Books published by Samuel French Ltd

A heart-warming tale of how young war widow Lulu Littlehampton is saved from the dishonourable designs of Captain Harvey Kneetrembler and Arkwright, the Pickled Onion King, by the timely return of her husband Walter, who is not only not dead, but also very rich, having stumbled upon a hidden diamond mine!1 woman, 6 men

Paul Reakes' pantomimes include many original twists to the familiar stories, with plenty of audience participation. They can be staged as simply or as elaborately as desired.Large flexible cast

The old story has been re-written for modern audiences and is equally suitable for performance by adults or older children.Large flexible cast

A collection of eighty-four mostly humorous poems including "Cousin Lesley's See-Through Stomach" and "The Silly Siposark."

Written in a clear and unpretentious blank verse, this play tells the story of Stanley and Dimitri, two middle-aged men who have lived together and loved each other for seventeen years. They speak directly to the audience, sharing their story with insight, humour and very obvious affection. The story ends sadly but our overriding impression is of the tenderness and warmth of a happy, unselfish relationship.2 men

Three women in a psychiatric hospital meet for a therapeutic drama lesson. Jones, an ex-professional actress, adopts the role of teacher. The ease with which she slips between three other "characters" the other two women - Dawn, a neurotic day-dreamer, and Hannah, an apparently "normal" is both frightening and baffling. Are they, as she claims, just characters she has dramatically created, or in fact, as the doctors believe, schizophrenic personalities?|3 women

Cinderella is being forced to carry out every wish of her cruel stepmother and ugly stepsisters, Mattie and Hattie, Prince Charming has left to travel the world and Pantomania is now governed by the selfish Duke of Verruca. However, upon learning of his father's death, the Prince returns to take on his duty as king, but there is one problem.

Mary and Jack's dull Saturday evening is interrupted by the arrival of Maureen, Ted and Dennis. The occasion rapidly dissolves into a drunken gathering as Ted's intellect is likened to that of a paper clip, Maureen, his wife, reveals a liking for Jack, and Jack cultivates a taste for pouring whisky over his head.2 women, 3 men

Shortly after Miss Grey, a governess, arrives at Bly to take charge of Flora and Miles she sees the ghosts of the former valet and governess; it is the children they want. She determines to save the children from destruction and damnation at the hands of these "devils," but her courageous efforts are not enough to save little Miles from tragedy.-3 women, 1 man, 1 girl, 1 boy, 1 woman or man

Alexa Romanes's play for young people traces the fortunes of the poorest of the human chain in Victorian London, from the mudlarks who scour the Thames mud for a pittance, to the crossing sweepers, costers and pickpockets. Into their midst comes a mysterious stranger, Sal, a maid-of-all-work from the country who is running from her Rotherhithe employer.12 women, 10 men

First produced in 1963 starring Alec Guinness and successfully revived to great acclaim on Broadway in 2009, this absurdist exploration of ego and mortality is set in the crumbling throne-room of the palace in an unnamed country where King Berenger the First has only the duration of the play to live.-3 women, 3 men

M12 F3. Various simple settings. Fee code D The latest in Michael Green's hilarious Coarse Acting series, Umlaut, Prince of Dusseldorf imagines a hapless and incompetent theatre company attempting a condensed version of Hamlet.

In "Theft", Chappell's comedy-thriller, two seemingly happy marriages and one formerly strong friendship are destroyed by the burglar with his own brand of subversive observation. This play is packed with one-liners, daring reversals and comments on marriage, money, and crime.

This audacious adaptation of Les Femmes Savantes, Moliere's mischievous farce inditing intellectual ladies of the salons, is liberally peppered with contemporary allusions which put it firmly in the present.-5 women, 5 men

There are three good friends: a devoted husband, a pathetically invalid wife, and a woman friend of the family. Gradually we learn that there is a terrifying truth beneath the appearance of their friendship. It has an ending you have never seen before, and it will give you the shock of your life.5 women, 5 men

Fender, an old Jewish nightwatchman, dies even while his friend is making him his first good overcoat. He has waited all his life for such a coat, but dies in grief beforehand.|4 men

Four typical Ayckbourn misfits are playing a Dungeons and Dragons type game in a suburban living room. Stanley, Hazel, Warren and Rick make the weekly escape from their real life nightmares into a role-playing board game peopled by dragons and monsters. A safe world where the dangers are of their own imagining; where they are free to become heroes of their own devising. But how clear is the dividing line between what they choose to be and what they really are? What would it take for them to lose sight of it altogether?-4 women, 4 men

Six interlinked plays set in a National Health hospital during visiting hour. Alternately funny and sad - with elements of tragedy and comedy in each - your audience will be reaching for the Kleenex one minute and rolling in the aisles the next!-4 women, 2 men

To escape from the restraints of a suffocating relationship, Anna moves into a flat with a friend, Prue.  In the old attic room which she adopts as her study, Anna is presented with a ghostly series of women through the ages - women who, like Anna, have not conformed to the usual roles of wife and mother - a Victorian spinster, a nun, a nurse who worked with Florence Nightinglae during the Crimean War and a young wife who dies childless.|3 women, 2 men

Lesser Mortals was first presented in the 2012 Arundel Festival Theatre Trail. Four women - all widows - sit in the communal silence of a Quaker Meeting; we hear their thoughts and join with their joys and troubles.

Storm in a Flower Vase is a fascinating and compelling new drama by Anton Burge, author of the hit play Bette and Joan. Set in London in the 1930s, the play explores the early careet of Constance Spry, founder of the celebrated business Floral Decorations that supplied floral arrangements to the upper ranks of society.

Short comedies Characters: Various males and females, extras In each of these masterpieces from the authors of Four Plays for Coarse Actors, sets collapse, actors fail to appear and props fall to pieces while the casts carry on, believing that the audience won't notice. Moby Dick is an ambitious attempt to reduce the epic novel to a series of quick fire scenes. The Cherry Sisters, a previously undiscovered Chekhov fragment, is a desperately sincere piece with a teary ending (spoiled by a faulty prop that necessitates a standing death). Last Call for Breakfast is an avant garde play shortened because an actor is in the wrong place during a black out. Henry the Tenth (Part Seven) is a rarely performed tragedy with battle scenes that would amaze the bard.

The curtain is about to go up on the Women's Guild variety and dramatic show when one of the leads loses her voice. This is the start of a series of calamities, not lessened by well meant but embarrassing offers of help. At the last moment all is well, and Clara even learns how to work the curtains.-10 women

"In Jenny Schwartz's linguistic feast of a play, Rosemary and Evelyn met 'a hundred thousand years ago' in Central Park when their children were barely born. [This play] reunites the two women thirty-five years later on Madison Avenue, on a windy fall day. With their children now grown and the world changing rapidly before (what's left of) their eyes, each finds herself face to face with the terrors, joys, and surprises of life and time. This is a wildly original story about connection-- to our families, our memories, our moment in time"--Page 4 of cover.

How''s a queen to keep her head in the middle of a revolution? Marie Antoinette delights and inspires her French subjects with her three-foot tall wigs and extravagant haute couture. But times change and even the most fashionable queens go out of style. In the humorous and haunting Marie Antoinette, idle gossip turns more insidious as the country revolts, demanding liberté, égalité, fraternité!

This play explores the paradox of humour and despair to be found in the casual infliction of cruelty. It follows the homecoming of Olga Petrovna and her husband, Yeletsky, to her deceased parent's country manor which should be a happy affair for the house's resident penniless gentlemen, Kuzovkin.

Joan of Arc led an army to victory at seventeen. At eighteen, she engineered the coronation of a king. At nineteen, she went up against the Catholic church...and lost. Her trial lasted five months, and the testimony by witnesses was carefully transcribed by notaries. Twenty years after her death, a new trial was authorized, and again detailed records were kept. There was testimony by her childhood playmates, by her parents, by the women who slept with her, by the soldiers who s

Five members of a play selection committee have gathered in the green room to choose the plays for their Festival of Poorly-Written Plays. The artistic director begins with a review of the more common criteria for a bad play: blatant exposition and contrived names for the characters. He then suggests that they all go around the table and introduce themselves and say a little something about themselves - blatant exposition if ever there was. As he calls on Hedda, the literary manager, and Mrs.

A crime saga about the Santos Family Law Practice in El Paso of the 1980's, loosely based on the Chagra brothers' killing of Judge John Wood. Drugs, gambling, and trafficking fuel the law office of Santos & Santos, and the brothers are quick to incorporate the younger brother after the death of their father. He questions his relationship to his heritage as he sees his brothers so eagerly trying to live the life of the "American." When one of the brothers is tried fo

Northern Uganda on the eve of the millennium: The daughter of American missionaries and a local teenage girl steal into a darkened church to seal their love in a secret, makeshift wedding ceremony. But when the surrounding war zone encroaches on their fragile union, they cannot escape its reach. Confronting the religious and cultural roots of intolerance, Cardboard Piano explores violence and its aftermath, as well as the human capacity for hatred, forgiveness, and love.