CONTACT: playwrightdianneffitch@gmail.com

WEBSITE:  www.dianneffitch.uk

GENRE: Youth drama

CAST SIZE (M/F): Flexible; minimum 10 with doubling

LENGTH:  One act (50 minutes)

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    Yes - ideal for families and schools

Short, one act version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, with simple staging.  Ideal for youth groups and schools, or community theatre one act play festival.  Flexible, gender blind casting.

GENRE: Thriller

CAST SIZE (M/F): 2M, 4F

LENGTH:  Full length

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    No - ages 12 and over

December, 2012. 

Brian, the senior partner of an estate agency in the London Suburbs, always arranges the Christmas party with the support of his devoted secretary, Mary. With Secret Santa, free booze, music and party games, Brian hopes to keep his Residential team happy for another year.

Joyce, Brian’s wife, makes a deal with the devil to save the agency. Guy Stephens, an ambitious senior surveyor helps her to cover embezzlement of client funds, used to support her alcoholism and flamboyant lifestyle.

Following the party, disaster strikes. Brian remains stuck in 2012 whilst life moves on around him. Jane, a newly promoted sales negotiator comes up with a plan, not just to help the struggling agency, but to use Brian’s talents as a photographer to give his life meaning once more.

GENRE: Drama

CAST SIZE (M/F): 3M, 4F

LENGTH:  Full length

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    Yes

After the death of her mother, financial circumstances force Kat to take over the family business.  But her father is hiding a secret which only comes to light after Kat meets Harry, who is researching his family’s history.  Talking to some of the regular cafe customers, Harry discovers the hidden secrets of one man’s life that he has buried for more than half a century.

Set just after the turn of the twenty first century in a cafe, with flashbacks to The London Blitz from November 1940 to April 1941.

Past misdemeanors ripple through the generations.

GENRE:  Comedy Drama

CAST SIZE (M/F):   5F

LENGTH:   One act

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    12 years +

Agony Aunt Tilly, with a wealth of problem solving advice, embarks on running problem solving evening classes at a local primary school - ‘Sex for the Over 60s’.  Advertising her Date Nights, she is disappointed when only 4 ladies turn up, all with their own expectations and agendas. 

Eco-warrior and Communal Farm member Sheila (call me ‘Shee’), Classic car widow Pam, Cake baker extraordinaire Helen, and Cougar Tanya are all expecting very different things when they find out about the new evening classes - ‘Date (K)nights – Save the Date’.

Despite their initial unfulfilled expectations, will they all get satisfaction in the end?

GENRE:  Pantomime

CAST SIZE (M/F):   Minimum 4M, 3F / 5 with doubling - no maximum

LENGTH:   Flexible - from 20 minutes - 2 hours

SUITABLE FOR ALL:   Yes - ideal for families and schools

Forty is an apprentice fairy, looking for work. She dreams of being in a festive pantomime – but how many panto stories really have fairies?

Searching through the situations vacant column in the Fantasy Times, she finds listings for six different twenty minute pocket pantomimes. Will Fairy Forty find her happily ever after?

Each of the six pocket pantomimes is a self contained story which may be used in schools, drama classes or as short pieces for residential homes or as part of a variety show. Adding the fairy entre-acts between the scenes to link the stories allows for a flexible length show, from twenty minutes to two hours.  The pocket pantos - Puss in Boots, Dick Whittington, Beauty and the Beast, Snow White and the Lazy Pixie, Jack and the Beanstalk and Cinderella may be performed individually, or in any order; however, Cinderella should come last, as this is the only story that originally has a fairy.

Local references may be added where indicated.

Published by Upstage Publications.

GENRE:  Drama adaptation

CAST SIZE (M/F):   Flexible - minimum 12 with doubling. 3M, 3F, 6 GN. No 

maximum

LENGTH:   Full length

SUITABLE FOR ALL:   Yes

A simple staging of the classic story of Alice in Wonderland, Alice Through the Looking Glass, Alice Underground and the Hunting of the Snark by Lewis Carroll.  

Today is Alice’s birthday. Her mother has invited their noisy, eclectic family to a tea party to celebrate, but Alice would rather play on her own, building a house of cards. And Dad would just rather play chess.

How can Alice avoid her annoying brothers?  Will her strange family even notice that she’s missing? And will she ever get to meet the Topsy Turvy Alice in the mirror?

Suddenly, Alice finds a way to enter a world of adventure – a Wonderland.

Premiere in Virginia, USA in May 2026.

GENRE:  Drama

CAST SIZE (M/F):   2M, 4F

LENGTH:   Full length

SUITABLE FOR ALL:   12 years +

What happens if you don’t have the courage to be true to yourself until it is too late? 

Robert’s life is spiralling out of control.  With an alcoholic wife, a petulant daughter, a demanding mother and a friends-with-benefits lover who is desperate to have a child, his life has become too complicated.  Even Robert’s visits to Bath are becoming complicated. 

Whatever happened to his perfect summer of love?

In his on-going search for ‘The One’, Robert struggles to find peace within himself, which affects his relationships with those who should be closest to him.  The return of a childhood friend turns his world upside down, and finally forces him to make a decision about his future.

Note: this play contains some adult language, which may be altered at the director’s discretion.

GENRE:  Pantomime

CAST SIZE (M/F):   Flexible - minimum 16

LENGTH:   Full length

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    Yes

In a festive romp where fairytales merge, Jack, the 3 Little Pigs, Red Riding Hood, Snow White, A Golden Goose and SuperGran unite to defeat the wicked Sheriff of Nottingham and his furry sidekicks. Outsmarting wolves, navigating enchanted lands and battling Giants - fairytale magic makes anything possible!

And there’s always gold at the end of the Beanstalk!

First produced in Devon in 2025.  Published by Upstage Publications.

GENRE:  Drama

CAST SIZE (M/F):   1M, 4F

LENGTH:   Full length

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    Yes

Since 1917, Private Will Edwards has been writing letters on behalf of his illiterate WW1 comrades in the trenches in Northern France.  He has been reading out the replies to them, and become vicariously involved in their lives.  On a mission to reinforce recently dug trenches on their retreat from the front line, he suffers life changing injuries, and the loss of his closest pals in his platoon. Before they went over the top, each had written their final letters home, which were to be delivered by hand should the worst happen. They all promised to keep sending letters should anything happen, until such time as they made it back to England and could see their pal’s various loved ones in person.

Will, now in a General Hospital in Northern France, meets Nina, a very young, naive Red Cross Volunteer nurse (VAD).  Nina and other nursing staff help Will to keep his promise until his return to England.

 Will made a vow.  Now he must keep it.

** Please note that any reference to places/dates are not provided as a history lesson, but, after much research, are adapted for dramatic purposes.  This work is entirely fictional, inspired by the reminiscences of a family member, looking back on his time in the trenches.

GENRE:  Drama

CAST SIZE (M/F):   2F

LENGTH:   One act

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    No - ages 18 and over

After the death of her father, Skye decides to try to build a closer relationship with her mother. By bringing chaos and spontaneity to her mother’s life; can Skye help Amber deal with her loneliness and grief?

Amber writes lists. Lots of lists. Her obsession has driven a wedge between her and her daughter, Skye.

Could a star gazing camping trip be the answer to all their problems?

GENRE:  Drama adaptation

CAST SIZE (M/F):   Flexible, minimum 18 GN

LENGTH:   Full length

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    Yes

Adapted from The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, this play version of the 1908 classic tale follows the story of Mole, who comes out of his home in springtime to meet new friends – a Water Rat, sensible elderly Badger and lively Toad. Toad’s obsession with various forms of transport eventually lead him into trouble when he steals a motor car, despite the friends’ best efforts to reform him.

After being jailed for 20 years, the Wild Wooders – weasels, stoats and foxes – band together to take over Toad Hall.

Following Toad’s escape from jail, the friends hatch an ingenious plan to reclaim Toad Hall, from the band of outlaws.

This brand new stage play adaptation of The Wind in the Willows allows for elements of ensemble and physical performance. Suitable for youth groups, schools or mixed community theatres to perform, this is great family entertainment as an alternative to the traditional British pantomime.

Premiered in Devon in May 2026.

GENRE:  Classic Drama, Adaptation of Tess of the D'Urbervilles

CAST SIZE (M/F):   3M, 5F with doubling

LENGTH:   Full length

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    Yes

A thrilling tale of seduction, love and betrayal.

The 1870s – the great agricultural depression.  Britain remains divided between gender and class.  The rich grew richer, and many were unable to find work – they fell into poverty and crime.  The farming community particularly faced  economic hardship during this time of cheap imported grain.

Thinking that a welcome piece of news regarding the family’s lineage might give rise to upward social mobility, the Durbyfield family send their eldest daughter, Tess, to work as a companion to madame D'Urberville.  As a naive young woman, little do they realise that this would lead to her introduction to the darker side of society.  Tess is seduced, abandoned and forced into drastic action, which ultimately leads to her downfall.

One young woman’s struggle against societal expectations, and her own fate.

GENRE:  Drama adaptation

CAST SIZE (M/F):   6M, 4F, 2YB, 1YG (with opportunities for doubling) plus 3-6 optional non-speaking puppet operators

LENGTH:   Full length

SUITABLE FOR ALL:    Yes

Adapted for the stage from the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Edwardian England.  Mary Lennox is a spoilt, neglected young girl, with no friends, living in India. After the death of her parents to cholera, she is sent to a large manor in England to live with her guardian, Mr Craven. Mr Craven, a widower, wants nothing to do with children – even his own son - and spends his life travelling the world.

With little to do, she starts to explore the grounds of the manor. With the help of a Robin, she finds a buried key, and discovers a neglected garden behind a hidden locked gate. She sets about restoring the garden and in doing so, discovers friendship with a local boy, Dickon, and her cousin, Colin.

Shortly to be published by Lazy Bee Scripts.