This book explores the various manifestations of affects in British theatre of the twenty-first century. The introduction gives a concise survey of existing as well as emerging theoretical and research trends and argues in favour of a capacious understanding of affects that mediates between more autonomous and more social approaches. The twelve individual chapters in the collection, all written by eminent scholars in the field, investigate the work of major twenty-first-century playwrights, including Mojisola Adebayo, Mike Bartlett, Alice Birch, Caryl Churchill, Tim Crouch and Andy Smith, Rachel De-lahay, Reginald Edmund, James Fritz, debbie tucker green, David Greig, Idris Goodwin, Zinnie Harris, Kieran Hurley, Lucy Kirkwood, Anders Lugarsten, Yolanda Mercy, Anthony Neilson, Lucy Prebble,Sh!t Theatre (Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit), Penelope Skinner, Stef Smith and Kate Tempest. The interpretations identify significant areas of tension as they relate affects to the fields of cognition, politics and hope. In this, the chapters uncover interrelations of thought, intention and empathy; they reveal the nexus between identities, institutions and ideology; and, finally, they explore how theatre can accomplish the transition from a sense of crisis to utopian visions.