Books in the Acting Edition S. series

In this grim world of poverty there is little room for finer feelings. The tippers mistrust one another and each sex blames the other for the mess they are all in. The only escape from unendurable reality is football. Maybe with the birth of Annette''s baby, trust and affection will be born amongst them...|2 women, 3 men

Long Autumn, appropriately named, is a retirement home for theatricals in the autumn of their lives, where euphemism reigns supreme, together with a firm belief that elderly equals senile. Into their midst is flung Maisie May, a former music-hall star, too much of a burden for her strait-laced son and daughter-in-law, who do not find Maisie amusing. Initially the ever-cheerful, irrepressible Maisie copes with the rigours of Long Autumn in her own inimitable style, but she becomes increasingly depressed. Then one day a breezy impresario, Chris, arrives with big plans for Maisie...|4 women, 3 men

A fast-paced comedy about an amateur dramatic society gathering for the technical rehearsal of a play by their producer Gordon. Minus the set, director and stage crew, new-recruit Val frantically tries to improvise. Matters become increasingly frenetic with the arrival of Gordon''s dypsomaniac wife Ruth, and an assortment of people totally unconnected with the drama group!|4 women, 3 men

The Weerd sisters try to make ends meet through fortune-telling. When Lady M calls, Flora discovers she indeed has the gift of foresight, although she does not like what she sees. The sisters'' fortunes are turned. Lady M returns to learn more but this time the truth is held back.|5 women

Five women gather round a skip on a suburban street. Two of them, antiques dealers scavenging for saleable items, become embroiled in a dispute over a reproduction Victorian chamber-pot and a genuine Regency chair, their opponents being two genteel but quietly determined bag-ladies. Watched over by a tramp, the ladies fight to the (metaphorical) death in this warm and witty comedy.|5 women

In the summer of 1936, Jean, Barbara and Olive hope for some excitement as they holiday in South Devon. It is Barbara who first spots the mysterious woman who wants to remain incognito, and Jean who overhears ''Mrs Chisholm'' plotting a murder. Easy to stage and costume, this delightful play has a twist or two up its sleeve and a neat ending.|7 women

This entertaining and funny musical ghost story introduces Sammy, a clever schoolboy, and his unusual parents, brainy Egbert and witty Gloria. They have just moved into a new house overseen by a creepy housekeeper and a kindly, bumbling gardener. When weird things start happening, curious Sammy insists that that the gardener admit him to the wildly overgrown garden where they find proof that a witch has enslaved enchanted flower children. Sammy and his friend Alice save the day: the children are released from their spell and even the witchy housekeeper is won over.|8 women, 3 men

 The See-Saw Tree, an ancient oak, stands on ground which is ear-marked for development into a children''s playground by Mr. Jay, owner of the nearby supermarket. A public meeting is called in the village hall to discuss his proposals, which include cutting down the three-hundred-year-old oak tree. The audience votes in favour, but Mr. Bunn, an environmental activist protests and shows us the devastating effect such plans will have on the inhabitants of the tree - the main part of the play tells the story of these creatures (who can be played by their human equivalents), their panic, their resilience and their evacuation from the tree.|4 women, 4 men

A hectic children''s birthday party provides a noisy background to a series of domestic crises. Robin has left Emma and Emma has become friendly with her solicitor, Tom; both Tom and Robin arrive for the celebrations. The mishaps of the party spill over into the kitchen''situation, the behaviour of the young visitors affecting the adults. By the end of the party however, thin''s look a little brighter for Robin and Emma.|4 women, 3 men

Ted Forrest is a playwright with a problem ΓÇö writer''s block. When we first meet him ΓÇö bitter, disillusioned and consumed with envy of Miles Whittier, a younger, more successful playwright ΓÇö he has retreated to the country in an attempt to stimulate his creative impotence by writing an autobiographical novel.|2 women, 3 men

When Sylvia''s boyfriend Robin walks out on her she decides on a rather unconventional method of finding a replacement. Determined not to be let down a second time, she has carefully arranged a timetable in order to "try out" various assorted lovers and assess their suitability before making her final choice of a potential husband. But timetables have a way of going wrong...|2 women, 3 men

It is 1957 and the Noone family is moving into a new house in Dublin. Presiding over the event is the Removals Man, who steps in and out of the action to explain the characters and their stories. The second half of the play is set in 1987 and the same family, no older than before, is moving into an even better house, their new relationships reflecting the revolutions that have taken place in family life in the intervening years.|4 women, 5 men

Louise's house is turning into rubble as her architect husband takes a sledge-hammer to it as he has to their marriage - Louise escapes her unhappiness through fantasies of a former lover, who appears in guises culled from movies and fiction, and through her close, but stormy, friendship with Bibi.

Robson has created a play about East and West in which a lonely man and a resouceful woman try and mend their broken lives. Martin and his spinster sister Ivy live on a farm - the arrival of his Filipino bride causes Ivy to dig up information about her past, with shocking consequences for them all.

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

Life does not hold out much pleasure for either Elizabeth or Elinor: Elizabeth in love with a man of whom her overbearing mother does not approve, Elinor in love with the man Mrs Hartley is determined Elizabeth shall marry. Coincidentally with a social visit by the awesome Lady Charlotte, however, the prospects of both girls are made much brighter - through the machinations of the quiet Miss Jane, who is dismissed as "a person of no consequence" by Lady Charlotte when she is told her surname - Miss Austen.|8 women

A sensitive treatment of the devastating effects of unemployment, both on individuals and their families. David, Derek and Ian attempt to preserve their everyday lives, warding off depression and the feelings of rejection, anger and aggression, their efforts ranging from the touching to moments of manic humour.|3 men

This fun-filled play revolves around the antics of three waiters sacked by Mr Macaroni, the money-minded owner of the Pizza Pie Palace. They devise various schemes to get their jobs back, and are streered through their adventures with the help of the audience. After bangs, flashes, songs, dances, talking snakes and even exploding pizza pies, all ends happily with a double wedding.|Large flexible cast

The story of God''s request to Tangaroa to find six species that deserve to survive the destruction of all other life is presented in the form of a Balinese folk-tale. The action takes place in a jungle clearing, which can be as elaborate or as simple as conditions dictate. There is also plenty of scope for the cast to make their own accompanying oriental music with the aid of finger xylophones, gongs and bells.|Large flexible cast

Tony''s father has died and his mother, Debs, has taken up with a "plonker" called Gordon. Gordon gives Tony Death-Dealer, a game that takes the player to strange and exciting places; then Gordon also takes Tony and Debs to France, where they meet Josie, a no-nonsense girl who is is dying of cancer, and the final Death-Dealer game may be the hardest of all...This play, part fantasy, part rite-of-passage tale, is funny, heart-rending and very, very theatrical.|2 women, 2 men

Norman Robbins'' fun-packed pantomimes tell the traditional stories in a clear fast-moving style and can be staged simply or elaborately, as required. The choice of music is left to the director.|Large flexible cast

A one-act pantomime, a ''potted panto-parody in rhyme'', on a well-known theme - with a difference.|1 woman, 1 man, 7 women or men

The perils of ambition lie at the heart of this double-bill of supernatural tales. In The Monkey''s Paw a family is granted three wishes, all of which come true but in a macabre and unexpected way. In The Dark a successful and ambitious novelist meets his Mephistopheles and is dispatched to a sinister fate.|1 woman, 4 men

California, 1973. Rick, a musician and dancer, is shot dead. Was it Gideon, his drug-happy co-performer? Maggie, his older lover, an actress? Roberta, Rick''s transsexual bodyguard? Or one of the other oddball guests? As Rick''s friends investigate one murder follows another ... no one is safe!|4 women, 5 men

Trendy magazine Femina offers two contrasting wives - country-bumpkin Anne and sophisticate Cat - £1000 to swap places for a week to compare lifestyles. Anne goes to London to run the chic apartment of Cat''s advertising executive husband, while Cat journeys to deepest Devon to cook, clean and care for gentle, sexually-repressed, shopkeeper Derek. Violent snowstorms mean that Cat and Derek are cut off, and when the snow ploughs eventually arrive the life-swap has become a wife-swap.|3 women, 2 men

Mr Whatnot is Mint, a piano tuner, summoned to the stately home of Lord and Lady Slingsby-Craddock. Once there he falls in love with their daughter, Amanda, elopes with her, fails to save her from marriage to Cecil but wins through in the end. With plenty of mime and sound effects Mr Whatnot offers great opportunities to an imaginative director for a highly entertaining and unusual production.|4 women, 7 men

Many people dislike Larry Campbell but none feel more embittered than David Ryder. Ryder pursues his vendetta by nefariously obtaining a key to Campbell''s flat to kill him. Deceit, suspicion, blackmail and incrimination are woven into the web of crime which is completed by a second killing and a tantalizing twist at the climax.|3 women, 6 men

To Albert, retired miner, his allotment is his piece of England, his escape from the world. The Council places a repossession order on the land; Albert is determined to keep his tenancy. Several people urge him to give up and familiar facets of human behaviour are revealed. Eventually nature takes its course in this gently amusing ''slice of life''.|4 women, 4 men

This light and lively play, set on an English campsite, contrasts the life of well-to-do Monty, his wife Ruth and son Tarquin (who camp here every year), with that of Debbie and Shirleen, young girls from a depressed background, trying camping for the first time.|3 women, 2 men

A very funny completion to Nick Warburton''s trilogy of the Drama Club''s production of Hamlet (seen on stage in Don''t Blame it on the Boots and backstage in Easy Stages) which progresses to the after-show party! Meticulous stage-manager Gerry, in charge of the refreshments and music, marshals poor Patsy into artistically arranging bridge rolls, to the accompaniment of Peer Gynt!|4 women, 2 men