Recommended by Claudia Haas

The past, the memory, the love - it stays with us and so prevalent in Weibezahl’s charming remembrance of a past that lasts as long as we do. One of the beauties of theatre is the immediacy of memory. And the playwright conjures it and gives it as a gift for us. Accept it as a present for all of us.

Reality, AI, chatbots - Feeny-Williams takes them all on and succeeds in her wonderfully satiric and human chatroom where being human is a liability. The trolls are out, their knives are sharpened and will two lonely people survive the onslaught? Timely, wistful, true and imagined - a play for our times and our overpowering need to connect.

This could be the guidebook as to how our animal friends really encourage the love lives of humans. Disney would be appalled. Audiences will laugh themselves silly.

A combination of rose-colored glasses and reality join together in a rich play of memory, truth and maybes. O’Grady deftly mixes the toughness of immigrants blending into their new country with the sweetness of their hopes for the future. There is a twist in these remembrances. Are those times missed? Or best forgotten? Happy can have two edges. A poignant slice of life that rings true today.

Can a daffodil make friends with a child? What do they have to offer each other? Is being picked and then “vased” the end for a daffodil? Or is the journey from ground to vase an adventure? Plumridge looks at these questions from a child’s point of view and creates a sweet tale of one child in a nest of daffodils. Young ones will delight in the tale both onstage and in the audience.

This play will make you want to put a trombone in a farm field. How can you figure out something when you don’t know what “something” is? Martin’s fable show’s us how if you limit your expectations, you limit your life. Wanting more is not a crime.

What a beautiful and kind reminder that children live with anxiety - maybe even more so after Covid. The playwright does a beautiful job of a child yearning to play but fearful. I love how help comes to Ada with care and a lot of imagination. Stuffies can be lifesavers.

You want to know the ending and you don’t. Gripping and terrifying. An epic story in one minute.

What a gorgeous story of will, feminism, motherly love, and resilience. Even when women had no power, they found ways. Rose’s story evokes a time that is not as far removed as we think and infuses it with care and bravery. A play suitable for any time of year that celebrates love.

A Christmas story. A sibling story. A train story. A memory. Sickles combines all of my loves and delivers with a play cemented in brotherly love. My heart skipped a beat at the end. So will the audience.