AFTER THE CHILD

2 M 3 F (Ms 30s 50s, Fs 20s 50s Any)

AWARD WINNER

A sitting room

This play offers an intriguing glimpse into a medium's life as he desperately seeks help for a child's restless spirit.  Described as “Thought-provoking and persuasive,” by an adjudicator for the George Taylor Award, and “Intelligent and sensitive - the dialogue is sharp and rings true, the action sweetly paced,” by a reader for the Geoffrey Whitworth Trophy.

[With minor alterations to the text, the medium can be played by a woman.]

THE ANDERSON

2 M 2 F (Ms 20s 30s Fs 50s 20s)

AWARD WINNER

An Anderson shelter

Set in the East End of London in 1940, we find indomitable cockney spirit battling against the inevitable when a family's shelter from the ravages of the blitz becomes a death-trap.  A challenging piece for two men and two women which has won production, staging and adjudicator's awards.  “This writer handles dialogue, development, and characterisation with skill and insight...  a first-rate piece of theatre.” (Adjudicator, George Taylor Award).

ARANDOE'S ROOM

9 Characters (Any ages)

AWARD WINNER

A forest glade

Great Queen Emien has died and left an immature rabble of Elves, Fairies, Pixies and Gnomes to squabble over the leadership of their forest.  A question is set to test their worth.  After plenty of bickering, wide guesses and cheating, the answer is given to be greeted with heartfelt groans.

A SUMMER VOCATION

9 Characters (Any ages)

AWARD WINNER

Father Time's office in the clouds

Summer has been abysmal and therefore sacked.  Father Time has called his staff together to interview applicants for the position.  They soon become desperate when confronted with propositions for ice ages and demands for company clouds!  Can the last applicant save summer?

CONSEQUENCES

2 M 3 F (Ms 50s 40s Fs 50s 2 x 20s)

A study/sitting room

Carol has committed a terrible crime: an accident has made her a hit-and-run driver with a victim seriously ill in hospital.  Can her antagonistic family be united to help her face the lawful consequences of her crime and a cruel blackmail attempt?

THE CRIMSON HEART

4 M 5 F 1 Any (M 20-50s Fs 20-50s)

Various locations: London Street, drawing room,
vault beneath the river Thames

A dark, Victorian melodrama.  The heir to the Ballard fortune was stolen away as a child, now the evil Simeon Blackwood is determined to force Lady Constance into accepting him

THE HURTING

1 M 2 F (M 30/40 Fs 30s 50s)

AWARD WINNER

An isolation colony

The future.  Medical rejects are exported to outer space, left to survive abandoned and without hope.  Travis and Cassau have a love/hate relationship that has sustained them through the difficult years.  But Travis is now dying and can no longer accept their superficial game-playing as the only contact.  If they can survive the truth, they can survive anything.  And sometimes miracles do happen.  “A clever and imaginative piece of theatre – highly original in concept and development.”  (George Taylor Memorial Award adjudicator.)

KEY TO THE DARK

3 M 2 F (Ms 20s to 40s Fs 20s 30s)
Specify Mixed Cast when ordering.

AWARD WINNER

Somewhere safe.  Here.  Now.

Paige draws together her patients for a group therapy session, and gradually strange connections are revealed between them: the loneliness of their backgrounds, abductions, the bestowal of physical gifts.  The inspiration for this piece is the mystery surrounding accounts of abduction by aliens, but this is never mentioned and the audience is left to answer the many questions the play raises, not least of all being whether Paige is actually therapist or patient.  "An absorbing, powerful, sometimes riveting play." Colin Dolley GODA.

LINE OF DESCENT

1 M 4 F (M 50s Fs 60s 3 x 20/30s)

AWARD WINNER

A barn

Set in 1944 Germany, two families meet in a barn: the Kesslers are fleeing the Russians, and the Brandts the Nazis.  Anna is Jewish, Eva is a Nazi.  The blind bigotry and hatred of Nazism results in tragedy, but the natural tolerance of the other characters and Gran's story-telling show Eva how bankrupt Fascism is.  Tony Rushforth of GODA thought it, “An interesting study of war from the German viewpoint.  It has tension, suspense, conflict... lots of dramatic power.”

RECKONING

2 M 2 F (Ms 40s 50s Fs 30s 50s)

AWARD WINNER

A prison cell, and people’s memories of events.

Tom, a priest and criminal psychologist visits Rachel in her prison cell.  He is convinced of her innocence but she protests her guilt.  Memories of the events leading to her father’s death are revisited, and the shattering truth is revealed only after Rachel is executed.  “A gripping and totally unpredictable thriller,” Irene Rostron, GODA.  Period: twenty years from now.

Winner of the Geoffrey Whitworth Award, and the George Taylor Award 2000.

STANDING STILL

2 M 1 F (Ms 30s 50s F 30s)

AWARD WINNER

A conservatory

Grace and Charlie's lives are turned upside down when the new gardener proves to be Charlie's long lost father who has been searching for his son for thirty years.  An ancient 'Dear John' letter reveals the unexpected truth about past events, and a positive pregnancy result provides further upheaval.  Can pig-headed Charlie ever accept his father, and what are the chances of becoming one big happy family?

THIS COMMON BOND

1 M 1 F (30s)

AWARD WINNER

The conservatory of a private nursing home

Two attempted suicides come together at a convalescent home.  Cass hates a man she cannot live with, Richard mourns a woman he cannot live without.  As their friendship develops can they supply the lifeline they both desperately need?  An adjudicator for the George Taylor Award said that, “The writer handles her theme with credibility and a fine sense of theatre.  A play which encapsulates both the bleak and the heart-warming to a highly effective degree.”

THE VIEW FROM HERE

2 M 2 F (Ms 30s Fs 50s)

AWARD WINNER

A sitting room

A crippled actress and her young husband reach the day in their lives when the frustrations and tensions come to a head.  Bitter truths and revelations confront both, but their love for each other and the theatre holds them together.