Books published by Samuel French Ltd

Filmed as The Way to the Stars and set in the 1940s, Rattigan''s famous play concerns Patricia''s love for a film actor, despite her marriage to Flight-Lieutenant Teddy Graham. Going to the hotel to break with Teddy, followed by Peter, Pat encounters Doris, married to a Polish Count, who is one of two pilots not to return from a bombing raid. Hearing the Count''s last letter, Pat realizes how much Teddy needs her, and gives Peter his dismissal.

A new adaptation of the classic book A Kestrel for a Knave, Kes tells the story of a day in the life of Billy Casper; a 15-year-old boy about to leave school and determined not to end up working down the pit like his older brother Jud.

The six teenagers in Chatroom never meet each other, they just communicate via the internet; conversations range in subject from Britney Spears to Willy Wonka to suicide. Jim is depressed and talks of ending his life and Eva and William do their utmost to pursuade him to carry out his threat. This play tackles some issues of teenage life head-on.

A Student Edition of the classic play, with full introduction, commentary, notes on the text and questions for study.

Peter Llewelyn Davies was just an infant in his pram when he served as the inspiration for J.M. Barrie's most famous creation, Peter Pan. With the story proving to be a smash hit, a reluctant Peter was thrust into the spotlight. But then one day, Peter did the unthinkable: He grew up. Based on a true story, Peter presents another side to one of the world's most beloved tales. As Peter enters adulthood, he struggles to separate himself from what he calls "that terrible masterpiece" and begins to spiral into a deep depression. Will he succeed in overcoming the demons of his past, or do happy endings only exist in fairy stories?

A derelict park is threatened by developers and a group of young people try to rescue it by writing and performing a play. But the project soon falters: the developers hover, the cast bicker and the hot weather breaks with a violent storm. But the park exercises a strange hold over them.|Large flexible cast

When Mary, an international art dealer, arrives home after the unpleasant experience of an airplane on which she hoped to fly to America, catching fire, she has the further shock of finding her house occupied by three "strangers" claiming to be her husband, cousin and sister. Even more mysterious is the fact that they seem aware of details of her family life which could only have been known to her most intimate circle. In fact, they even apparently convince a highly suspicious Detective Sergeant.-2 women, 5 men

Sir Fennimore Truscott, a retired Judge, sits under his mulberry tree and 'tries' his next-door-neighbour Tom Marjoriebanks for - allegedly - seducing Truscott's wife Margaret many years earlier.1 woman, 2 men

THE ACTSex and politics collide in The Act, a ground-breaking cabaret-style play comprised of personal anecdotes, verbatim House of Commons speeches and song. 1967. In Westminster the men in suits are putting the finishing touches to the freedoms we take for granted. In Soho, the men in bars are putting the finishing touches to their hairdos. Caught between these worlds is Matthews, a civil servant with a big heart and a big secret.OUTINGS The world's first show based on coming-out stories. A powerful, funny and confessional collation of over twenty true stories. Few comings-out attract millions of YouTube views like Tom Daley's did. But for whoever's saying 'I'm gay' it's a life-changing moment. Inspired by recent high-profile 'comings out' Outings is based on stories from gay men and women across the world.

Eddie and Carol were lovers once, but their lives went in different directions. Now they meet again on a park bench in a town full of memories, and find something still burns between them.

A love song, an elegy, a celebration - Eventide tells the story of three people whose worlds are disappearing.

"As perceptive as ever ... Ayckbourn has once again achieved a satisfyingly rich, tragi-comic complexity" Daily Telegraph

Wiltshire. 1915. As the shadow of war falls over the Wiltshire landscape, a young couple find themselves caught in the turmoil of troubled times.

Property lawyer Steven Tancred is disillusioned with Monday morning meetings and evicting little old ladies from their homes. He senses that there must be more to life than lawsuits and his imminent marriage to Barbara, the boss' daughter.

Katrina Lyons only visited Cresdon Green for the weekend to see her parents (and, incidentally, ask if they might lend her the deposit for a flat). Unfortunately, this happened to be the weekend when aliens launched an invasion of the village and put a force-field around it. Katrina is trapped in the place where she grew up, under the cosh of alien oppression, living with her parents. The invasion, led by warlord Uljabaan, is a covert pilot scheme for a full invasion of Earth. Katrina determines to stop it, and sets up a resistance movement. Disappointingly, her sole recruit is sarcastic stoned teenager Lucy Alexander - everyone else is keen not to rock the boat, and some think having the world run by alien marauders might actually be an improvement. But Katrina presses on, desperate to save the world, and also to get out of here. This book collects the scripts for the pilot and first series of the BBC Radio sitcom.

It is the 60th wedding anniversary of Tommy Pasmore and his wife. Their three children, Colin, the friendless academic who has bought the house in which his parents now live, childless Wendy, forsaking marriage for politics, and pragmatic Eileen, have returned home to celebrate, if that is the right expression. The senior Pasmores live together despite each other and as the layers of formal affection and bickering banter are peeled back we discover deep wells of disappointment and despair, not only for themselves but also for a society that appears to have exchanged one kind of poverty for another.3 women, 3 men

In 1978 two Eastern European unemployed auto-mechanics kidnapped and ransomed the body of Charlie Chaplin in order to set up their very own garage.Taking Charlie is a dark comic fantasy based on this real life very bad idea, and will leave the audience with two useful life lessons; firstly don’t dig up dead comedians, and secondly when you’re face to face with a powerful idiot there’s only one thing to do…laugh.

A tale of obsession and betrayal, Tomorrow In The Battle charts a doomed love affair in today’s London.Simon, a heart surgeon, takes increasing risks with his health, marriage and career as he pursues a desperate relationship. Meanwhile, his wife Anna, a scientist at the Ministry of Defence, contrives a deception of her own in the renewal of the country’s nuclear arsenal.Urgent, profound and troubling, Tomorrow In The Battle paints a searing portrait of loyalty and lust, honour and honesty, and duty and desire.‘A solemn erotic lyricism I haven’t encountered since Damage’ Ben Brantley, New York Times‘One of the most remarkable pieces of theatre in recent memory. A Harold Pinter for today.’ Times Union, New York

How the Moon would talk: No one quite knows how to deal with death, particularly high school students. Ally has just lost her sister to cancer, and her boyfriend Dwayne is trying to be as committed to her as possible Set on a halrme rooftop, a group of friends discuss what it means to grieve when no one else has the answers for you.

From the nationally recognized Educational Theatre Association's Thespian Playworks competition come four short scripts - all created by high school-aged playwrights! Included in this volume are: I Love Ruthie by Adam MirajkarLost and Found

"Love is love" - but is navigating it any less complicated today? What does it mean to be in a committed relationship? Is monogamy just monotony? Told through interweaving glimpses into the life of an everyday couple unexpectedly confronted by a vicious crime, Homos, or Everyone in America is a fearless, funny, heart-on-its-sleeve examination of the moments that can bring two people together - or pull them apart.

The Substance of Bliss provides an opportunity to sit with Paul and Donna as they wait during the late night for their troubled fifteen-year-old son to come home. As they wait for him they keep their minds occupied by cleaning and discussing potential renovations to the house. The conversation slowly veers toward their decision to marry and have the child that is causing them so much angst.

Joan Scheller lives with the great love of her life, Sandy. In an effort to hide their relationship from her overbearing sister-in-law, the former movie star Olivia St. Claire, she introduces him as her psychiatrist. One little white lie leads to another. Before long, Vinny the Enforcer, a quintessential Italian mobster, masquerades as her security guard, while her son, Chris, is forced to wear a dress and become her daughter Christina. Further complications occur when her new neighbor, Racha