Whenever

by Alan Ayckbourn

EMILY: is a young orphan who lives in the Victorian era. Her favourite uncle, Martin, has invented a time machine. In a heated argument, her other uncle Lucas attacks Martin. Emily believes that she has seen a murder. She hides from Lucas in the time machine and presses the controls to escape by travelling through time. She arrives in an air raid in World War II, only to be abducted and taken to her wicked uncle Lucas – now an old man of ninety. She is rescued by OSCAR, an Air Raid Patrol warden, and they escape using the time machine, but they don’t know where and when they have ‘landed’.

Gizmo

by Alan Ayckbourn

BEN has been paralysed with fear after witnessing a fatal shooting. Though physically unhurt, he is unable to move. Fortunately a technological breakthrough by “Gizmo” has helped him. A device, rather like a wristwatch, is fixed to his arm and through it he exactly copies the movements of the person wearing the transmitter. In this scene he has fallen into the hands of a gangster and has been left alone with the gangster’s moll, CEVRIL.

Nicholas Nickleby

by Charles Dickens

The scene takes place in FANNY Squeers’ parlour, the day after an uncomfortable tea party. TILDA Price has just arrived, to be greeted by Fanny.