Book Review Written By: Marks Sykes

Position: Consultant Editor –In-Chief

Publisher: Athena Press

Dated: 13th December 2005

There is a rather curious market for new and original plays. This book holds a very interesting group of plays. They seem to hit their targets very precisely, as the settings do not have a locale-specific context.

I get the feeling that Darren Brealey writes with some facility; I think he gets an idea, sits down bubbling with gusto and knocks off a one-actor. Maybe then in the morning he reads it and bins it if it hasn’t worked.

So if this book works, I think there could be others.

The settings do not have a locale specific context, and I would envisage publication, both in the UK and the USA; this original creation could find a market in the USA.

Richly humorous, sometimes extreme in its language, and devastating in its portrayal of social pitfalls, this collection of one-acters will make you laugh out loud, and then wonder about it all. 'The Goat' in the title is surely a reference to the Greek tragos, which gave us tragedy ... something you may feel tinges many of our lifetime antics.