Books published by Samuel French Ltd

Shows how Mama, with the help of her husband and Uncle Chris, brings up the children in their modest San Francisco home during the early years of the century. Mama, a sweet and capable manager, sees her children through childhood, manages to educate them and to see one of her daughters begin her career as a writer. Mama's sisters and uncle furnish a rich background for a great deal of comedy and a little incidental tragedy, while the doings of the children manage to keep everyone in pleasant turmoil.13 women, 9 men

A happily married man tries to explain to his stubborn mother-in-law that his old friend from the past, Hilary, is not a woman and a risk to his marriage, or her daughter.

Sylvia's Wedding is yet another clear-sighted and even-handed drama written by the splendid Jimmie Chinn with all his customary wit, humanity and keenness of observation. Gordon proposes to Sylvia, after ten years of courting, and throws his family, and Sylvia's, into turmoil. Joyce and Vic, Sylvia's parents, are hardly the sort of people Gordon's pompous father, Stanley, wants his family connected with, and Vic feels much the same in return. Sylvia's best friend, Yvonne, isn't much help either - as she's all too ready to deflate Sylvia's joy with her cynical, world-weary comments. Against the odds, the two warring families co-operate in the wedding preparations and all looks set for success - but fate intervenes. The spirited comedy of the early scenes gives way to bitter irony....as again family values and relationships are given a stern examination in a stylish Chinn piece.

"Suggested by the author's earlier play, Local affairs."

It's September 1918 on the Western Front, and Sergeant Tommy Atkins and Coporal Dave Rawlings are doing all they can to stay alive during the final months of the First World War. They receive an unexpected visit from an officer, Lieutenant Hargreaves, who announces that Tommy is to be awarded the Military Medal for his courage in combat.

A couple are nervously dressing for a party in the hotel downstairs. Each glumly despairs of being able to live up to their partner's expectations. The trouble is that the person they see in the mirror is very different from the person their partner sees. She sees herself as a dowdy, boring frump, but he sees her as charming and kind.

This play is presented as a 'clown show' in which most of the actors wear clown-style costumes, creating a kaleidoscope of impressions around the central character of Grace, representing all those people who are scorned in this world but who develop a resistance to such injustice. An intelligent and searching contemporary play of ideas, ideal for school groups and young people.Large flexible cast

Jane and Andrew's pleasant country house is accident prone. Six people have already died there in unfortunate and embarrassing accidents. When daughter Sally's young man Geoff arrives for the weekend unaware of the house's reputation, he mistakenly deduces from conversational confusion that the deaths were due to sinister circumstances.4 women, 4 men

In this unique thriller that has playgoers gripping their seats, Sir Charles Jasper is an eccentric who delves into the mystical.|6 women, 4 men

Strange, but very funny happenings, are occurring at the faded and eerie manor of Creeching Cheyney. An oddly assorted group of people are assembled on a snowy Christmas Eve to hear the reading of a will laying down certain stipulations before they can inherit their legacies.|5 women, 5 men

This psychological thriller about revenge centers on the interlocking triangular relationship between Dee, a successful television playwright; Hallet, a detective superintendent; and Stone, a humorless, prissy man. Dee arrives at Stone's flat, having accepted an invitation to discuss a script by Stone's wife. She is rather surprised when Hallett, with whom she is having an affair, also arrives, apparently to investigate a matter concerning Stone's son and his involvement with a drug ring. But where are wife and son? After many twists and turns, Stone's intentions become clear as he slowly reveals the precise nature of the trio's relationship.1 woman, 2 men

Septica, an evil sorceress, has left her magic shoes with the Elf Cobbler for mending and, as they are her only comfortable pair, she is far from pleased when pretty Goody Coddle appears wearing them. Here, Septica's revenge, and the wishes Goody makes while wearing the magic shoes, set in train a series of hilarious events.

Mark and Sandra arrive at the peak of a Munro. Sandra is not keen on repeating the experience - but then the couple meet John, a widower who has just climbed his last Munro and regrets that his late wife cannot share his triumph. His story wins Sandra's sympathy and she changes her mind, leading Mark off to the next peak as the play ends.1 woman, 2 men

Bookseller Alec Firth is having an affair with his assistant, Liz, and has craftily organized his domestic life so that they can go to Spain without making Alec's wife Maggie remotely suspicious. What could possibly go wrong? The answer: plenty.

This play tells the story of Rama and Sita from the Indian epic poem "The Ramayana". From Rama's banishment to his triumph, helped by an army of monkeys, over the ten-headed Demon King, Ravana, this tale is framed by scenes set in the present in which a family prepares for Diwali.

Trying to forget his marital problems, dull and doleful Charlie Baker takes a fishing-lodge holiday in the Deep South of America, and to avoid being pestered by the locals pretends that he is a foreigner who speaks no English. This leads him to becoming involved, at first unwillingly, in bizarre goings-on featuring a corrupt preacher, his pregnant girlfriend, her none-too-bright kid brother and the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan!|2 women, 5 men

Set in Regency London, this is the story of the poet Lord Byron, his ever-increasing notoriety and his steps to appease Society by marrying Annabella Milbanke. With debtors on his heels and facing the ignominy of his sexual life being made public, Byron separates from Annabella, parts broken-hearted from the love of his life, his half-sister Augusta, and quits England.|3 women, 4 men, 8 women or men

Graham, a middle-aged bachelor, emotionally retarded and chronically dependent on his mother, finds life difficult enough at the best of times. When Mother meets an old flame and seems set to marry him, however, Graham''s old insecurities rear their ugly heads again. Fate, eventually, rescues Graham and he resumes his normal life of banal muddle under his mother''s amnesiac tyranny.

Pizzazz consists of three plays intended solely as entertainment. If they have a theme in common, it is that each one deals with travellers - near Dublin, in Rome and on the Shannon - who are apart from their natural environment. Another quality in common is perhaps suggested by the original composite title Scorpions.-3 women, 2 men

Miss Julie is an aristocrat's daughter who, drunk after a party, flirts with her father's chauffeur and sets, in train, a series of events that lead to tragedy. This work, a version of Strindberg's classic "Miss Julie", features class suspicions and resentment, the erotic collusion of antagonists, and the struggle against repressive social mores.

The orchestra of Ridley Road, a state school, is to give a concert in Moscow at the European Festival of Youth, playing Tchaikovsky''s Fourth Symphony before an audience of cultural bigwigs. But their instruments have been impounded by Customs. Luckily, Alex, the Russian boy who cleans the hall, is a devout Pinball Wizard fan who comes up with a plan that saves everyone.|Large flexible cast

Young Philip Pirrip, known as "Pip", helps the escaped convict Abel Magwitch and sets in motion a train of events that will affect his entire young life. This is an adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic novel of the same name.

In Winter Glory, we meet once again the redoubtable quartet of Dame Beatrice and her lodgers Nan, Hattie and the Brigadier who featured in Peter Coke's earlier comedies Breath of Spring, Midsummer Mink and Autumn Manoeuvres. This, however, will be positively their last appearance, as due to an unfortunate slip up in their schemes to put a pathetic pet out of its misery and to help an ageing actress fade away at a peak of happiness, they dispatch themselves heavenward as well!7 women, 3 men

This is a series of playlets which tell the various well-known tales of Robin Hood. The possibilities for presenting the play are numerous open stage, promenade, open air as well as on a proscenium stage. There is a basic cast of fourteen, but the authors envisage productions in which large numbers of local people take part, emphasizing the basic concept of the play which is that of a musical celebration by a whole community.|14 women or men

Six of Chaucer's best known Canterbury Tales - the Knight's, the Wife of Bath's, the Pardoner's, the Franklin's, the Nun's Priest's and the Miller's - are here freely adapted for the stage. Original and adapted music to suit the period has been added. The style of the play is that of a spontaneous telling of a story by a group of strolling players, with all the Company taking various parts in enacting the different tales.7 women or men

Yorkshire, 1961. Jamie wants to study drama at RADA, something he knows would not be approved of by his Catholic Irish mother, Maureen. Jamie begins to take lessons for his audition in secret with Margaret, a relief teacher. Their relationship sparks jealousy from Jamie's girlfriend Sarah, then indignation from Maureen, who forbids the lessons to continue. Jamie's fate seems sealed; he has a powerful ally in his Auntie Bridget, however, whose own profound secret proves the turning point.|6 women, 3 men

A pantomime that opens with the Bad Luck Fairy, Jinxit, about to hire Humpty Dumpty as her evil assistant. We are transported many years hence to a typical British seaside, and there is plenty of opportunity for fun and games, mistaken identities and slapstick humour, as Patsy Putumup falls for Captain Vince Valiant.

This perceptive play for young adults, set ten years after the bomb, portrays with frightening clarity the destruction of human character as social standards are lost in a struggle for power and survival. In the ruins of an abandoned building fifteen teenage survivors struggle to make sense of the desolation. Ironically, they begin to repeat their parents' mistakes. The play ends with a thought provoking clash of personalities.Flexible cast