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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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| A Fifty-Minute Titus Andronicus by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 20. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 24. Minimum total without doubling = 36. Chorus. Large numbers of speaking roles, many appearing on stage at the same time. Flexibility in the non-speaking roles, with Roman nobility and a whole army of Goths (who probably dressed differently in Roman and Shakespearen times). |
| Run Time | Around 50 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Titus Andronicus', 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 | When Roman general Titus Andronicus returns victorious from the wars against the Goths, he resolves to be king-maker, rather than taking the role of emperor for himself. Having lost many of his sons in the fighting, Titus has the eldest son of Tamora, captive Queen of the Goths, sacrificed to the gods. When Tamora is freed by the new Emperor, she and her lover Aaron set about avenging themselves - a feud that is tragic for all concerned.
Bill Tordoff started this series as abridgements for primary schools. We think that some of the themes in Titus are too adult for that demographic!
Asides: This is not for the faint-hearted, though John Webster probably enjoyed it, and Mrs Lovett would have learned a thing or two. |
| 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 Fifty-Minute White Devil by John Webster abridged by Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 14. Minimum total without doubling = 35. No chorus. Characters include a small boy and optional non-speaking attendants, etc. |
| Run Time | Around 50 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of John Webster's 'The White Devil', 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 | In his pursuit of Vittoria, the wife of old Camillo, Duke Brachiano abandons his wife, Isabella, then connives with Vittoria's brother, to have Isabella and Camillo murdered. Isabella's brother, the Duke of Florence, and his ally Cardinal Monticelso - Camillo's cousin - set out to get revenge.
(We're in Grand Guignol territory. This isn't going to end happily for anyone!) |
| 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 Filming of Das Kapital by Vithal Rajan |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 5. Minimum Female roles = 0. Minimum total with doubling = 5. Minimum total without doubling = 7. No chorus. Two of the characters make a brief non-speaking appearance (and therefore could be regarded as optional). |
| Run Time | Around 25 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A combination of Indian storytelling and chess! Simple props, but needs a means of displaying the chess moves to the audience. |
| Synopsis | Game Nine in the Varadachary Chess Cycle. A Bollywood producer has plans to make a film of the life of Karl Marx, part of which is played out through a chess game. An amateur theatre group - including the author! - runs through the script (and the chess game), criticising the producer's distortions of history! |
| 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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| Find the Lady by Helen Sharman |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 4. No chorus. Written for two men and two women, but each taking several roles. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One act play. Minimal set, with only a dressing table and clothes rail, plus a sofa and table arrangement that remain onstage throughout. Contains very mild swearing. |
| Synopsis | An actress struggles to contain the character of Lady Macbeth as the play both infects and reflects other parts of her life. |
| 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 Fire Pit by John Harper |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 4. No chorus. One adult male, three teenagers with playing ages of around 14. |
| Run Time | Around 10 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Hard-hitting, thought- (and discussion-) provoking short play. |
| Synopsis | Church elder Nigel takes his 14 year old daughter Jessica and two of her male friends on a weekend camping trip. Jessica doesn't want to share a tent with Nigel, and only one of her friends can spot the telltale signs of child abuse. |
| 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 First Born by Jamesine Cundell Walker
New |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 1. Minimum total without doubling = 1. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 10 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Short monologue set on and around a bench. (An individual short play from the Chance Encounters collection.) |
| Synopsis | A woman reflects on her life and that of her child. |
| 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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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 First Step by Kathleen Maule Holen |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 6. Minimum total without doubling = 6. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 45 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One-act drama with an unexpected trajectory. Multiple settings but with minimal set requirements - lighting and 'furniture' should be enough. (American English.) |
| Synopsis | A group of friends meet just before dawn on New Year's Day, just as they have for fourteen years, but this year is going to be different. Dotty has decided that, rather than make and break resolutions, they’re going to do something. |
| 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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