Books published by Samuel French Ltd

"My name is Daffodil Scissors. I haven't got any friends. Not one!" Daffodil lives alone with Dad. Dad makes extraordinary hats. The extraordinary hats go on Daffodil's head. Wearing Dad's hats makes everyone at school laugh at Daffodil. How is Daffodil ever going to make friends? Perhaps the mysterious Bag Lady has the answer.

"Now listen to me, my boy. I saved Lizard Street once. And now... now it's your turn. Be the hero you know yourself to be" It is the day for choosing a hero! Ruskin Splinter wants to be that hero! Unfortunately, the very idea he could defeat the Dragon in the school play makes everyone laugh. But in the vast sewers of Lizard Street something is stirring. Something called Krindlekrax. And, before long, Ruskin will be testing his heroic qualities... for real.

This play follows the course of World War II as experienced by a working-class family in Newcastle, each scene being opened by a member of the family addressing the audience or singing a song of the period. In wartime there are no public worries, only private worries, and this story of the family's personal relationships, preoccupations, troubles and joys suggests, perhaps, the reason why, with all the perils and troubles besieging it, the human race will continue to survive.3 women, 4 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

"In a surrogacy clinic in Gujarat, three women meet. It's Londoner Eva's last chance for motherhood. For village girl Aditi, surrogacy is a lifeline out of poverty."--Publisher website.

Vera and Anna have made the trip to Donegal to see their singing idol Daniel O'Donnell. Vera has been abandoned by her husband and Anna is content to dream of Daniel whilst sustaining a loveless marriage. Singing waiter, Fergal, invites the women to join him at dawn. In a series of dream-like meetings the women confront their spouses and each other. Neil Martin's country-style songs enhance this easily-staged, telling look at the spirit of women. The music is included in the script.2 women, 1 man

A comedy of errors centring around the home of union member Albert Hellewell, whose wife declares strike action herself and moves out, leaving Albert to cope with the arrival of glamorous variety actress Mrs Flannel and her daughter, who get rather too comfortable in the Hellewell home.

Meet Gus Gascoigne, young, spotty, perpetually cheerful and completely bemused by anything that isn't involved with his sole interest - trainspotting. Learn about the joys of spotting at night, discover why relationships and spotting are incompatible and admire his treasured anorak.

This dramatization of the correspondence between Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West provides insight into the lives of two artists over 20 years up to Woolf's suicide in 1941.

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

Rafe Crompton is not a stern man but has such unswerving integrity that his family is forced to hide slight peccadilloes from him. His daughter Hilda particularly resents this and her refusal to eat a herring that is placed before her at dinner makes the situation explosive. The family is almost broken up before Rafe is made to see the dangers in his attitudes, and they are reunited in an atmosphere more progressive and tolerant.4 women, 4 men

Maugham's popular comedy of modern manners espouses that so long as a wife is supported by her husband she must remain faithful, but when the tables are turned freedom becomes the currency with which both must pay. Revived by New York's Roundabout Theatre Company...-5 women, 4 men

When Dame Beatrice is given a mink stole by her maid, she is reminded of the maid's shady past and immediately suspects that it was stolen from the the next flat. A former army officer and other lodgers endeavour to return the stole. The plan is devised with care and all of them take such delight in the secretive scheme that they wonder why they don't do this more often.-5 women, 3 men

Dame Dallymore's orphanage is in peril. She has been unable to pay the rent for ten years, so the cruel Squire wants to make her - and all the orphans - homeless. Just when the situation seems dire, it gets worse, for a Giant treads on the orphanage and smashes it to smithereens! Mother Goose makes the shoe into a home for the orphans and all looks fine - but then the Giant comes back for his shoe and accidentally carries off Princess Marigold, girlfriend to the Dame's son Corydon.3 women, 4 men, 6 women or men

Archie Rice is a failure as a comedian. News of his son's death while on military service arrives as the family is anticipating his return with a party. Archie tries to stage a comeback for his befuddled, has-been father who, mercifully, dies in the attempt. A prosperous brother offers to send the family to Canada but Archie cannot leave the decaying world of the music hall, where he is at home.-3 women, 5 men

A day in the latter part of pioneering biographer John Aubrey's life. "It is as if one is paying a visit to the house of an old man, who makes up for the absence of friends by bringing to life reminiscences of people, remembering them and telling stories about them."1 man

Performed with Shadows of the Evening in London with Coward, Lilli Palmer and Irene Worth, this view of the haute monde is tempered by having the man and wife Americans this time. She is a social climber, while he is a rich cornhusker who couldn't care less about society. While the wife is entertaining a high and mighty prince downstairs, the husband is entertaining a threadbare princess upstairs. It doesn't take long for the husband to realize he has more in common with royalty than his wife does.2 women, 2 men

The four boyfriends, with the help of the members of their school's drama class, set up a witty scenario designed to fool the girls into thinking that they should never have called off their relationships - because one day soon the lads will be the world-famous boyband Awesome. The current obsession with celebrity is satirized with the lightest of touches in this intelligent comedy for teenagers.7 women, 7 men

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

Beatie returns for a holiday to her fenland farm home trying to impose on her stolid family the ideas of a young Jewish intellectual, Ronnie, whom she believes will marry her. But, awaiting his arrival, slowly Beatie realizes he will never come and her famous final speech exults that Ronnie has taught her independence and how to free herself from him.-4 women, 5 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

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

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

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