ORAN Mor’s new season of lunchtime plays is back, and it promises all the colour, drama and fun the audiences have come to expect.

“We wanted some really human stories. And I think we’ve got them,” says co-producer Susannah Armitage.

There’s no question the season offers up all the colours of the rainbow.

First up on August 31 is a new comedy The Cameo, by DC Jackson and Kieran Lynn.

It tells the story of MP John Dumfries MP who has lost his seat and is hoping a walk on part on Scotland’s top soap Gallus Palace will rehabilitate his tarnished public image.

“The Cameo is light-hearted and funny, a comedy about politics and show business,” says Suzanne, “and the thin membrane that separates the two.”

The following week, Malachy McKenna’s The Quiet Land is a nostalgic play, already staged at Bewley’s in Dublin and stars Des Keogh and Derry Power.

“It tells the story of two elderly farmers, Eamon and Nashee, who meet at a gate on a remote hillside,” says Susannah.

“But they are forced to confront each other with some heart-breaking truths that test their friendship to its limit.”

Oran Mor seasons always contain sharp political satire and, To Hell and Back, by the DM Collective (named in honour of founding producer David McLennan) hopes to underscore that intent.

They are asking the question: ‘Where is Scotland now,’ a year on from the referendum.

Meanwhile, Kontomble (The Shaman and The Boy) by Naliniis Chetty tells of teenager, Ray, who has mental health issues and is vulnerable.

But then he meets Dr Ezra Some from deepest, darkest West Africa and is visiting Glasgow on research.

He has very different ideas about what mental health involves.

Oran Mor seasons rarely fail to represent cultural moods or developments.

On September 28, 140 Million Miles by Adam Peck is ‘a play about what it means to leave the world you know behind you,’ will be staged.

“Neil and Dawn have been offered the trip of a lifetime – a space-flight to Mars," says Susannah.

"But is there something they’re not being told?"

From re-evaluating lives on Earth, Cathy Forde considers relationships in One in a Million.

“It’s a play inspired by the charity Mary’s Meals, and that world of incredible stories,” says Susannah.

“This true tale features Susan, a young woman from Blantyre who meets Gerry, a handyman and pub-quiz fan who never passes up on an opportunity for fact-finding.”

Oran Mor has produced many plays covering dementia in the past.

And Susannah admits she wasn’t set to commission another.

But Descent, by Linda Duncan McLaughlin, won her over.

“It’s just so well written and gets right to the heart of the emotions,” she says.

The following week however, comedy returns to the Oran Mor platform with, A Word with Dr Johnson, by James Runcie, creator of ITV’s Grantchester.

Set in 1745, it’s based on Samuel Johnson’s compilation of his famous dictionary.

Despite his famous antipathy to Scotland (“A very vile country to be sure”), five out of his six assistants were Scots.

From October 26, Rebecca Sharp’s, The Wakeful Chamber, focuses on the world of the somniphobiac (fear of sleep).

It tells how a woman develops an elaborate system of rituals in order to survive the hours of night – measuring time, light, distances, stars – until day breaks.

Next up is, After the Cuts, Gary McNair’s play which tells of Jim and Frances who are newly retired, still in love - but their world is shattered when Frances is diagnosed with cancer.

She can be cured but this is 2024 and Jim and Frances now live in post-NHS Britain.

What to do? Retired car mechanic Jim decides to perform the surgery at home himself.

Rising writing star Anita Vettesse’s new play, Happy Hour, looks at love and legacies.

“It’s set after a funeral when a family get together,” says Susannah.

“We think they are together to grieve, but it turns out it’s all about the money. It’s a lovely piece of writing.”

On November 16, John Gabriel Barclay by John Carnegie is derived from Henrik Ibsen’s John Gabriel Borkman.

It’s set on the eve of the World War One, in a house in a bleak valley high above Edinburgh, where two sisters come face to face for the first time in eight years but upstairs is John Gabriel Barclay, disgraced banker, and ex-jail bird.

The next hour will change their lives for ever.

Susannah adds; “It’s about human relations stand the test of time.

"And the disgraced banker theme gives it a modern resonance.”

The Course of True Love, by David Leddy, is described as, ‘An everyday tale of caution, courage - and Cleo Laine.’

Two people are in a hotel room

Celia and Oliver are drinking champagne in the world’s most expensive hotel.

But they have 30 minutes to make up their minds about a risky proposal that could tear their lives apart.

Susannah adds: “We think we’ve got the right mix of plays to make for a great season.

“We’ve got the variety, and plays that we hope have a real emotional resonance, whether serious or funny.”

A Play, Pie and a Pint, Oran Mor, Glasgow, from August 31.