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A Forty-Minute Richard II by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 14. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 19. Minimum total without doubling = 32. No chorus. |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'The Life and Death of King Richard II', with the original text cut down to under 40 minutes. (The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
Synopsis | King Richard II is approached by both Henry Bolingbroke and Thomas Mowbray, the Duke of Norfolk, who wish him to judge a duel between them. Both Richard and John of Gaunt oppose the duel, but Richard agrees to oversee it. As the duel commences Richard interrupts and banishes both men from England. Mowbray predicts this as the first act leading to Richard's downfall. Following John of Gaunt's death, Richard appropriates all his money and lands. As Richard plots a war on Ireland, the nobility seek to overthrow him and place Bolingbroke on the throne. |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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A Forty-Minute Timon of Athens by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 31. No chorus. Lots of flexibility in numbers - lots of doubling is possible or, conversely, roles like the senators and lords can be shared out. Few specifically female characters, but many could be cast female. |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Timon of Athens', with the original text cut down to 40 minutes or so. (The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
Synopsis | Timon is berated by the sour philosopher Apemantus, but Timon ignores his advice, preferring to enjoy himself through banquets and acts of generosity. However, when Timon runs into debt his friends prove false and he leaves Athens in anger and disgust. In the wilderness his fortune changes. but not his view of his fellow man. |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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A Forty-Minute Troilus and Cressida by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 16. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 19. Minimum total without doubling = 34. Chorus. Plenty of scope for extras, as we have the population of Troy and the entire Greek army looking on (and occasionally getting involved in the fray - some of the spear carriers get to use their spears!) |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Troilus And Cressida', with the original text cut down to 40 minutes or so. (The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
Synopsis | The Trojans are trapped in their city as Greek warriors like Ajax scour the battlefield. Troilus, youngest son of the Trojan King Priam, is distracted from the battlefield by his pursuit of the beautiful Cressida. Just when Cressida has submitted to his advances, she is used as part of a prisoner exchange and sent to join her father (who is camped with the Greeks). During one of the periodic truces, Troilus witnesses Cressida in a dalliance with Greek hero Diomedes. Enraged, Troilus takes to the battlefield in pursuit of Diomedes, whilst the petulant Achilles takes on the noble Trojan Hector. Shakespeare uses the siege to question notions of fidelity and chivalry. |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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A Forty-Minute Winter's Tale by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 9. Minimum Female roles = 6. Minimum total with doubling = 15. Minimum total without doubling = 28. Chorus. The characters are adults plus one child and, famously, a bear, whose only role is to exit in pursuit of Antigonus (for an offstage lunch appointment - although only one of the parties is hungry.) |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'The Winter's Tale', with the original text cut down to 40 minutes. (The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
Synopsis | Leontes, King of Sicilia, suspects his wife Hermione of having an affair with Polixenes, the King of Bohemia. (Herminone and Polixenes are innocent.) Polixenes escapes Leontes' wrath, but Hermione does not and is imprisoned. Hermione gives birth to a daughter, but Leontes does not believe the child, Perdita, to be his and sends her abroad. She is abandoned on the coast of Bohemia (a feat which would be frowned upon these days, owing to Geography) and Perdita is brought-up by a Shepherd. Time (making a guest appearance) moves the play on sixteen years, and Florizel, son of Polixenes, meets and falls in love with Perdita, the shepherdess, thus setting-up the inevitable reconcilliation and happy ending. |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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A Friend of Ronnie's by David Barry |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 1. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 3. Minimum total without doubling = 3. No chorus. Edith and Arthur are relatively elderly, Susan a younger researcher. |
Run Time | Around 50 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | One act drama set in 1983 (twenty years after the main event). Single domestic setting. Contains mild swearing. |
Synopsis | It's been a tense twenty years for Edith and Arthur. Now that Susan has arrived and is uncovering his shady past, will life improve for the pair of them, or simply reveal more regrets? The play fills some gaps in the true story of the robbery, and the substitute train driver who was never caught. |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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Friends by David Dunn |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 4. No chorus. Characters are all teenagers. |
Run Time | Around 4 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Short play for teenagers. No set requirements. |
Synopsis | Bex and Sam discuss the nature of friendship, while Sam's younger brother tries to figure out how to explain away an expensive present. |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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Fright Size - Twelve Ghost Plays by 10 x 10 Writers |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 4. Minimum Female roles = 6. Minimum total with doubling = 10. Minimum total without doubling = 43. No chorus. Several of the characters are dead (though this is not a requirement for casting.) One of the 12 plays has chorus roles (which could be filled by cast members from the other plays). |
Run Time | Around 95 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Collecton of 12 short plays for youth theatre. Generally simple to stage. |
Synopsis | Various encounters with the supernatural, with varying results for all concerned!:- 'A Likely Story' by Heather Bryant 'Could Have Been Worse' by Gary Nicholson 'In Through The Exit' by Karen Fitzsimmons 'Just A Ghost Story' by Sarah Reilly 'Mizmaze' by Jonathan Edgington 'No Exit' by Dian Donovan 'Spooked!' by Margaret Histed 'Term Time Only' by Sarah Reilly 'That’s The Spirit' by Caroline Spencer 'The Boy Who Loved To Dance' by David Dunn 'The Ghost Letter' by Mike Plumbley 'Where Have You Been?' by Steve Menary |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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Funeral for the Cat by B. G. Craig |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 4. No chorus. Elizabeth is written female, but could be played male (and renamed Elliot). |
Run Time | Around 28 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | A good mix of emotional drama and dark but gentle comedy. Easy to stage on a single living room set. US English. |
Synopsis | Judy, an elderly widow, is holding a funeral for her beloved and recently departed cat. Her daughter and granddaughter are alarmed to find that, since a pet coffin was too expensive, Miss Mopsy is lying on the coffee table. |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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Gabriel-Ernest by Tony Best |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 5. Minimum total without doubling = 6. No chorus. Either for a youth theatre company, or for a mix of adults and children. |
Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | A one-act stage adaptation of a subversive Saki story - this one is edgy, verging on (gothic) horror. There are nine scenes, intended to be played seamlessley with the stage divided into one area for a house and one for all other scenes. |
Synopsis | 'There's a beast in your woods.' So it seems. Van Cheele's life is interrupted by the arrival of a strange boy, with disturbing behaviour and an unusual disregard for clothes. (The author makes some suggestions about how to deal with this last point whilst remaining within the bounds of decency!) |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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Galileo & Co. by Olivia Arieti |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 0. Minimum total with doubling = 5. Minimum total without doubling = 5. No chorus. |
Run Time | Around 10 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | A short play for school age children, which might kick-start projects about the stars, about science, about history, or about religion. |
Synopsis | Galileo has been summoned before the Holy Office to renounce his heretical findings that the Earth rotates around the sun. In the few minutes before his hearing, some unusual characters try to convince him to stick to the truth. |
Price | For scripts and live performance rights, please click on the Price Link to find the cost. For scripts and lockdown videos/streaming rights, click here |
Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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