The three plays included here represent Calderon's most celebrated work, in which he explores the extent of man's freedom in a hierarchical society often bound by anachronistic codes of conduct. The plays are The Surgeon of Honour, described by Michael Billington as 'one of the most disquieting plays in all world drama ... a dark masterpiece', Life is a Dream, Calderón's most famous play, and Three Judgements in One, less well-known but one of his finest works.

"Calderon excels all modern dramatists with the exception of Shakespeare, whom he resembles in the depth of thought and subtlety of his writings" (Shelley)