John Mortimer

In the first volume of his bestselling autobiography, novelist, playwright and former barrister John Mortimer relates all the pleasures and paradoxes of his early life. With wit and style, he takes us from his unusual childhood (his father, a blind barrister, insisted that his wife read the sordid details of his divorce briefs in public) to the dilemmas of his life in the law (one of his clients indignantly declared, 'Your Mr Rumpole could've gotten me out of this, why the hell can't you!'). Filled with laughter and a sense of the absurd, "Clinging to the Wreckage" is an extraordinary insight into the rich life of one of the great figures of our time.

The irrepressible English barrister, Horace Rumpole, seeks to uncover the truth behind a variety of unusual cases of crime

In a hospital housed in an old palazzo, two Englishmen recovering consciousness both see the ward ceiling, covered by a huge painting of Heaven, and imagine they have 'passed on'. In conversation it transpires that Fletcher, a rather rough type, has led the sort of Byronic life that scholarly Luby has only written about.2 women, 5 men

Francesca brings her lover, Henry, to her mother's flat to announce their intention to get married. While waiting for Mrs Stokes, Francesca answers a mysterious phone call. From what he overhears, Henry concludes that Mrs Stokes is a member of the oldest profession. It is later revealed that Mrs Stokes deals in nothing more erotic than antique furniture.2 women, 2 men

There were days when the Father could see and days when the Father could not see in this tale seen through the eyes of the perennial Son as viewed from the trellis surrounded, as if for protection, by an enormous garden. The tale grows in turns and twists upon allusion and reversals, all crisply dramatic and really not so comical as at first glance.7 women, 12 men

The characters in all four plays are in their twenties to forties and can either be played by the same four artists or by separate casts. The first, Mill Hill, calls for 2 men and 1 woman, the remainder, Bermondsey, Gloucester Road and Marble Arch, call for 2 men and 2 women each. These four plays are linked by their themes of sexual entanglements and by their central or suburban London settings.-Large flexible cast