Recommended by Paul Smith

  • What huge fun this is - I do love a play which appears to be going in one direction and then heads the exact opposite and here David Lipschutz has masterly created just that. It's a lip-smacking, darkly comic story which is written with tongue firmly in cheek and with an eye on surprise, fun and comedy. Frighteningly good!

    What huge fun this is - I do love a play which appears to be going in one direction and then heads the exact opposite and here David Lipschutz has masterly created just that. It's a lip-smacking, darkly comic story which is written with tongue firmly in cheek and with an eye on surprise, fun and comedy. Frighteningly good!

  • A really delightful piece of writing from Claudia Haas - have the vicissitudes of marriage ever been portrayed so well - the seven-year (or in this case, the three hundred-year) itch is shown in all its glory. I can't live with you, I can't live without you syndrome is given a wonderfully wry and funny setting in the Garden of Eden. Huge fun.

    A really delightful piece of writing from Claudia Haas - have the vicissitudes of marriage ever been portrayed so well - the seven-year (or in this case, the three hundred-year) itch is shown in all its glory. I can't live with you, I can't live without you syndrome is given a wonderfully wry and funny setting in the Garden of Eden. Huge fun.

  • A really intense and layered piece of writing which explores a myriad of issues and which Paul Donnelly carves into a thoroughly realistic and absorbing play. Duologues such as this can carry so much weight and illustrate their messages with a clarity which longer plays often fail to do amidst over-writing. A play which will stimulate many a discussion I am sure; as many good plays do.

    A really intense and layered piece of writing which explores a myriad of issues and which Paul Donnelly carves into a thoroughly realistic and absorbing play. Duologues such as this can carry so much weight and illustrate their messages with a clarity which longer plays often fail to do amidst over-writing. A play which will stimulate many a discussion I am sure; as many good plays do.

  • LAUGH? I fell off my chair and screamed - at least I wasn't tied to it. Cracking dark writing from Morey Norkin = it takes a fine mind to create sudden and vivid horror only to make it so funny! Perfectly pitched and perfectly hilarious - another triumph from Morey!

    LAUGH? I fell off my chair and screamed - at least I wasn't tied to it. Cracking dark writing from Morey Norkin = it takes a fine mind to create sudden and vivid horror only to make it so funny! Perfectly pitched and perfectly hilarious - another triumph from Morey!

  • As someone who has made a bench the centrepiece of a number of plays, I had to read this and it is a joy. As ever, Brenton Kneiss writes from the heart and in these few sentences he articulates so much about love and the importance of memories. Simple, effective and written with feeling.

    As someone who has made a bench the centrepiece of a number of plays, I had to read this and it is a joy. As ever, Brenton Kneiss writes from the heart and in these few sentences he articulates so much about love and the importance of memories. Simple, effective and written with feeling.

  • Paul Smith: Break My Jaw

    As ever, I am in awe of Lee Lawing's imagination - this piece of the absurd is unnerving and hilarious at one and the same time and the result is a joyful combination of wacky and sinister. Great characters, great situation and great writing - can't ask more than that!

    As ever, I am in awe of Lee Lawing's imagination - this piece of the absurd is unnerving and hilarious at one and the same time and the result is a joyful combination of wacky and sinister. Great characters, great situation and great writing - can't ask more than that!

  • Paul Smith: SALAD DAYS

    Out of a seemingly inconsequential situation Rachel Carnes paints the most touching of stories with three wonderfully drawn characters with stories to recount or to forget. Such is the subtlety of the writing that you end realising the emotions that have been stirred up. Beautifully realised.

    Out of a seemingly inconsequential situation Rachel Carnes paints the most touching of stories with three wonderfully drawn characters with stories to recount or to forget. Such is the subtlety of the writing that you end realising the emotions that have been stirred up. Beautifully realised.

  • Paul Smith: Stocks and Bonds

    Businessspeak (2 or 3 s's in the middle?) is riven with humour and...to those not interested, inevitably dull, but here Christopher Soucy manages to create scenario of dullness which is then suffused with humour - in fact I laughed out loud at how far these people take things. A cracking piece which would be wonderful to see performed at a business conference.

    Businessspeak (2 or 3 s's in the middle?) is riven with humour and...to those not interested, inevitably dull, but here Christopher Soucy manages to create scenario of dullness which is then suffused with humour - in fact I laughed out loud at how far these people take things. A cracking piece which would be wonderful to see performed at a business conference.

  • Paul Smith: Monkeys in a Zoo

    An enlightening short play about a courageous person - a beautifully written vignette which educates and informs as much as it entertains. Danielle Wirsansky illustrates a significant moment in time which entices and encourages one to look into the subject matter further - feels to me like a full-length play about Reba Zitella Whittle beckons!

    An enlightening short play about a courageous person - a beautifully written vignette which educates and informs as much as it entertains. Danielle Wirsansky illustrates a significant moment in time which entices and encourages one to look into the subject matter further - feels to me like a full-length play about Reba Zitella Whittle beckons!

  • Paul Smith: In Like Company

    Those who know my writing will realise I am very keen on the two person ten minute scenario. John Busser has created an incredibly tense believable situation which twists and turns and unsettles beautifully. Paced to perfection and with dialogue which is fluid and weighted with menace. Absolutely cracking!

    Those who know my writing will realise I am very keen on the two person ten minute scenario. John Busser has created an incredibly tense believable situation which twists and turns and unsettles beautifully. Paced to perfection and with dialogue which is fluid and weighted with menace. Absolutely cracking!