The Phoenix Players (1)

In a tiny, tatty room in a residential teachers' centre, Team B are up to their eyebrows in A Level English Literature marking.

Elsewhere in the building, the dreaded Team A are coping far better with their marking band guidelines, matrix grids and marked pilot samples and managing to spend plenty of time in the bar.

Team B, led by the far-from-perfect Howard, lurch from disaster to disaster. Howard is lacking in confidence and team support, the pendant Oliver has lost his marked sample on the Isle of Wight ferry; Pat, who wants to bring her affair with Howard to a head, is in an enormous state of emotional tension;

Ian, who teaches Comparative Literature, hasn't read half the books being discussed so isn't much help as he should be, and the cool and efficient Judith seems just a bit too friendly with the rival Team A for Howard's comfort....Doors slam, tempers are lost and personalities crumble as the situation becomes even more chaotic.

Hilarious, observant and fast-moving, Marking Time is another winner from the author of Bums on Seats, Urban Cycles and others.