Recommended by Toby Malone

Succinct, menacing, and brutal, Monica Cross's '...In Refrigerators' explores a dangerous trope by inflicting its reality on one of its perpetuators, but removes the safety-cord of a 'Saw'-like challenge to escape. Here, our antagonist has no hope, just like those one-dimensional women he writes. Chilling stuff.

Daniel Prillaman's gift for character shines in this muscular period piece that wallows in the brutality and bleakness of the low middle ages, in a Europe just getting its Christian feet under it but before the Vikings converted and settled down. Add a pair of fangs and a promise to return, you know that the sequel is going to be a joy for Daniel to write as we see just how diligently young Edmund trained with his axe. Puts the dark right in the dark ages.

A haunting, lyrical one-minute play that says so much in what it leaves unsaid. The palpable sense of loss and longing from this long-lost entity called earth forces us to reminisce about the glory of life and the incredible void we hurtle towards. It's a play that many would have made longer and filled out more. Thank goodness Weaver didn't.

The perfect Halloween's eve read! Jacquie Floyd-Priskorn brings her typical pep and energy to play on a madcap, irresistible piece with the utterly brilliant conceit of casting the audience as ghosts in need of 'flushing' out of a haunted warehouse. As many groaner dad-jokes as is legally permissible, Jacquie leads us fearlessly through audience interaction so expertly that you can see what a scream this would be in person. Ahh, the puns are rubbing off! But seriously, have a read. What a hoot.

A beautifully nuanced piece in an authentically Australian voice perfect for the current state of virtual theatre. A counselling session which segues from attempted jokes between therapist and client and moves into a borderline-concerning revelation about a tenacious pack of cigarettes who talks like Sauron from Lord of the Rings. Witty, spot-on writing with texture and life, and a killer of a last line. Great work.

So much of quarantine has been 'so near, but so far away'. This is a brilliant set-up for a socially distanced production, in separate rooms, with walkie-talkies. Past love flickers but it's still there, and the simplest thing in the world - 'just dropping by' - is no longer on the table. Would these two have a chance if they didn't have to socially distance? Maybe. Great fun to be had with the 'finger on the button', and a great, satisfying two-hander that anyone would recognize immediately.

A sprawling, ambitious yet intimate view of a life lived in stages, Doug DeVita's 'Phillie's Trilogy' is rightly praised for its heartbreaking scope, bruises and all, of a life lived with bravery and integrity. This is a play that bristles with fear: fear of lost potential, fear of irreversible adult damage on childhood psyche, fear of uncontrollable sexuality. Yet, it is a play about connections: family, friends, that stretches and spans generations yet never tries to 'fix' the flaws of a past wrong. People are flawed but we love them anyway. Phillie's bravery should guide us all.

A delightful chance encounter between one each of everyone's favorite black and white animals, who discuss captivity, casual racism, and inter-breed sex. Oh, and don't think we didn't notice your 'oh, shoots' line in there, Daniel. Lovely, gentle, robust stuff.

Pandemic time is messy, so this is a welcome antidote to the 'do I have to keep washing my hands, mom' blues. Iris the Virus and Billy Ray Virus are about as foul as you'd expect them to be, but the action really gets going when they give birth to gross germ babies and get ready to spread across the land, until... the heroic hand sanitizer takes them out. Fun, messy, splattery humor that would be a blast to stage.

A blistering monologue on the injustice of entitlement, as an unseen stranger dares to set their foot on Lawn Man's complexly beloved patch of Kentucky bluegrass, which evolves into a litany of complaints, brags, and declamations reflecting a personal dissatisfaction with the state of the world. Best get off the lawn.