Falling Short

by James Robson

Published 1 December 1996
Tell the absolute truth for a day -- a difficult task for an honourable man? Well, publisher Giles Short is honourable, but he is also kind, with a wife, a mistress and an appointment with an execrable, but very lucrative, author. And Giles has made a bet with a dubious, ruthless entrepreneur, staking everything he owns. The next twelve hours are likely to be something of a nightmare for Giles ... and those around him.4 women, 7 men

Mail Order Bride

by James Robson

Published 1 March 1996
Martin, a craggy, hard-working Yorkshire landowner and bachelor, lives with his punctilious spinster sister Ivy on the farm they inherited from their parents. Desperate for companionship, Martin pays for a Filipino woman, Maria - whom he has discovered through a video-dating agency - to come and live with them. Maria, shrewd, intelligent and warm-hearted, desperately wants to start a new life with a "respectable English gentleman farmer". But Ivy resents the intrusion, and on the day of Maria and Martin's wedding, she digs up information about Maria's past, with shocking consequences for them all. From the author of "Beulah", Robson has created a play about East and West in which a lonely, unfulfilled man and a resourceful woman come together in an attempt to mend their broken lives.

Beulah

by James Robson

Published May 1995
Dad and Mam - Frank and Lottie Ling - live in sheltered accommodation in a North Yorkshire market town. Dad is nearing death, and so his family, including Uncle Frank, four daughters and Craig, the only son - meet up to see him through his final days. Displayed prominently on the wall of the living room is a picture of "Beulah" the farm which the Lings owned for many years. As Dad's health diminishes, he remembers his happy times as a Dalesman, and his children are reminded of their youth at "Beulah". But as the play progresses, some of the memories are painful, and, after Dad's death, his diaries reveal a shocking secret.