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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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The Game by Mary Stone |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 2. Minimum total without doubling = 2. No chorus. |
Run Time | Around 10 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | A short sketch, highlighting relationships and friendships. |
Synopsis | In different social circles at school, Gem and Katy are horrified to discover that their parents are dating. They resolve to break the couple up, but don’t seem to anticipate the results of having to work together on the project. |
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 Gardener's Tale by Mike Sparks |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 7. No chorus. |
Run Time | Around 25 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Modern version of a medieval mystery play. One-act play, eight scenes, but no specific set requirements. A few simple props (including a wheelbarrow). |
Synopsis | A gardener from Jerusalem tells her story of Holy Week and the odd bunch of characters she has run into. All of them have tales to tell about 'that Nazarene who's been causing so much trouble.' The story covers the time from Palm Sunday through to the burial of Jesus. |
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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