(Applause Books). Albert Bermel writes comedies with a dark twist. The Times of London hailed Bermel's Workout as "one of the most expert pieces of comic writing to come out of America for some time." This volume includes nine witty, suspenseful plays six of them full length, three short. Bermel's plays and translations have been performed throughout the world, including the Royal Court Theatre in London; Spoleto Festival, Italy; and on Broadway. Thrombo , a food farce, is set in a fictional African nation; Shoots , in a Hollywood agent's office; Several other plays offer actors meaty historical roles the charismatic king Charlemagne in One Leg Over the Wrong Wall ; in Herod the Great , a towering figure and an Arab who became king of the Jews; and hot-tempered Alexandre Dumas in The Dumas Inheritance , to name but a few. The short plays Body Chop , Stumped , and Snipers are chilling entertainments, a heady mix of comedy and violence. As one New York critic put it, Snipers is "brilliant... a gem of a one-act . . . a tale of subtle horror... Bermel's text is devastating poetry."