A homing pigeon with no sense of direction becomes the unlikely saviour of a young girl up against her first encounter with heartbreak.

Loneliness, fear, bad dreams, repressed attraction or repugnance, lockdown and sudden escapes, jigsaw puzzles, food deliveries, bad tempers and penguins. Like a modern-day journal of the plague year, this collection of monologues and scenes is a time capsule reflecting the lived experience of these five playwrights during the Covid-19 pandemic.

As if their 20-year age gap wasn’t trouble enough, Matilda’s fighting for space with Gabe’s long-time bedfellows: misery, booze and writerly angst. If Gabe wants to get sober, he’ll have to abandon his image as tragic writer betrothed to the bottle. And if Angela’s really trying to let Gabe go, like her partner Tony needs her to, she should probably say goodbye to Gabe’s wretched cat—which she’s somehow still looking after.