Recommended by Alice Josephs

In an affecting and heartwarming monologue, Sickles conjures up the world and voice of a sensitive, imaginative child seeking security and love . Harmoniously mingling tadpole biology and fairy tale trope, with ever-present youngster and adult schoolyard tensions, this is a charming, skilfully structured piece, as dappled as the water under sunlight in which Zoey wades. It invites delicate yet robust and humorous performance, direction and the possibility of inventive lighting and sound design. Most of all, up-to-date in its concerns yet nostalgic in its evocation of youth and childhood literature, this is a playlet to delight audiences.

Wearing its learning lightly, Tinder … Sucka uses seamlessly the premise of a 1940s rom com, driven by 1970s-like blaxploitation wrapped in screwball, cartoonish comedy. Fast-moving and witty, with or without a knowledge of the movie references, this is a gift for actors with its larger-than-life characters. But they are equalled by a breathtaking technical prowess as dialogue and scene structure endows the piece with comic timing and momentum to thrill and entertain any audience.

Feeny-Williams creates a layered, topical and easy-to-stage piece on a subject which could otherwise too often descend to cliche. The writer uses character traits of the scientist and the gradual mutation of his Artificial Intelligence creation to cleverly plot and structure this two hander. With more complex characterisation for the hard drinking scientist and his Jeeves-like robot than might first appear, S.T.R.A.U.S.S. delivers two nuanced roles for actors and a satisfying plot with a final devastating twist.

With a sure hand, Cole traces the history of singer Ella Fitzgerald’s arrest as a pioneer of desegregation. In a small play with roles big on subtext for three actors, huge issues, crazy contradictions and indignities suffered emerge. With its period setting, distinctive protagonist and intimate dialogue, the piece lends itself to simple staging or more complex sound and visual design. A self-contained short with wide appeal, it is also a snippet ripe for expansion into a full length drama with the relationship during a troubled era of two women of colour at its centre.

In the beginning —- God has a mission to delegate to his Angels with this diverse, corporate ladder version of the Genesis story. Priskorn turns the angelic host into a range of identifiable company personalities incorporating a contemporary take on Satan. Inoffensive yet sharp and witty, appealing to any grown up audience, actors will also relish this exhilarating riff on the Garden of Eden with its clearly defined characters, cultural comment and laugh out loud moments.

Part crime thriller, part horror, enter the dark world of conwoman Little Red Handed, survivor of being eaten alive and everybody’s granddaughter. A gloriously murky generational playlet when a debt ridden millennial apparently meets her match in home owning boomer and a ‘sting’ takes an unexpected turn. With its mix of fairy tale and modern confidence trickery, this is a gift for actors, director and designer to use all their ingenuity to convey a delicious double perspective.

Cracks begin to show in a power couple’s relationship when the Big Bad Wolf of fairy tale fame undergoes character development and decides to go against type. A contemporary backstory of property developers begins to emerge with two great roles for actors, encompassing the intensity of a family and business drama alongside pithy dark and magical comedy. With the scope for experimental staging and lighting and still the simplest of sets, this is a thoughtful and layered treat. Including, naturally, an accommodating Happy Ending.

In a parallel universe, where Harry and Meghan & Oprah don’t exist, meet the Prince of England & his … Ah, you need to read or, even better, see this piece to find out what or who, as another Royal goes public & puts himself in the hands of the media. Using an ingenious split structure, with 3 characters within an energetic & whip smart set up, & also jigsaw wit as the three dialogue trajectories come together, this is an adult entertainment in a world where crowned heads have become just some more celebrities & political fodder.

This starts with an iconic image - The Graduate’s final scene of a bride and a non-groom eloping on a Greyhound bus. But Blissfully Yours develops and explores the fragile yet touchingly funny state of early wedded bliss with its cold feet and moments of tenderness. The private doubts emerge but the public reconciliation finally comes through the deus ex machina of the bus driver. Both the easy staging and dialogue mood shifts make this a versatile and joyous piece culminating, in spite of itself, in a sweet yet tough happy ending.

A fabulous play with the scope of a family epic where the fishing village with its weather vicissitudes is as much a character as the family living in it. Layered both in structure and content, it is universal in its reach but also intensely specific with an impeccable but visceral story logic.