Adrian Blackledge is Professor of Sociolinguistics at the University of Stirling, UK. He has published widely on both multilingualism and sociolinguistics. He was Birmingham Poet Laureate from 2014-2016.Angela Creese is Professor of Linguistic Ethnography at the University of Stirling, UK. She has published widely on multilingualism and ethnographic methods. Together with Adrian Blackledge she is the author of Voices of a City Market: An Ethnography (Multilingual Matters, 2019), Interpretations – An Ethnographic Drama (Multilingual Matters, 2021) and Volleyball – An Ethnographic Drama (Multilingual Matters, 2021).

If Brecht had done ethnography, it might well have turned out like this. Blackledge and Creese have always put the human centre-stage, here literally so: fieldwork becomes playscript to explore contexts personal and political in ways both inspired and inspirational for anyone seeking new ways to do research. I can’t wait for their next production!

• PrefaceAcknowledgmentsSetting and CharactersAct IAct IIAct IIIAct IV