man, but I am a man. The night before his assassination, King retires to room 306 in the now-famous Lorraine Motel after giving an acclaimed speech to a massive church congregation. When a mysterious young maid visits him to deliver a cup of coffee, King is forced to confront his past and the future of his people. Portraying rhetoric, hope and ideals of social change, The Mountaintop also explores being human in the face of inevitable death. The play is a dramatic feat of daring originality, historical narration and triumphant compassion. This Modern Classics edition of the play features a foreword by Michael Eric Dyson and an introduction by Faedra Chatard Carpenter, Assistant Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Theatre, University of Maryland.

"Inventive and startlingly moving" - The Times

"Sometimes a play comes out of the blue and knocks everyone for six . . . A beautiful and startling piece, beginning naturalistically before shifting gear into something magical, spiritual and touching . . . A play that keeps you marveling to the end." - Telegraph

"Wondrous, hilarious and heartbreaking" - Independent

"This is a play that honours greatness, while recognising humanity." - THE TIMES

"Hall's play is as funny as it is gut-wrenchingly sad." - Time Out London

". . .in it's evocation of an unjust, fractured America, [Hall's play] has few equals." - THE STAGE