The article concentrates on tensions between centres and peripheries in modern British
and Irish drama. The research material encompases plays by GB Shaw, WB Yeats, JM Synge,
Peter Shaffer and works by immigrant contemporary playwrights (e.g. H. Khalil, H. Abdulrazzak,
and T. Štivičic), whose work introduces new perspectives to British stage. Among the topics that
are scrutinised, the following seem important: London-based model of theatre as opposed to the
models emerging from other cultural centres; British and Irish theatre traditions and their interrelations with artistic innovations arriving from the continent; literary and theatre conventions; relations
between playwrights, directors, actors, and other theatre makers. The overall argument is presented
from the perspective based on Tartu-Moscow School of Semiotics.