Book excerpt: The seven plays to date of Yasmina Reza, one of France's most prominent female playwrights, are popular both in France and abroad. Despite her commercial success, her plays have often been ignored in academic circles, and few scholars have attempted to explore the mechanics of her playwriting. This text seeks to unpack the essentials of Reza's style and to explore each play as a component of Reza's theatrical oeuvre. The result is a fuller understanding of her theatrical poetics and her development as an artist.