Recommended by Toby Malone

What starts out as a goofy, boozy buddy play featuring wine drunk through straws, mutual admiration, and riddles, gets a twist when it is revealed what Darla's and Aggie's actual jobs were. Left without her guardian angels (too busy with the abovementioned activities!), Sonya's dead. And she's not happy about it. A light, cheerful, surprising short about problem-solving, buzzed guardian angels with plenty of heart.

Daniel Prillaman comes through again with an atmospheric period piece that raises more questions than it answers - in the best way. Prillaman employs the unsaid beautifully, right from the opening stage directions that set us in a village "too small for a name", and hints at a pivotal point in the lives of his characters, on precipice of disaster or salvation. Impressively, he never tips over into the temptation of taking the audience by the hand, but rather allows us to wonder about what will be revealed when the sun finally rises.

An utterly stunning, intricate, and wise take on the Shakespearean authorship question, in a sense. Monica Cross gives us a wonderfully nuanced historical sci-fi piece peppered with references for the knowing, which suggests that Shakespeare's sudden appearance and abrupt end on the London theatre scene came because he was not born, but made. I was continually thrilled with Cross's clever incorporation of elements from the era, including quotations, events, and rivals: the justification for the Q1 'Hamlet' text made me laugh with glee. This is such smart writing, efficient yet ambitious. I had a thoroughly great time.

Just when you think you've seen every permutation of adaptation, along comes 'The Vultures,' a brilliant spin on a nearly-forgotten 1940s noir detective novel, told from the perspective of a committee of vultures who watch our sly-talking gumshoe and the hitchhiking dame he's picked up as they drive through the parched Mojave Desert. Here, the vultures are a Greek Chorus, if a Greek Chorus were desperate to eat the rest of the actors. There's such glory in the period-specific tones and phrases, a snippet from a longer story that is seriously satisfying in its own right. Stellar.

This is a bold, deeply layered dark comedy that asks a question so obvious I can't believe I'd never thought about before: in the aftermath of a mass shooting, what about the family of the perpetrator? Those saddled with guilt and anger and fear, who have to face the brunt of the community's hatred but can never fully grieve on their own? Dellagiarino skilfully navigates this terrain with a killer set piece (a canoe the traumatized Tess never exits) and a grill that is tantalizingly never lit. A beautifully clever script around an extraordinarily difficult subject. I'm very impressed.

A great two-hander that explores an admirable depth of information in only a few pages, where two strangers meet in a park and offer gestures of conciliation and friendship, never pushing too far but also never afraid to include moments of levity or awkwardness. It's lovely to see a piece where two people can lean on one another and offer friendship.

My favorite part of Emma Goldman-Sherman's 'Date Night?' are the stage directions that indicate how the actors might react if the audience does the right thing - that is, step in to defend a woman who feels unsafe. Each time it happens, the actor's reaction depends on whether the audience is placid (likely) or protective (rare). We are so conditioned to freeze in situations where we should step in that when we are offered multiple opportunities we often can't see them until it's too late. But if they take the chance? What a theatrical experience lies ahead!

From a play that begins with bottle puns and longing memories of a 7-Eleven cooler, Max Gill flips the switch and gives us a highly theatrical comment on climate change and environmental catastrophe. An especially delightful turn comes from an unexpectedly moody bird who ponders their function in existential terms. A great fun acting challenge for any group.

Of all the industries that have suffered throughout the pandemic, spare a thought for Aphrodite, Goddess of Love, and her daily quotas: where it's just not the same with social distancing and masks, and Zoom lags provide an entirely disappointing experience. A fun little piece where Aphrodite rages about the new obstacles in her job, and how she plans to soldier on regardless.

I read a lot of plays, yet I keep coming back to THE DROLL. And every time I do, I'm nagged by a thought: "IS this my FAVORITE play?" Do I love it because it restores all my faith in what the theatre can do? Because it inspires me with its wily cleverness, fantasticke stylization, yet intense modernity? Because it imagines a slice of history long-forgotten and still makes it so stunningly urgent? One that heaves my hearte into my mouthe as the very form of art is on the line? All doubts begone. This is my FAVORITE. Read. It.