Books by James Saunders

Anne and Mervyn, a seemingly well-settled middle-aged couple, are awaiting the arrival of Helen and David, a younger couple who were formerly their neighbors and close friends. Their reunion begins on a light and humorous note, but as the after-dinner talk grows more serious we become aware that the two couples had once engaged in an adulterous arrangement-and both have found it difficult to deal with the self-recriminations which this has created. Mervyn has begun to drink more than he should; Anne is coldly cynical; and Helen and David have turned to group therapy. But their problems still remain and, as the conversation becomes more revealing-and provocative-the underlying values of human existence are drawn into question.|2 women, 2 men

Edmund has escaped from his family into a lonely life. He returns home for his mother's funeral and finds himself involved in the same awful problems he left behind, together with some new ones. He also rediscovers the eternal family servant, the ever-changing "Italian girl".4 women, 3 men

It is 1989; Czechoslovakia is struggling with its new-found freedom. In London, Pavlicek and Tomas, two Czechoslovakian émigrés, become involved in the tangled relationship between Diana and Adrian Harrington, who purvey British culture across the globe via the World Service. Betrayals - of friends, loves, countries and ideals - abound in this emotionally exacting and politically stringent comedy.|1 woman, 3 men

A series of sketches and vignettes. They are brief, witty and pointed. They are love encounters - the games people play. Here is the idiot way quarrels start up, or the way people meet and fence with one another. After Liverpool is not a play, but a suite of pieces. Published with Games.|Flexible casting

In the depressing atmosphere of the busmen's canteen, minor irritations become insurmountable problems. The inspector is twittering with nerves; buses are late, staff are missing and a number 642 has disappeared completely. The missing bus eventually reappears, Bert having catastrophically driven under a too low a bridge; now his bus is the first open-top double decker in the fleet.Large flexible cast