Recommended by Christine Foster

The dialogue of these two semi-reclusive seniors is perfectly observed - hesitant, polite, elliptical and completely disarming in its gentle risk-taking. We're not sure how honest either will be about loss or loneliness, and delighted when it turns out it's just the right amount for them to take a step on a new journey.

This cleverly conceived short play starts in the best comic tradition with a quaint and dotty elderly couple dealing in a rather compassionate way with their homeless housebreaker. Their repartee is measured, assured, charming, but their motives well, that's the dark and devilish twist. Great fun.

Both raw and literate, this devastating piece offers searing, personal insight into neurodivergent thinking (when the brain flat out works against the person trying to use it) piled on top of systemic prejudice, trauma, complications of Covid, loss and longing. The anticipated staging is ambitious, imaginative and gripping. Note: this play has graphic (though integral) realistic intimacy that may not be everyone, but then again maybe it should be, because it is, above all, triumphantly, honest. And "I won't survive you twice" is a line I'll never forget.

I have kept this play in my 'wish list to direct' for five years and am delighted to finally have the chance. Gruff, self protective Harold's reactions to the erotic carvings on the temple walls are hilarious, and Doris' attempts to make him see themselves by seeing them are heartfelt. In the end it is only by pushing each other a little too far on tender topics that they stumble into the painful honesty that lets them reconnect. A charming, satisfying and heartwarming comedy.

If God is about promises, what happens when the promises fail? The faithful will tell us to Trust and Wait. But Experience and Faith may be incompatible. This devastating monologue explores what happens when you can finally imagine giving up, and also...can't.

It's arch, it's perceptive, and it's great fun, too. We may not be as nihilistic as the Cat or as gullible as the Fish, but their clearcut and opposing philosophies overlap in our own daily thoughts, making us smile in recognition as they explore the unlikely possibility that they may actually be friends.

A quirky piece about attraction and imagination. Two women collaborate to discover how to follow their hearts in a creative and intuitive way. Lots of fun and kind of sexy.

Painfully funny, excruciatingly clever, my toes stayed curled up the whole time at the collision of optimism and disaster. A great idea perfectly delivered.

A comic test of angst and empathy as Alice tries to re-invent her life and finally get her license without parallel parking. Her examiner gives such minimal responses the result could go either way, adding to the tension and delivering a very satisfying ride.

A razor sharp play about loss which refuses to grieve. Instead it celebrates the truth that 'caring' and 'loving' overlap constantly and are integral parts of 'families' however they are imagined. The characters are warm and true and the flow of scenes is so finely crafted that the perceptive dialogue manages to cut and heal at the same time. A really fine piece.