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| King Lear by Geoff Bamber |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 9. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 14. Minimum total without doubling = 14. No chorus. The number of roles can be increased by adding soldiers (the King of France in particular would make good use of them.) |
| Run Time | Around 55 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Short modern-English version of Shakespeare's tragedy. (Whilst the plot is all there, there are more comic moments than the bard envisaged.) The author has structured this in 13 acts, but don't let that fool you. |
| Synopsis | An ageing King Lear intends to retire and hand over his throne to one of his squabbling daughters. The Earl of Gloucester, on the other hand, does not intend to retire but his scheming son, Edmund, wants to take over the title anyway, even if it means by-passing the rightful heir, his brother Edgar. The two families' affairs become linked and a violent tale of treachery, jealousy and blind ambition ensues.
Despite the body count running into double figures, this is a comedy. |
| 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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| Like You've Never Seen It Before by Christine Harvey & Elisha Lee |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 16. Minimum total without doubling = 37. Chorus. 12 speaking parts, the rest mime. |
| Run Time | Around 45 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Minimum set. Simple props. Intended as a junior school full-class play. Opportunities for mime, improvisation and dance. |
| Synopsis | Jo and Mel are trying to write a play for their school, but, unknown to them, they are being fought over by a muse and Professor Block, the personification of writer's block. Unfortunately for the professor, he is in entirely the wrong place. |
| 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 |
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| Love's Labour's Lost [60-minute abridgement] by Shakespeare, abridged Jack Shaw |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 5. Minimum total with doubling = 17. Minimum total without doubling = 18. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 60 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A 60-minute abridgement of the Shakespeare comedy.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but, because all the words are Shakespeare's and therefore out of copyright, performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | Ferdinand, King of Navarre, has decided that he and his court will devote three years to an ascetic life of studying, fasting, and forswearing the company of women. However, he has forgotten that the Princess of France and her retinue are due to visit. So, will the court pursue asceticism or pretty women? |
| 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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Macbeth by Geoff Bamber
Best Seller Production by Blairgowrie Players won two rounds of the SCDA festival 2023, then won the Colin Peter Award for showing the greatest creativity in the Scottish Youth Final. |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 6. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 19. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 35 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Shakespeare's Macbeth as a modern language play (with modern humour) for kids. A one act play in five acts. Simple sets and props. Options for songs and dances. |
| Synopsis | There should be three witches, but one of them is having problems with her satellite navigation system. Eventually they give a fateful prediction to Macbeth, who likes the idea of being the new king enough to dispatch the old one. Much murder and wringing of hands ensues. All this and a mad Scottish doctor. The bard will be spinning in his grave! |
| 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 |
| Feedback | Click here to find out what other customers said about this script. |
| Awards | Click here to see the awards won by (productions of) this script. |
| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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| Macbeth - Which Witch is Which? by Juliet Devon |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 7. Minimum total with doubling = 8. Minimum total without doubling = 8. No chorus. All parts written female but, at a pinch, the Head Teacher could be male. Assumed to be performed by a youthful cast (although, of course, the two teachers and the cleaner could be played by adults). |
| Run Time | Around 18 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Short comedy with a minimal set. |
| Synopsis | Nikki, the drama teacher, tries to put the witches through their paces for a school production of Macbeth. Round and round the cauldron go - or would go, if the props team had finished making the cauldron. |
| 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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| Macbeth In Seventeen And A Half Minutes Or Less by Christine Harvey |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 11. Minimum Female roles = 5. Minimum total with doubling = 22. Minimum total without doubling = 35. No chorus. Various minor parts may be doubled. |
| Run Time | Around 18 minutes. [Estimated!] This is dependent on the cast! |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A short one-act comedy, with no set required. |
| Synopsis | The three witches attempt to tell their version of Macbeth in seventeen and a half minutes or less. As they condense it, an amusing and fast-paced summary emerges. Will they succeed in meeting their deadline? Don't blink or you'll miss all the fun of finding out! |
| 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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| The Merry Wives of Windsor [60-minute abridgement] by Shakespeare, abridged Jack Shaw |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 8. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 16. Minimum total without doubling = 20. No chorus. 17 speaking parts (playable by 13 actors) plus at least three fairies, who might be played by doubled by some of the speaking roles, if they are not busy doubling other people. |
| Run Time | Around 60 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A 60-minute abridgement of the Shakespeare comedy.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but, because all the words are Shakespeare's and therefore out of copyright, performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | Down on his luck, Sir John Falstaff arrives in Windsor and plots to turn his fortunes around by seducing the wives of two wealthy gentlemen. But the wives detect his unscrupulousness and put their own scheme together to humiliate him. |
| 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 Midsummer Night's Dream (Comedy Crew 60 Minute Version) by Jack Shaw |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 9. Minimum total without doubling = 16. No chorus. 14 on-stage characters (played by a minimum of 9 actors) plus two offstage voices, which might be pre-recorded. |
| Run Time | Around 63 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A very amateur theatre company present their take on Shakespeare. |
| Synopsis | Cowmoor Comedy Crew, a rural amateur group, perform a sixty-minute version of A Midsummer Night's Dream.
The same story, with a preceding act, showing how the production came together, is told in The Dream! |
| 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 Midsummer Night's Dream [45-minute abridgement] by Shakespeare, abridged Jack Shaw |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 7. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 9. Minimum total without doubling = 16. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 45 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | This one-act abridgement retains Shakespeare's original language and focuses on the nobles, the fairies, and the mechanicals. The lovers' plot is unapologetically omitted, but the narrative remains tight. |
| 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 |
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| A Midsummer Night's Dream [90-minute abridgement] by Shakespeare, abridged Gerald P. Murphy |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 7. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 17. Minimum total without doubling = 21. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 90 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', with the original text reduced by a thousand lines or so.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | Fairies make mischief in the Athenian woods, mixing up two couples and pairing the fairy queen with one of the 'Rude Mechanicals' who are in the woods rehearsing a play. When all is straight, we finally get to see the Mechanicals' play, and the Athenian nobility turn critics.
The text aims to provide a workable edition of Shakespeare for secondary schools. |
| 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 |
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| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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