Recommended by David Patton

Aww, I loved this sugary sweet wee tale. Short simple and sweet, and as usual with Vivian Lermond, sparkling dialogue drives it along to a Merry Xmas ending!

I can almost smell the flowers flowing over a warm Cotswold cottage wall...Vivian Lermond manages to transport us to that time and place, the heart of England where Mrs. Marple and Agatha Christie would not be out of place. Her two sleuths are charming, no fast car chases, no fist fights, not even any angry language, and it all adds up to sheer charm...except, someone was murdered, and it's up to our two middle aged, sharp as a tack charmers to bring justice for the victim, and order returned to the village...divine!!

Oh how I loved this tale of lost hopes, tarnished memories and guilty pleasures. We're introduced to the dark underbelly of the almost made-its, and wannabees as they drown their past memories and future hopes in a dingy bar run by yet another washed up star. And then, from the unlikeliest quarter springs hope... A tree!
A tree, played by another of the wounded, washed up thespians takes the demoralised troupe to task and sends the on their way with renewed hope!
This play begs to be on stage and a wonderful vehicle for actors of a certain age!

As a dog owner, I looked up from reading this piece and my dog...I swear!! ... was looking at me rather strangely!
Yes, I know, we all think that our dogs are so very smart and know every word...but what if they did?
What if they did and were smarter too?
That's the basis for this clever piece where Feeney-Williams has Twinkle the dog taking charge and hounding out an unsuitable suitor.

A spoiled rich girl meets a workaholic family man.
Yep, heard it before...but not like this!
Feeney-Williams cleverly weaves a little morality play where the characters, in understanding one another, take stock of their own lives and motivations.
Adding another layer to her story, she has them travel across decades to meet in a dream, or perhaps a time shift where we find them giving and taking advice to rewind and reset their lives and loves.
The interplay is superb!

I went down a Yorkshire pit one time...one time was enough! Josephs long paragraph on Page eight manages to capture what I felt...sounds, smells, darkness and fear!
Our reluctant young, wannabe Air Ace is allotted a different path in the fight against the Nazis.
His battles take place not "somewhere among the clouds above", but in the bowels of the earth.
"My spirit will soar in a Godly flight, I spent my life in darkness, So that others would have light"
I'm reminded of these two poems as we see his wish, and taste his reality.

"We always think we have more time. Until we don’t."

I kept going back to this wee line in John's great observational piece about loss, grieving, and the lack of a blueprint for dealing with the death of a loved one.
Swinging from anger at some jotted notes from her estranged younger sibling, to guilt at not reaching out to her during a suggested troubled life.
A great dramatic piece for stage, and I particularly like the idea John has of time flashing by...A metaphor for lost chances perhaps?

Lee's character is so lost and needy, it hurts. There's nothing new or fresh in this character...nothing quirky, nothing remarkable, nothing heroic. And yet 'Julie', is all around us, and normally they drift through our lives like insubstantial ghosts.
But here, Miller makes us see her as she bangs around like a ball in a pinball machine, hopelessly seeking a cause, desperate to do good and be noticed doing it, until finally, she realises what she is...brilliantly analysed in one short sentence….

'And then I wondered if maybe only the entitled had time to get depressed?'

Ok, I'll admit, I thought this was to be yet another 'let's turn the tables on the racist High schoolers'
After reading it through twice, I now have no idea if the characters are real, or if the characters are playing characters!
So clever, not a whodunnit, but keeps us guessing to the end...and then some!
I'd love to see this on stage, the actors expressions would truly take this excellent script to a different level!
This is the second of Andrew's pieces I've read...but I'll be back baby!!

"the holiday from Hell that can drive you to drink or find victory in Valium."
Now come on, who doesn't wish they'd written that line!
Lermond either has
1) A very extensive and varied family.
2) A local pub within staggering distance filled with every lunatic and drunkard in her neck of the woods.
3) And my guess... she is just a damned fine observer, has a Viviand imagination!!! (see what I did?) and can create her characters and dialogue through sheer talent... ps..Cassie is a snob!! Loved it!!!