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First Drop of Rain by James Brosnahan Screenplay version placed in the Semifinals (top 1%) of the Austin Film Festival. |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 4. Minimum Female roles = 5. Minimum total with doubling = 9. Minimum total without doubling = 10. No chorus. Cast of 4 women, 2 12-year-old girls (one with doubling) and 4 men. |
Run Time | Around 125 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Full-length historical drama. An entertaining exploration of the characters and the times. (First published 2021, revised edition published 2024.) |
Synopsis | When an aspiring author sets out to write her first novel, the gendered prejudices of 18th Century London come for her, leaving her to decide between marrying her suitor in surrender or being as brave as the female protagonist she has written. Based on the true story of Frances Burney. |
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 |
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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The Flag by Neil Walden |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 1. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 3. Minimum total without doubling = 3. No chorus. |
Run Time | Around 25 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Easy-to-stage one-act drama for three actors in one simple office set. |
Synopsis | A school in 1930s England is set to welcome an ambassador from Nazi Germany, whose child is one of the pupils. Headteacher Mrs Mayhew wants to fly the Nazi flag for the visitor's arrival, but young teacher Miss Tait raises an objection. A good period drama with a sharp focus on an area of pre-WW2 history that's often overlooked - how a lot of British people were generally welcoming towards the Nazis, or at least apathetic about their politics, in the years before the war. It also has some relevance to the contemporary debates around flags. |
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 Coriolanus by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 19. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 22. Minimum total without doubling = 30. Chorus. As usual with Shakespeare, most of the characters are male - but for your production, you can cast whomsoever you like! |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's tragedy 'Coriolanus', 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 | In the early days of the Roman republic, Caius Martius Coriolanus is a brilliant Roman General, but contemptuous of the civilian population. After a successful military campaign against the Volsces (an Italian tribe), Coriolanus runs for Consul. He is supported by the Senate, but the common people are stirred-up to riot against him. Still contemptuous of the people, Corilanus is exciled from Rome and takes his revenge by leading the Volsces against Rome. His mother intervenes and persuades him to sign a peace treaty. Unfortunately, his Volscian allies see this as a betrayal, and Coriolanus pays the price. |
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 Henry IV Part 1 by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 14. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 15. Minimum total without doubling = 27. No chorus. This is a story about a male-dominated society. This does not preclude inventive casting! |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'First Part of King Henry IV', 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 | Henry IV is at odds with his nobles, even those who helped him usurp Richard II. Meanwhile his son, Prince Hal has absentend himself from court and is spending his time in taverns with Sir John Falstaff and his clique. Things come to a head with a rebellion, led by Harry Hotspur and at last the dissolute Prince Hal proves himself a warrior. |
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 Henry IV Part 2 by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 21. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 24. Minimum total without doubling = 43. No chorus. This is a story about a male-dominated society. This does not preclude inventive casting! |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Second Part of King Henry IV', 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 | King Henry IV is facing rebellion on a scale close to civil war. Meanwhile, his son and heir, Prince Hal, is spending his youth carousing and brawling in taverns in the company of the wastrel Falstaff. If a successful transition is to be made, the old king needs to keep the kingdom together and his son needs to reform. |
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 Henry V by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 20. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 23. Minimum total without doubling = 29. Chorus. As usual for Shakespeare's time, there's a dearth of female characters, which does not preclude inventive casting! |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Henry V', 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 | King Henry the Fifth is at war with the French, and facing daunting odds. He rallies his troops, wanders amongst them in disguise to find what they really think, then leads them, once more, unto the breach. |
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 Henry VI Part 1 by Shakespeare, adapted by Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 17. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 19. Minimum total without doubling = 31. Chorus. Shakespearian theatre, history and war conspire to leave few female roles. Don't let that put you off! |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | One-act adaptation of Shakespeare. Other plays in this series are abridgements. This is an adaptation (Bill Tordoff felt that it worked better with the verse form used throughout), hence both script and performances are subject to copyright licensing. |
Synopsis | Subtitled 'The Wars Of Henry VI And Joan Of Arc'. Henry V has died, but his dukes continue to prosecute his war in France. Joan of Arc arises to lead the French. The English lose ground as they bicker amongst themselves and the first quarrels of the Wars of the Roses begin. Henry V1 is crowned and the fortunes of war change again... Despite all the fighting and infighting, the play also has room for some moments of broad 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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A Forty-Minute King John by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 19. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 23. Minimum total without doubling = 33. Chorus. Characters include Arthur, aged 8 and Blanche, aged 14. |
Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'King John', 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 | War amongst the descendants of King Henry II with Henry's wife, the powerful Eleanor of Aquitaine, supporting her son, King John, whilst the King of France, mendaciously, backs Arthur, the young son of John's elder brother. John's treatment of the captured Arthur causes his barons to rebel and join forces with a French invasion. |
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 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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God's Minstrel by Joseph P. Ritz |
Roles | Minimum Male roles = 4. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 5. Minimum total without doubling = 11. No chorus. Four of the characters are intended to be doubled by one actor (though they need not be). The roles of Clare's Cousin and the Soldier are optional. |
Run Time | Around 70 minutes. [Estimated!] |
Music | None. |
Style | You can think of this either as a short two-act play, or a long one-act play. Single set. |
Synopsis | Mixed in with a little tale from modern times, this is the story of how Francis of Assisi became a saint. A moving and honest telling. |
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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