Recommended by Christine Foster

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    This clever satire had me at "Did you know that mashed potatoes can be frozen up to a year in advance?" Just when you thought Martha Stewart's blithe home-making tips were exhausting, comes this wild, modern take on preparing for a family Christmas. Not only dizzying, fresh, and funny, it's a scathing look at the endless trend to do things "perfectly." Great fun.

    This clever satire had me at "Did you know that mashed potatoes can be frozen up to a year in advance?" Just when you thought Martha Stewart's blithe home-making tips were exhausting, comes this wild, modern take on preparing for a family Christmas. Not only dizzying, fresh, and funny, it's a scathing look at the endless trend to do things "perfectly." Great fun.

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    This short, heart-wrenching piece richly deserves all the productions and accolades it has received. Spare, incisive and truthful, the concept is a perfectly realized theatrical 'shiver' from start to finish.

    This short, heart-wrenching piece richly deserves all the productions and accolades it has received. Spare, incisive and truthful, the concept is a perfectly realized theatrical 'shiver' from start to finish.

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    I loved these women, and loved spending time with them as they wrestled with the traumas of the Great War, the personal devastation of the influenza epidemic, an ongoing fascination with spiritualism and the hopes for the beginnings of independence and equality from the Suffragette movement. The dialogue is great, crisp and witty and the play is fast-paced and fascinating. Terrific fun.

    I loved these women, and loved spending time with them as they wrestled with the traumas of the Great War, the personal devastation of the influenza epidemic, an ongoing fascination with spiritualism and the hopes for the beginnings of independence and equality from the Suffragette movement. The dialogue is great, crisp and witty and the play is fast-paced and fascinating. Terrific fun.

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    This has got to be everyone's nightmare. A car crash is graphically rendered with terrifyingly precise audio FX. The Father and Daughter are instantly likeable, and instantly endangered beyond survival. It's very moving, and upsetting and I wish there was a bit more of it.

    This has got to be everyone's nightmare. A car crash is graphically rendered with terrifyingly precise audio FX. The Father and Daughter are instantly likeable, and instantly endangered beyond survival. It's very moving, and upsetting and I wish there was a bit more of it.

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    "I thought maybe, just maybe, she was ready to accept me" This heart-breaking statement about a call from their mother sums up this affecting monologue about someone determined to go ahead with gender transitioning. The courage it takes to know you're going to lose friendship, support and understanding and still need to be true to yourself is portrayed with chilling clarity.

    "I thought maybe, just maybe, she was ready to accept me" This heart-breaking statement about a call from their mother sums up this affecting monologue about someone determined to go ahead with gender transitioning. The courage it takes to know you're going to lose friendship, support and understanding and still need to be true to yourself is portrayed with chilling clarity.

  • Christine Foster: Women of a Certain Age by Steve Duprey
    “

    So many heartfelt thoughts here - the longing to take ultimate responsibility for one other (small) person - the needing to be needed - the warm and relatable dialogue on the required energy and sacrifices of motherhood. It's all there. And the TV dating game is a hoot. Lovely, charming and uplifting.

    So many heartfelt thoughts here - the longing to take ultimate responsibility for one other (small) person - the needing to be needed - the warm and relatable dialogue on the required energy and sacrifices of motherhood. It's all there. And the TV dating game is a hoot. Lovely, charming and uplifting.

    ”
  • Christine Foster: A PAIN by Paul Smith
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    A wonderful, rambling pity party of a monologue interspersed with modern celebrity rhyming slang as a running gag. The actor listening to this self serving rant will have as much to do as the actor ranting, and in the end we find out why, and it's a hoot.

    A wonderful, rambling pity party of a monologue interspersed with modern celebrity rhyming slang as a running gag. The actor listening to this self serving rant will have as much to do as the actor ranting, and in the end we find out why, and it's a hoot.

    ”
  • Christine Foster: Something is Rotting on the Stage of Glenmark by Ken Preuss
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    A jaded and student-weary drama professor struggles through a hopeless Hamlet hopeful's endless audition. Each relentlessly pursues their objective with hysterically obstinate energy and wit, ending with a truly clever resolve. Laugh out loud funny stuff.

    A jaded and student-weary drama professor struggles through a hopeless Hamlet hopeful's endless audition. Each relentlessly pursues their objective with hysterically obstinate energy and wit, ending with a truly clever resolve. Laugh out loud funny stuff.

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  • Christine Foster: The Waiting Room by Ken Preuss
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    "There is a destiny that shapes our ends..." and in this clever piece our daily destiny is literally in the hands of a pair of whimsical employees (of some unnamed organization) who can arbitrarily give us "the go ahead" (or not) as we struggle with frustration, delay and anticipation in the game of life. It's entertaining, well thought out, original and satisfying.

    "There is a destiny that shapes our ends..." and in this clever piece our daily destiny is literally in the hands of a pair of whimsical employees (of some unnamed organization) who can arbitrarily give us "the go ahead" (or not) as we struggle with frustration, delay and anticipation in the game of life. It's entertaining, well thought out, original and satisfying.

    ”
  • Christine Foster: Ghost Bicycle by Sean Abley
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    Wow. Intriguing, creepy and gripping. I loved the structure and the replays of alternate ways of looking at events. And the depiction of the shell-shock of grief, with all its intensity, ambiguity and confusion
    becomes the perfect set up for the clever plot reveals as they begin to peel off in surprising and fascinating layers. Hugely enjoyable and well-crafted.

    Wow. Intriguing, creepy and gripping. I loved the structure and the replays of alternate ways of looking at events. And the depiction of the shell-shock of grief, with all its intensity, ambiguity and confusion
    becomes the perfect set up for the clever plot reveals as they begin to peel off in surprising and fascinating layers. Hugely enjoyable and well-crafted.

    ”