Recommended by Doug DeVita

One can’t help but smile, and then giggle, and then laugh out loud when the twist is revealed in this fizzy and fun encounter between a nun and a vicar when they meet at that ubiquitous park bench. Charming, touching, and a fitting conclusion to this series of charming, touching short plays.

As its title implies, A PLEASURE is a pleasure, a sweet, unassuming little love-story-in-the-making. Smith’s two lonely characters are so deftly and lovingly drawn one can’t help rooting for them throughout, and by the end we’re quietly cheering. In between the joyful tears. Beautiful.

A delightful entry in Smith’s “Bench Plays” series, this caper-in-the-making has the most wonderful twist yet. Truly edge-of-your-bench fun!

Another in Paul Smith’s excellent, conversational bench plays; you may think you see the ending coming but believe me you won’t. Gobsmacking. And yet the aftermath… it’s going to be a beautiful thing.

A chance meeting, an amiable conversation with a stranger on a warm spring afternoon, confidences exchanged… Smith creates two entire worlds colliding with such ease, and then… well, read it. You won’t be sorry. Well, not as sorry as Linda will be.

Two words can change everything, and the two words Joe – author Paul Smith's hapless protagonist – uses in this heartbreaking script are two we all have to say at some point in our lives. And how they change everything for Joe and the antagonistic Josh is both devastating and hopeful. A beautiful two hander that builds in intensity to its surprising, but oh so right conclusion.

Samantha Marchant has so many interesting things going on in this early draft, one is left breathless in anticipation as to how she’s going to develop it. As it is, the play is endlessly fascinating, darkly funny, and beautifully structured. And the ending is, IMHO, perfect.

Well this is a fun little piece about bread, and Brie, and food allergies, and petty jealousies, and everything that makes a house party a house party and a couple a couple, and Lamedman captures this couple doing their dance perfectly, and what fun they must be to play as well as watch.

In this devilishly clever mash-up of “A Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Red-Headed League,” and “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches,” Jonathan Josephson takes us on a deliciously dizzy ride through all things Holmesian; everything about this script works as both faithful homage and brand-new adventure; I imagine when staged it will be a thrilling, massively fun delight. I particularly enjoyed Josephson’s device using three various Holmes throughout; a smart and wildly theatrical choice.

I have been in two workshops with Matthew and have watched as he developed this piece into the magical, moving, stunning work that it has become. Read it, revel in its sense of wonder and theatricality, and produce it.