Riders to the Sea is a drama written by Irish Literary Renaissance playwright John Millington Synge. It was first performed on February 25, 1904 at the Molesworth Hall, Dublin by the Irish National Theater Society. A one-act tragedy, the play is set in the Aran Island, Inishmaan, and like all of Synge's plays it is noted for capturing the poetic dialogue of rural Ireland. The plot is based not on the traditional conflict of human wills but on the hopeless struggle of a people against the impersonal but relentless cruelty of the sea. This edition has been formatted for your reader, with an active table of contents. This version is also annotated, with additional information about the play and the author, such as an overview, characters, synopsis, adaptations, biographical and bibliographical information.