An ex-colleague, a school librarian, once told me, much to my surprise, that quite a lot of children came into the library at lunch-time to read plays, but that there were not so many available. I therefore offer this set of 5 plays partially to fill the gap, whether merely for reading or even for performing. They range from the first two fairly simple ones, 'The Vase' and 'Neighbours' to the more complicated such as' Aline's Dream' and 'Mr. Far West'. You may note some familiar themes, which I may deliberately or not have borrowed. Aline is definitely not Dorothy, although 'Little Red Robin Hood' and 'Little Horrors' echo some of the ideas in my straightforward stories in 'Colin the Librarian'. The plays may sometimes seem to have serious ideas, such as loyalty and betrayal, but generally they are tongue-in-cheek and intended as (hopefully) a bit of fun. My own favourites are the rather spare 'Pythonesque', and to my mind, especially 'The Haunted Bedroom' with its spooky ending. However, I humbly offer them for you (once again hopefully) to enjoy.

An ex-colleague, a school librarian, once told me, much to my surprise, that quite a lot of children came into the library at lunch-time to read plays, but that there were not so many available. I therefore offer this set of 5 plays partially to fill the gap, whether merely for reading or even for performing. They range from the first two fairly simple ones, 'The Vase' and 'Neighbours' to the more complicated such as' Aline's Dream' and 'Mr. Far West'. You may note some familiar themes, which I may deliberately or not have borrowed. Aline is definitely not Dorothy, although 'Little Red Robin Hood' and 'Little Horrors' echo some of the ideas in my straightforward stories in 'Colin the Librarian'. The plays may sometimes seem to have serious ideas, such as loyalty and betrayal, but generally they are tongue-in-cheek and intended as (hopefully) a bit of fun. My own favourites are the rather spare 'Pythonesque', and to my mind, especially 'The Haunted Bedroom' with its spooky ending. However, I humbly offer them for you (once again hopefully) to enjoy.

With so many jokes to choose from, you’ll never have to hear, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” ever again. With over 1,700 kid-friendly jokes, this book is a must-have for pranksters (and punsters) everywhere. Whether you’re shopping for your little comedian or looking for a laugh yourself, this book is sure to get a standing ovation. Get kids excited for learning without them even realizing it with puns, wordplay, and homophones galore. Bursting with family-friendly humor, this silly big book of jokes is sure to put a smile on anyone’s face. And with so many jokes to choose from, you’ll never have to hear, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” ever again.

Farce has always been relegated to the lowest rung of the ladder of dramatic genres. Distinctions between farce and more literary comic forms remain clouded, even in the light of contemporary efforts to rehabilitate this type of comedy. Is farce really nothing more than slapstick-the "putting out of candles, kicking down of tables, falling over joynt-stools," as Thomas Shadwell characterized it in the seventeenth century? Or was his contemporary, Nahum Tate correct when he declared triumphantly that "there are no rules to be prescribed for that sort of wit, no patterns to copy; and 'tis altogether the creature of imagination"? Davis shows farce to be an essential component in both the comedic and tragic traditions. Farce sets out to explore the territory of what makes farce distinct as a comic genre. Its lowly origins date back to the classic Graeco-Roman theatre; but when formal drama was reborn by the process of elaboration of ritual within the mediaeval Church, the French term "farce" became synonymous with a recognizable style of comic performance. Taking a wide range of farces from the briefest and most basic of fair-ground mountebank performances to fully-fledged five-act structures from the late nineteenth century, the book reveals the patterns of comic plot and counter-plot that are common to all. The result is a novel classification of farce-plots, which serves to clarify the differences between farce and more literary comic forms and to show how quickly farce can shade into other styles of humor. The key is a careful balance between a revolt against order and propriety, and a kind of Realpolitik which ultimately restores the social conventions under attack. A complex array of devices in such things as framing, plot, characterization, timing and acting style maintain the delicate balance. Contemporary examples from the London stage bring the discussion u

The author, a computer science professor diagnosed with terminal cancer, explores his life, the lessons that he has learned, how he has worked to achieve his childhood dreams, and the effect of his diagnosis on him and his family.