Absurd
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Winner - Wales Final Festival of One Act Plays : 2013 (Solva Players)
Finalist - 34th British All Winners Festival (NDFA) : 2007 (Rushen Players)
Winner - Warwickshire Play Festival : 2007 (Abbey Players)
Winner - BEST COMEDY, Sunshine Coast Theatre Festival : 2006 (Jally Productions)
Winner - BEST ORIGINAL PLAY, All England Theatre Festival (NE Heats) : 2005
(1f, 4m/f) apx 40 mins
A woman puts a box down next to a stranger in a park, giving strict instructions before she rushes off, not to move, knock, tilt or open it. Passers-by offer suggestions as to what's inside, and what should be done with it - is it a bomb, a packet of deadly anthrax or perhaps a severed head? At last, exasperated by these highly opinionated people, the stranger shakes and rattles the box, only to be berated by the returning woman, who reveals all, much to their embarrassment. |
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Winner - BEST COMEDY, Sunshine Coast Theatre Festival : 2007 (Jally Productions)
Finalist - British All Winners NDFA, Woking : 2006 (Phoenix Theatre Company)
Finalist - British One Act Drama Festival, Perth : 2006 (Phoenix Theatre Company)
Winner - Welsh National Drama Festival : 2006 (Phoenix Theatre Company)
Winner - AMFEST Festival, Wits Theatre, Johannesburg : 2002
(4m, 1f, 1m/f) apx 35 mins
Kenaf has just learnt that he's about to die and his life changes dramatically as he finally stands up to his domineering wife, the bullying brute and the condescending Doctor. British and Australian versions available. |
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Winner - BEST PRODUCTION, Dramafest 2015 (Irish Theatre Players, Subiaco, WA)
(3m, 1f) 45 mins
Tony comes home from work to tell his wife that he’s been fired for being caught ‘in flagrante delicto’ with his secretary, and Avril thinks she just killed the postman; but then again it could be a case of mistaken identity. What unfolds is the story of a cheating husband, a want-to-be-away wife, love affairs, dreams of travel, dead bodies in a fridge, and more. Here we have forty years of marriage neatly compressed into 45 minutes. |
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Black Comedy
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Winner - BEST NEW WRITING, Buxton Festival Fringe : 2003
(1f) apx 35 mins
Ruth is in her forties. She travels with baby Eve, a slowly dwindling mountain of baggage and a distinct lack of self-esteem on a somewhat fraught train journey to see her grown-up son. We hear the story of Eve through Ruth’s inner thoughts and outer utterances in this bitter-sweet comedy of lost love and lost luggage. |
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Like Us by Stephen Bean
Winner - BEST ORIGINAL PLAY : All England Theatre Festival (NE Heats) : 2006
(2m, 5f) apx 40 mins
Whilst waiting in a doctors' surgery in a rough part of town, Pippa, a well-spoken woman complains to the loud-mouthed Tracey and Monica who had been vigorously discussing their affairs for all to hear. Now rather antagonised, the two women try and discover why this posh person needs to be here. After quite some prevarication, it transpires that Pippa has been the subject of serious mental and physical abuse by her lawyer husband, a fact that immediately aligns her with Tracey who has suffered similarly. |
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Nominated - Manchester Evening News Award (Best Play) : 2006
(2f) 50 min or 60 min versions available
Dark secrets hidden in the grey mists of time are reluctantly revealed in this excellent black comedy, set in a small village in 1880's Russia. On the bizarre discovery of an empty coffin in Anya's lodgings, she and friend Sonia are goaded into recollecting some things they'd rather forget from their earlier years. |
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Comedy
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Highly Commended - Drama Assoc'n of Wales, Annual Playwriting Competition : 2000
(4m, 3f) 45 mins
England in 1642 sees two actors fleeing from persecution as Royalists by Cromwell's men. As they try to meet their friend who will help them escape, they run into two 'ladies of the night' who recognise them as actors. Will they hold their tongues? Can they be bought? What revelation is one of the actors forced to make to the other? |
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Winner - Drama Association of Wales Annual Playwriting Competition : 1997
(4f, 3m/f) 45 mins
The cleaning ladies in the municipal art gallery enjoy their work, but rumours of government cut backs threaten to upset their cosy regime. In the face of adversity they come up with a solution that not only secures their futures and helps to save the gallery, but also ensures that their lives will never be quite the same again. |
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Winner -NDFA, Best New One Act Play Award : 2014
(3m, 1f) 50 mins
Are occupational skills and religious beliefs any use when an emergency occurs? A teacher, an unpublished writer, a telecoms salesman and a dental clerk journey from Uxbridge to help a relative in Malaysia move his luxury yacht. It’s a comedy but not a farce: it asks relevant questions of our four protagonists who, for once in their lives, have truly strayed outside their comfort zones. |
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Winner -Anstruther-Gray Drama Competition (SWRI Finals) : 2010 (Shiskine DG)
(9f) 45 mins
The village drama group has lost all their men. The future looks bleak until a bright, young director agrees to help them out. The suggested solution at first shocks the straight-laced villagers, but then becomes the vehicle which gets the cash flowing back into the groups desperate bank account. |
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Nominated - AMFEST Festival, Wits Theatre, Johannesburg : 2000
(2m, 1f) 45 mins
The action for this unlikely comedy occurs in the sultry, smoky setting of a private and intensely personal investigation into the wherabouts of a missing person. The client is a remarkably beautiful woman, however, instead of the suave, gravel-voiced detective we may have come to expect, we encounter Orton T. Norton - a frenetic, obsessive, and somewhat eccentric private eye. |
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Comedic Drama
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Winner - Partington One Act Festival, Glossop : 2014
(4f) 55 mins
When four old school friends meet up again after thirty years at a Bay City Rollers tribute concert it soon becomes apparent that you can take a girl from her teens but you can't take the teenager from the girl. Old tunes and old flames die hard and live again in this tale of memories and music. Laugh, cry and shang-a-lang along with Liz, Karen, Debbie and Bev; and get swept away by this entertaining, touching and revealing drama. |
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Drama
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Conkers by Alice M Underwood
Winner - Geoffrey Whitworth Award for New Writing : 2012
(3f) apx 50 minutes
A mother and daughter, estranged for seven years following the mother’s sudden desertion from the family home, meet unexpectedly in a health spa. Amidst an atmosphere charged with resentment and angry recrimination is reconciliation out of the question? |
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Finalist - AETF Finals, Harrogate : 2015 (The Athelstan Players)
(4m, 3f) 3x1 Act each apx 50 mins or 1x3 Act apx 150 mins
Three linked plays that explore the reasons why three couples have booked into the honeymoon suite at a country hotel. Two of the three are just married - for one it's barely six weeks since they met, the other couple though have known each other for twenty years. Why so soon? Why so long? The third couple are not married, at least, not to each other. This and a secret discovered, casts a shadow over their weekend. Francis, the genial, Irish hotel porter links all three plays with his homespun philosophy and his 'see nothing', 'get you anything' attitiude to his valued guests. |
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Winner - BEST PRODUCTION, Virginia Theatre Assoc'ns Festival : 2013 (Troubadours)
(4m, 2f) apx 50-55 mins
“Jonathan, I need you to trust me, I need you to understand that your life at its absolute most difficult is nothing more than a faint flash of light in the universe”. With these words Michael tries to put into perspective the anguished life that Jonathan and through him, his wife, Sarah, have been living since the death of their toddler son. He blames himself for the boy's death, but a force far stronger than one man's possible lapse of judgement is gradually revealed by Michael, until the beginning of a release for Jonathan takes shape. The play is a fascinating contemporary work that aligns our material life with all its torments and tragedy, to the promise of at least some guiding force, working with humanity. |
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Loss by Bill Snell
Winner - BEST ORIGINAL PLAY, GMDF One Act Festival : 2017 (Car Boot Theatre Company)
(3m, 3f) 40 mins approx
A poignant war time drama, ‘Loss’ explores the strains on the marriage of Billy and Mary when their eldest son is killed. This loss is exacerbated by the fears of losing their only surviving son who is now involved in the conflict. Billy and Mary struggle with grief and fear and their relationship suffers dramatically. We follow their attempts to deal with their loss and their constant dread that another ‘telegram’ may arrive. |
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Finalist - ADCI / DLI All Ireland One Act Festival, Dundrum : 2016 (Breffni Players)
Finalist - NDFA All Winners Drama Festival, Woking : 2009 (Wilstead Players)
Winner - BEST ONE ACT PLAY (Female Cast) : Drama Association of Wales : 2000
(4f) apx 45 mins
Three women seek shelter in an inner city hostel for the homeless. On this cold winter night, each has a different reason for being there. Two of them are having to come to terms with recent events which have shattered their lives. The other cannot forget her failing because once a year for fifty years she has been vividly reminded. |
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Winner - Cameron Mackintosh Award for New Writing : 2007
Nominated - Best Comedy & Production (Young Company), Buxton Fringe : 2006
(3m, 2f) apx 60 mins
A moving tale of friendship, a knock-about farce of quick-witted punning and a surreal blend of theatre and reality - all mixed into one truly unique theatrical battle between Stoppardian wit and Beckettian Calamity. The story follows Fred and Eddie, two unwitting halves of a comic double-act, whose day at the office is interrupted by mysterious disembodied voices from behind the walls and the discovery of a familiar carved sharpener. Their day of crossword solutions soon becomes a race against time to save their long-lost friend Jen, facing cross words, theatrical tricks and a briefcase full of dried fruit. |
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Reverie by Tom Crawshaw
Nominated - BEST NEW WRITING, Buxton Fringe : 2010
(2m, 3f) apx 60 mins
James embarks on a quixotic adventure to harness the power of his dreams and live forever. But once you’ve opened the door to infinite possibilities can you ever truly live in the real world? A funny, poetic and bittersweet tale of love, perfection and flying too close to the sun. |
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Winner - Best Original Play AETF Bfame, Birmingham : 2016
(2m, 4f, 1m/f) Apx 30-35 mins
Five siblings from a dysfunctional family meet in a hospital waiting room to visit their mother during her final hours. As the evening progresses, old family disputes come to the surface, secrets are revealed and after a chance encounter, they finally realise that blood really is thicker than water. |
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Winner - Drama Association of Wales Playwriting Competition : 2004
(2m, 1f) approx 60 mins
A young and impressionable Priest, Henry Cobb, has just finished a Funeral on a bitterly cold February afternoon when he is confronted by Simone.At first, he has no idea why she stands before him in the Vestry and tries to placate her. But then he learns she was the partner to Duke, a violent criminal whom he visited in prison leading up to his suicide. Simone wants to know if anything he said to Duke led to him taking his own life – and the two are set for a harsh and brutally tender revelation.
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Thriller / Mystery
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Winner - BEST ORIGINAL PLAY : All England Theatre Festival (NE Heats) : 2003
(1m, 3f) apx 45 mins
Ten thousand pounds in grant money has been stolen from the Village Hall committee and although Fred Jackson is a retired policeman, his instincts are still razor-sharp. It's unlikely to be Allison, the recently arrived newcomer to the village, but has Joan, the treasurer, dipped her fingers in the till, or does Audrey, the 'local girl made good' and now Chair of the Committee know more than she's letting on? |
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Winner - BEST ORIGINAL PLAY : All England Theatre Festival (NE Heats) : 2004
(1m, 4f) apx 45 mins
Susan suffers a fatal accident caused by her husband, Jack. She meets Alice and Harriet in the graveyard who, also being dead, have to persuade Susan to reconcile herself to the fact that she has been been murdered. Can they do this, or will Susan be forced to spend the rest of eternity in the Sea Of Lost Souls? Fates Thread is a ghost story. It's a murder mystery, and a light comedy. It's a race against time to save a soul. |
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Comedy
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Winner - BEST ORIGINAL PLAY, All England Theatre Festival (NE Heats) : 2007
(4m, 2f)
Based on the medieval French play featuring Pierre Patelin, this play is a comedy involving trickery, lust, avarice and getting one’s just deserts, in which respect it retains the original theme of morality. In the play we meet Peter Pantelyne, a trickster who live on his wits, his spirited wife Gloria, a dim motor mechanic called Cooksey and a despicable pawnbroker who has about every vice known to man. Caught up in the middle of this motley bunch is the Judge, initially a victim of the pawnbroker, but who turns the tables in spectacular fashion. The play contains a fight scene and some (optional) nudity. |
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Winner - AUDIENCE AWARD, Wakefield Drama Festival : 2009 (JABA Players)
(4m, 10f)
In a small Maternity Ward, Sister Mitchell and Nurse Walker have to contend with four pregnant women and their other half's (or mother in one case) each with different reasons for being pregnant and different views on births, deaths and marriages. It may sound like an unlikely setting for a comedy play, but Janet Shaw has a talent for turning the most incongruous situation and poking fun at it, or the people in it. Great fun! |
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Comedic Drama
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Best Play Award & Audience Award - Woodbridge Drama Festival : 2015
Finalist - NDFA All Winners, Woking : 2015
Best New Writing - Greater Manchester Fringe : 2015
(3m, 1f)
It’s 1994 and the 50th anniversary of D Day looms. Tommy, Alf and Edwin are incarcerated in Coldrick Nursing Home and, despite of his ever-worsening heart condition, D-Day veteran Tommy is determined to break out and re-join his old comrades on the Normandy beaches. But how will they all get out… and what will happen along the way? This gentle comedy drama is about love, remembrance, war and peace. |
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Winner: The Pomegranate Theatre New Play Festival, Best New Play : 2004
(2m, 2f) Set in a northern English town, the play tells the story of Luigi Martello an Italian born cafe owner who refuses to sell his premises which are central to a global corporation’s expansion scheme. In spite of support from a local newspaper reporter the demise of Luigi’s business seems inevitable when the self-seeking Chairman of The Council throws his weight behind the corporation’s plans. The discovery of a Roman Villa beneath the foundations of Luigi’s cafe, however, brings an unexpected turn of events and raises serious questions about heritage, empire and ownership. |
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Finalist - Eugene O'Neill Theatre, National Playwright's Competition : 2014
(2m, 2f)
Marsha lives with her sister Bess, with Marsha providing the income and Bess the house. When Bess invites her ex, Ray, to come and join them temporarily, a tension rises over who may or may not be after Ray. The narrative explores the tensions we create between our conscious and subconscious drives, and how, in either case, we manipulate those around us. |
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Drama
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Winner: The Watermill Theatre, Raising New Voices, Best New Play : 2010
(1m, 1f) The compelling story of two young people who form an unlikely but intense attachment in the face of impending tragedy. Jack, a brilliant but autistic young mathematician, and Isla Rose, a struggling actress who can barely write her name, are brought together in desperate circumstances for last ditch clinical trials of an untested drug after conventional medicine has failed to cure life-threatening illness. |
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