A Yard of Sun. Play. Christopher Fry
M9 (young to middle-age) F3 (young, middle-age). A courtyard.

A 'summer comedy' set in Sienna just after World War Il. Preparations are in hand for the renewal of the Palio fiesta-a horse race which has been held in the town for hundreds of years. Angelino is one of two central characters whose families are unexpectedly reunited after the war, and the play deals with the effects of the reunion both on individuals and on the group as a whole. Period 1946

The Year After The Fair. Play. Donald Madgwick
M4 (20-50) F4 (18, 20, 30s). A drawing-room.

Thomas Hardy's story On The Western Circuit, dramatised so successfully by Frank Harvey under the title The Day After The Fair, is the starting point for this delightful play. Charles and Anna's wedding goes ahead although Charles is still unaware that the writer of the letters with whom he is so in love is Edith and not Anna, her former servant. On the eve of Edith's departure to Europe she spends the night with Charles in an attempt to escape her desolate world. The events unfold in the high summer of the British Empire, 1893, under the watchful eye of Thomas Hardy himself.
ISBN 0 573 01683 6

The Years. Play. Cindy Lou Johnson,
3 men, 3 women; unit set.

Andrea, a young woman, is attacked by a man, Bartholomew, on her wedding day. On returning home, she tells Eloise, her older sister, and Isabelle and Andrew, her cousins, that her black eye and cut lip are a result of falling, thus protecting her attacker. While the family comforts Andrea, Eloise is quietly dealing with her own pain: her husband, Jeffrey, has just told her that he is leaving her. The family has been plagued with loss and pain, as Andrea and Eloise's father recently died and shortly after, their mother committed suicide. Andrew has a chance meeting later on the wedding day with Bartholomew and tells him the story of his cousin's mishap. Bartholomew had only mugged Andrea out of a desperation to escape to a better life and is now disturbed by this information, but decides he must move on. Thirteen years pass, and the cousins are gathered for another wedding. This time Eloise is to be remarried, but she has been sent the wrong dress and food has also gone to the wrong party. That night Bartholomew, now a very successful business man, happens to save Andrea from a drunken attacker, and is shocked to discover that his mugging of her thirteen years earlier continues to colour her life. His own life then takes a downward spiral as we discover in the final scene three years later. At that time, Andrea's family suffers another loss when Andrew, by now a renowned photographer, dies just before the opening of a major exhibit of his work. At the opening, Isabelle, is expected to speak, and as she sums up the relationships in her family, the remaining cousins reach a new level of understanding and forgiveness.

Yerma. Play. Federico Garcia Lorca. Translated by Peter Luke
M3 F13. Stark set.

Peter Luke's translation of this powerful and passionate play was performed at the National Theatre in 1987 with Juliet Stevenson and Roger Lloyd-Pack. It tells the tragic tale of Yerma, an Andalusian woman trapped by circumstance and social obligations in a joyless and barren marriage. The play revolves around two central obsessions -Yerma's desperate need for a child and the indifference and impotence of her husband. In a passionate frenzy Yerma murders her husband in response to her frustrated desires.

You Say Tomatoes. Comedy. Bernard Slade
M2 (50s, 70) F2 (20s, 50s-60s). 2 living-rooms.

Giles, quintessentially English, doesn't take kindly to the intrusion of Americans Libby and Daisy. Libby needs to contact T. J. Walbourne, the famous mystery writer, to put together a film deal. Walbourne is, of course, Giles, and he musters all his reserve to thwart Libby. Finally, she admits defeat. But Libby has aroused passions in Giles and within days he is knocking at her door with a neat romantic compromise!
ISBN 0 573 69540 7

You Should See Us Now. Play. Peter Tinniswood
M2 (40s) F4 (30s, 60). Composite setting.

Divorce Graham asks friends Ernest and Pamela to help out with the holiday visit of his children. The children are brought by his ex-wife and her mother, who disapproves of Graham's lifestyle. Pamela, although childless, has strong views on children and organises a party for them. By having the adults play both the party guests and themselves as children we are given fascinating and funny glimpses of their pasts, making their scenes as grown-ups all the more pertinent.
ISBN 0 573 11512 5