A Play, A Pie and A Pint (PPP) just announced the 18 wonderful new plays as part of its upcoming Spring 2024 season, co-presented with Aberdeen Performing Arts, Ayr Gaiety, Dumfries & Galloway Arts Festival, Macrobert Arts Centre and Traverse Theatre.

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2024 with almost 600 produced plays and having been the springboard for many accomplished playwrights, PPP’s new season will shine a spotlight on emerging writers, many of whom have never written for the lunchtime theatre company before.

Opening the season at Òran Mór on Monday 19 February is JACK, a dark comic monologue by Liam Moffat about navigating a life of loss, love and hope with the help of man’s best friend, directed by Gareth Nicholls (Artistic Director at Traverse Theatre).

Also in the programme, Imogen Stirling (Love the Sinner) debuts the fiercely funny Starving inspired by Scottish activist Wendy Wood, in association with Raw Material; Laurie Motherwell (Sean and Daro Flake it ‘Til They Make It) shares a heartfelt story about pigeons with Roost, and Sylvia Dow (Threads) retells the ups and downs of finding love as you get older in musical comedy Looking for the One.

As part of a commission with Sanctuary Queer Arts to bring a new queer play to life, recipient Hannah McGregor will tell a story of a young queer Scot meeting the misunderstood Loch Ness Monster in new comedy Ness. Other plays by queer artists this season include Medea on the Mic, a feminist retelling of the classic Greek tragedy by Nazli Tabatabai-Khatambakhsh, and Laila Noble’s coming-of-age comedy Dungeons, Dragons, and the Quest for D***.

Also making their PPP debut, Ellen Ritchie brings us dark comedy Hotdog which sees a young woman, dressed in a hotdog costume, who is determined to be the life of the party; Éimi Quinn’s heartfelt comedy The Funeral Club sees a group of friends from a teenage cancer ward go on a diamond heist; Kirsty Halliday shows us the mishaps at a Highland lodge with the farcical Bread & Breakfast, and Mairead A. Martin takes us on a saucy journey of self-discovery in Bridezilla and the Orchard of Sin.

Other highlights include Lewis Capaldi Goes Tropical, a surreal chaotic comedy by Raymond Wilson about a Glaswegian family whose illegal pet okapi is bought by the pop sensation, and Pushin’ Thirty by Dundee-based duo Taylor Dyson and Calum Kelly, a new comedy with original songs about approaching the milestone age. Closing out the season, Ross Collins Mackay (Treasure Island) will put a hilarious political spin on a Dickens classic with Party of the Century, which sees a man visited by three ghosts of Conservative past.

Jemima Levick, Artistic Director, said:

“2024 will be our 20th anniversary and, in the spirit of our beloved late founder David MacLennan who took a shot on many now-established playwrights, it felt right that this season should be centred on emerging writers who deserve to have their sensational plays put on in front of packed-out audiences.

“I say this every season but there is truly a play for everyone here, and I hope audiences come away at lunchtime enriched, entertained, and of course nourished from their pies and pints!”

Tickets are on sale now for all performances at Òran Mór.

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