Recommended by Dan West

A clever and exquisitely constructed pastiche of 1940s noir and 80s tackiness. In a world where disparate timestreams meet and incongruous characters crossover between eras, hard-boiled private eye Harvey Jacobson finds himself drawn into a case that could bring an end to him (but can't they all). Smartly written and always funny. If you produce one science-fiction time-travel noir this year, it should be this one.

A darkly comedic take on loneliness and the rise of AI. Adolescent Anna is at that point in life where she desperately needs advice from a close confidant or trusted mentor - and what she finds instead is WhitAI, an LLM that can mimic those roles but without actual thought or judgement. A power portent of things to come and struggles to be faced by our post-pandemic generations. Powerful, funny, and deeply human.

Danielle Wirsansky takes us deep inside a Vichy French interrogation room as British SOE agent Eileen Nearne attempts to evade the questions of her Nazi inquisitor. A taut and riveting true life historical thriller that will leave you hungry to learn the full story of this largely unkown WWII heroine

Fiancé find you boring? Maybe turning to crime is just the thing to bring a little spark back into your relationship. At least that’s protagonist Sean’s line of thinking in this clever rom-com send-up. Julie Brandon’s characters don’t always make the wisest choices here, but darn if it isn’t fun watching them make them. This is exactly what a 10-minute comedy is supposed to be.

What starts as a quick-witted comedic sci-fi farce about the perils of time travel (and billionaires), by its close, has transformed into bittersweet tale of love and affection between a husband and wife forced to make a choice that will change their lives forever. In the hands of another writer, this sort of transition like this might be too much to ask of an audience, but Paul Braverman pulls it off brilliantly. This really is a fantastic one act. Bravo.

In this short, speculative two-hander, there is a fine line between quantum mechanics and metaphysics. And scientist Maggie keeps hilariously crossing back and forth over that line - much to the chagrin of her lab partner Steve. In a world where every choice can create and destroy infinite universes, how can any of us be sure of anything? The only thing I am sure of right now is that Christopher Soucy’s “Dark Matter” sure has a good time exploring that question.

A 10-minute play about death that is touching and charmingly funny. A woman whose every aspect of life is touched by the deaths of those around her meets cute with a terminally ill cancer patient who has taken to cleaning the graves of those that have preceded them. Is this a match made in heaven or just a close encounter of the eerie kind? Perhaps we’ll find out if that can make it to the first date. Perse Grammer has delivered a noteworthy and production ready short play.

When things are tough, perhaps all you really need is a clown. Ray has been the victim of schoolyard bullying to the point that he is becoming truant. Clownie is….a clown (of course) who see through to Ray’s pain and stops to do something about it. A charming and sweetly funny short play that gets to the heart of a serious issue. Sometimes Good Samaritans wear floppy shoes.

We can’t all be fast. Sometimes the most we can hope for is to just not me amongst The Slow. In Georgia Xanthopoulou’s thought-provoking monologue, our well travelled narrator reflects on a childhood game of tag where the most favored get to set the rules that everyone else must follow - even if those rules keep changing every time we begin to catch them. The lessons learned in the schoolyard can last a lifetime.

Consequences come hard and fast in Paul Donnelly’s one act Cupid Agonistes. Brook Robertson knows how to love, unfortunately that love does not extend much past his prized Willy Stargell autographed baseball bat. And it is this lack of ability to properly cherish (or show fidelity to) the humans in his life that will lead to the complete undoing of the whole lot of them. A darkly funny and utterly merciless play.