Prize Winner-----Jack Langford Memorial Award Prize Winner-----Derek Lomas Memorial Award In Melville Lovatt's award winning comedy / drama, Small Mercies, people's lives hang well and truly in the balance. Shop owner Donald and wife Andrea are desperate people with a failing business. They decide to pay an arsonist to set fire to the shop so they can claim on the insurance and start a new life. Little do they know that two late customers have inadvertently been locked inside! As the two couples, each with their own very different problems, touch each others' lives with unexpected results, the dark comedy, pathos and fragility of existence shines through in this ultimatelyuplifting play'. Author's Note: Small Mercies developed as a continuation of my one act play, The Lamp and includes much of The Lamp's text whilst focusing mainly on the furniture shop owner, Donald and his family.