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| A Fifty-Minute Richard The Third by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 21. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 26. Minimum total without doubling = 48. Chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 50 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'The Life and Death of King Richard III', with the original text cut down to 50 minutes or so.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | Richard the Third, from the winter of discontent to the kingdom for a horse, as the last of the Plantagenets intrigues and murders his way to the English throne, only to be confronted by the army of the Earl of Richmond - one Henry Tudor.
Historical footnote: Shakespeare derived this account from Henry Tudor's historians. In the view of the editor, this makes it unreliable history, but a cracking play! |
| 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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| Fighting the Kaiser with Catapults by S. J. Edwards |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 6. Minimum total with doubling = 9. Minimum total without doubling = 9. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 24 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One-act drama written for performance by older youth theatre students (16-19 year olds). Can be performed on minimal sets. |
| Synopsis | A series of vignettes follows three different men, their relationships with the women in their lives and their involvement in the First World War. The scenes take place at various intervals between 1914 and 1916. |
| 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 Fisherman by Archie Wilson |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 1. Minimum Female roles = 0. Minimum total with doubling = 1. Minimum total without doubling = 1. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 19 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A lengthy monologue with no set required. |
| Synopsis | The life of an East Coast fisherman, before and after the Second World War, is related in an evocative monologue. |
| 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 Fog of War by Joanne Higginson |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 2. Minimum total without doubling = 2. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 44 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | One track, to be played from a stereo at the opening of the play, is suggested in the producer's script. Lazy Bee Scripts does not supply any sheet music with this script. |
| Style | A one-act drama with a single (living room) setting. Strong language. |
| Synopsis | 21 year old Tanya has recently lost her husband in Afghanistan due to friendly fire. Her cousin Anna, who she hasn't seen for some time, visits from Canada for the funeral. As the cousins discuss the past, unexpected truths are revealed and Anna realises Tanya isn't the grieving widow the press expect her to be. |
| 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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For The Greater Good by Aviva Philipp-Muller
Finalist in the Sky Blue Theatre International play-writing competition, 2013 |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 0. Minimum total with doubling = 2. Minimum total without doubling = 2. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 14 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A short one act play. |
| Synopsis | Charles and Jonah share their memories of a single day, a day they experienced in very different ways, though at the end they connected. A powerful piece about the Holocaust. |
| 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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| For Your Tomorrow by Peter Ayre |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 6. Minimum total without doubling = 9. No chorus. Whilst there are nine characters, doubling of three is invited (for example, the young Albert Parker is intended to be played by the actor who plays David, the older Albert's son.) |
| Run Time | Around 115 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Full-length drama. Two domestic sets (in the original production this was one box set, with the location change was achieved by using an upstage curtain to conceal or reveal additional set details). Contains a little swearing. |
| Synopsis | Albert is getting old and forgetful, so he's moving in with son and daughter-in-law. His presence and decline add to the problems they're already having with their son. But the play also shows how Albert lived as a young man and husband, and tells of some of the experiences that made him who he was - in particular a little-known second world war campaign that marked a turning-point in the war with Japan. |
| 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 All's Well That Ends Well by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 6. Minimum total with doubling = 16. Minimum total without doubling = 22. Chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'All's Well That Ends Well', 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 | Following the death of the Count of Rousillon, his teenage son, Bertrand inherts his estate and departs for the French court with dreams of military glory. He leaves behind Helena, daughter of his father's physician, and desparately in love with Bertrand. Helena follows Betrand to Paris where she uses her father's medicines to cure the sick king. The king grants her a reward, and she claims marriage to Bertrand. He wants none of it, and heads off to war. How can Helena win him back? |
| 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 Antony and Cleopatra by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 14. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 18. Minimum total without doubling = 40. No chorus. Lots of small roles (guards, messengers and the like), so either opportunities for a large cast or scope for doubling! |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Antony and Cleopatra', 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 | After the assassination of Julius Caesar, Rome is ruled by a triumvirate, locked in a struggle for power. Mark Antony is beguiled by Cleopatra, the Egyptian Queen, and neglects his duties in Rome. Eventually, there is open warfare between Antony and Octavius Caesar. Antony loses, and Cleopatra takes her own life (with the aid of literature's second most famous snake.) |
| 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 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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