Rossum's universal robots (R.U.R.) : a collective drama in three acts with a comedy prelude ([New ed.].)

Determined to liberate the mass-produced but highly intelligent robots forged in the machinery of Rossum's island factory, Helena Glory arrives in a blaze of righteousness.

Soon perplexed by the robots' seeming humanity but absolute lack of sentience, she deserts her strident campaigning and falls in love with Domin, the factory's General Manager.

Yet even as their life on the island appears to become more comfortable, the tide is turning against the humans - Drawing huge international attention following its original production in 1921, Rossum's Universal Robots was a strikingly prescient meditation on the themes of humanity and subjugation that were to dominate the twentieth century.

Seen as a precursor to works including Huxley's Brave New World, it is a true classic of the dystopian genre, and remains all too resonant in today's political climate.