Recommended by Alice Josephs

This little 10 minute play packs quite a punch, not least because it features Cassius Clay who later transformed himself into boxing champion Muhammad Ali. But there are four heavy hitting characters carrying equal weight, clearly and simply defined. Combined together in a Miami hotel room for the negro elite during segregated 1960s’ America, even so it exposes a more complex and nuanced reality with the kind of roles for actors capable of giving star-making performances. The script has additionally the potential to be expanded into a full length play or screenplay or TV series.

From the start to finish, both visually and audibly, go-getting New Jersey native Barbara demands attention with her no-nonsense attitude and forthright delivery. A gift for an older actress, Lermond’s knowledge plus painting of place and cast of characters through salt-of-the-earth Barbara brings the journey from burger flipping to self made business woman vividly to life in a deliciously tough-talking monologue.

Rex McGregor insures full justice is done to a landmark early public housing project with a lively theatricality, cemented with smart humour. A solidly constructed piece of playwriting masonry nevertheless gives real life characters a light touch and sunny disposition without losing touch with the important social issues at stake.

Appealing across the gender divide, this is a witty ‘Harry Met Sally’ rom com through the prism of the sports’ commentary box, all in 30 minutes. Feeny-Williams manages expertly to combine football punditry with a genuinely affecting on off romance. She also succeeds in making us care for the football commentators as more than a mere script device. This definitely would be a hit in any playwriting festival or as a short film with its touching ‘Shaun of The Dead’-type relationship humour and clever structure.

A whipsmart short play with three memorable roles for actors structured with witty economy. Bonafede’s crafty and evocative little piece combines celebrity, real estate and the underbelly of Hollywood’s commercial imperative in this wry and entertaining take on showbiz.

A mom and son’s relationship itself undergoes a ‘status update’ threading together a mother’s own punk youth, current stresses and boyish insouciance, then hopes for the future. Gatton expertly marshalls identification and sympathies within a deceptively simple framework where an untimely death turns a seeming generation gap into a life affirming bond.

This mischievous piece gives scope to director and actors to mine the possibilities where a seemingly conventional date turns surreal. Cleverly paced, this is structured as a slow burner playing on audience’s expectations of genre but eventually turning out to be a warm hearted rom com.

Cabfare For The Common Man is a gift for actors, director, designer, technical crew - and not least the audience. Clever choreography/blocking is ready-built into the script and we sit alongside the Everyman in the bed cum cab with our hearts in our mouth as the play races along at breakneck speed until the final humdinger of a line. From the witty title through the ambushed central character to a kind of happy ending, structure and content combine seamlessly into a breathless ride through life’s compulsions and choices on a whirlwind journey.

An engrossing triptych charting an off-on relationship between two opposites attracting. This is a delightful vehicle, allowing a male and female actor to cross the years with its strongly drawn characters and enchanting wordplay, as well as a wistful entertainment for any audience.

A spooky riff on a fossilised life with three strong roles for actors in a well thought-out plot and plenty of scope to ratchet up the tension.