Books in the Acting Edition S. series

Ex-secretary and ex-mistress of a wealthy businessman who committed suicide, the unpleasant Laura complains to her neighbour that she would have inherited much more than her cottage if a certain will had not disappeared. The arrival of a strange woman with threats of blackmail results in Laura being deprived of her cottage - and more as she receives her full deserts.4 women

Dewhurst has adapted the Flora Thompson trilogy into two plays. "Lark Rise" which erects the first day of harvest from sunrise to sunset and, "Candleford", which depicts a day in midwinter - to give a lively picture of typical country life of the period with music and songs.

British suburbanites Laurence and Beverly are entertaining their new neighbors, Angela and Tony as well as Susan, whose teenage daughter, Abigail is having a party to which Susan has been dis-invited. Over drinks and snacks, cliches and fatuous small talk abound.

Adapted from the novel by Charles Dickens, Jeremy Brock's splendidly theatrical stage version of Oliver Twist combines all the richness of Dickens's story - the sinister antics of Fagin, the comic pomposity of Mr Bumble the Beadle, and the horror of Nancy's murder at the hands of Sykes. Originally devised for eleven actors playing multiple roles, the play is easy to stage, makes good use of sound effects for atmosphere and makes more than a nod to the contemporary world.Large flexible cast

This adaptation of Roald Dahl's story focuses on Billy's dream to restore a deserted sweet shop near his house and his adventures with "The Ladderless Window-Cleaning Company". Designed for performance by children aged five to nine, this dramatization includes music and special effects.

In David Hare's "greatest play" (City Limits) two sisters, Isobel, a serene and good person, and Marion, an ambitious Tory Junior Minister, gather at the home of their late father for his funeral. Katherine, the sisters' young, alcoholic, stepmother, announces her intention of joining Isobel's design company. Reluctantly Isobel agrees and this act paves the way for tragedy and disaster involving Isobel's lover Irwin, and Marion's evangelical, earnest husband Tom.-4 women, 2 men

MOVE TIE-IN Edition!!! The inspiration for the cult film starring Michael Caine and the smash-hit remake with Jude Law as the eponymous anti-hero, Alfie feels as fresh and relevant today as when it was first published

A play that charts the dramatic events leading to the execution of Sir Thomas More in 1535.

This clever, disturbing, and controversial play revolves around Mr. and Mrs. Bates, a dull, middle aged couple whose only daughter, Pattie, has been reduced to a vegetable following a car accident. Suddenly, a polite, helpful and clean cut but satanic young man walks into their lives with startling results.2 women, 2 men

This award winning play is about four generations of women growing up in England during this century.-4 women

Bet and Al lead a quiet, humdrum life in their small Yorkshire home until Bet wins a 'Romantic Breaks' competition in a magazine. The prize, a holiday in Paris, represen's their first experience abroad and has profound effects on the way they look at the world around them once they return home.-1 woman, 1 man

After a cyclone transports her to the land of Oz, Dorothy must seek out the great Wizard in order to return to Kansas.

This hilarious play concerns the wedding of Deirdre and Mark. The fun begins on the stag night when an inebriated Mark is chained to a lamppost with a blow-up rubber doll. The wedding itself is quite high spirited too with half the guests, including the priest, suffering blinding hangovers. The play ends in comic chaos when Father Molloy, paralytically drunk, stumbles into the reception clad only in his ecclesiastical underwear, brandishing the blow-up doll!5 women, 9 men

The provocative and funny look at exploitation and corruption, journalistic ethics, freedom of the press and marital infidelity is set in a fictional copper rich African nation. Dick Wagner of The Sunday Globe and a competing freelance journalist arrive at the jungle home of a white mine owner. Soon they are competing for the use of their host's telex, the attentions of his wife and a possible interview with the missing president of Kambawe.1 woman, 7 men

An hilarious retelling of the play and opera Tosca, with Scarpia as a swaggering villain who proves to be impotent, Tosca as a proud beauty and a Captain who gets confused as to whether Scarpia means that Tosca's lover should really be executed ... or only appear to be. Tosca's attempt to stab Scarpia is foiled by his knife-proof vest.1 woman, 3 men

At the end of Noël Coward's Design for Living, two men and a woman embark on a menage a trois founded on mutual attraction and a conscious flouting of societal norms. This witty and warm hearted comedy continues their story.|2 women, 4 men

A British Labour M.P., ten years into his second marriage, feels tethered in a time of change. He is distrustful on the one hand of the "mawkish mentality" of the young and, on the other, of the encroaching motorway life of the middle aged who can look forward to nothing more than the fairly imminent end of a not so very interesting road. "The play is a small jewel of bewilderment and regret." - London Sunday Times

Arriving at the library to continue work on his dictionary, Johnson is horrified to discover that the place has been ransacked. Originally produced for television, this one act play combines wit, wordplay and a touch of comic absurdity.1 woman, 4 men

Just filmed by David Mamet, starring Nigel Hawthorne and Jeremy Northam.

Henry Bell has come to the Albert Bridge to throw himself off because he has lost his wife and his job. Instead, he saves Karen Knightly who has thrown herself off the bridge already and is dangling by her caught coat. They spend a long night driving. Henry learns that Karen has been jilted by a lover who has gone back to his wife. She suggests revenge as a way to heal their emotional wounds: she will fix Henry's dreadful former boss and Henry must ruin her ex lover's wife.-12 women, 11 men

Willis Hall brings Dumas' swashbuckling adventure to the stage in this tongue-in-cheek version of "The Three Musketeers". D'Artagnan, a poor, young Gascon gentleman, goes to Paris to join King Louis XIII's musketeers and is befriended by three members of that force and shares their adventures.

Never has the celebrated author of Butley and Otherwise Engaged been more amusing and more touching than in this thoroughly delightful portrait of a mediocre but lovable English schoolteacher named St. John Quartermaine and his fellow faculty at a small school in Cambridge which teaches English to foreigners.2 women, 5 men

Set after World War II, this delightful farce is about what happens when a boys' school receives the news that they are to billet another school which is all female. Events are complicated by the arrival of the parents. Each headmaster/mistress tries to conceal the fact that his/her school is now coed. Eventually, the parents learn the truth and are about to remove their children when news arrives that a third school is to be amalgamated into theirs. They all join together to keep out these intruders.-6 women, 7 men