David Edgar (b. February 26, 1948) is a British playwright particularly active since the late 1970s. He gained widespread prominence with his two-part adaptation of Charles' Dickens "Nicholas Nickleby", which played extensively in London and the US.
His best-known original play is Pentecost, which takes place in Eastern Europe during the early 1990s and concerns the discovery of a mural in a small church. This forms the middle in three plays about Eastern Europe, all with a subtheme of negotiation - the first, "The Shape of the Table", written shortly after the collapse of Communist rule, while the third, "The Prisoner's Dilemma", premiered shortly before September 11th. In 2003 his two-play epic Continental Divide, which is about American politics, was commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon and the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley, California and performed at both theatres with mixed reviews. His play, "Playing with Fire", premiered at the National Theatre in London. He also wrote Albert Speer, a play based on biographies and factual evidence about Speer during his time as Adolf Hitler's Architect, Munitions Minister, and friend during Nazi rule of Germany, and his subsequent imprisonment, release, and battle with himself over the denial of The Holocaust. The play premiered at the National Theatre in London in 2000.