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| A Forty-Minute Two Gentlemen of Verona by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 13. Minimum total without doubling = 17. No chorus. There are two groups which give numerical flexibility - 'outlaws' and 'musicians'. This is the Shakespeare play with the dog. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'The Two Gentlemen of Verona', 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 | The two gentlemen in question are Valentine and Proteus. Valentine wants Proteus to be his travelling companion on a tour, but Proteus wishes to stay behind and court Julia, a coy young lady who likes Proteus, but is too shy to admit it - at least until Proteus's father sends him away to join Valentine in Milan. However, in Milan, Proteus falls for Sylvia, whom Valentine is courting. There follows rivalry, betrayal, banishment, outlaws, cross-dressing and the occasional swoon before all ends happily! |
| 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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| Hamlet the Musical by Gerald P. Murphy |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 5. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 16. Chorus. The chorus play non-speaking roles of peasants, courtiers, onlookers and servants. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | Sheet music (piano and vocal) for the five songs is supplied with the producer's copy of the script. |
| Style | Shakespeare's Hamlet retold in modern (American) English, with more jokes than the original.
In a normal tragedy, at the end, everyone dies. This is a musical - at the end, everyone sings. |
| Synopsis | Prince Hamlet's father reappears as a ghost to demand revenge for his murder. The prince vacillates, arranges a play to trap the murderer, and finally chooses to fight. |
| 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 |
| Extras | The following additional items are available (at extra cost) to go with this script:
** A 'rehearsal CD' with piano arrangements of songs from the show
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| Feedback | Click here to find out what other customers said about this script. |
| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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| Kids in Lurve by Bill Siviter |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 4. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 8. Minimum total without doubling = 15. No chorus. Lots of flexibility for either doubling characters or splitting the narrator's role amongst several actors. |
| Run Time | Around 20 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Rhyming play, delivering a rapid, modern and informal version of Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew'. Multiple scenes, but little required by way of set or props.
Set in the north-west midlands, but could easily be moved to your home town! |
| Synopsis | Bianca is sweet and pretty. All the lads fancy her. But standing in the way, there's Bianca's acid-tongued sister, Kate, and who can tame Kate?
Well, since there aren't many lads called Petruchio these days, the modern-day volunteer is Shane.
The course of true love never did run smooth (but that's another story). |
| 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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| Kids in Tights - The Musical by Bill Siviter with Music by Jonny Ardern |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 6. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 12. No chorus. Whilst there isn't a formal requirement for a chorus, there is plenty of opportunity for adding Montagues, Capulets and ball guests. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | Piano and Vocal scores for nine songs are supplied with the Producer's Copy of the script. |
| Style | Romeo and Juliet told, as an irreverent verse play, by the protagonists and by narrators. A good introduction to Shakespeare's story! (The specified run-time is the minimum - extending the ball and the fight will add time!) |
| Synopsis | Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet condensed into a short verse play for kids, then lengthened because everyone gets so excited that they need to sing about it.
Boy meets girl, love overcomes the family feud - but only for the lovers. Swordplay turns rivals into kebabs. Mistakes are made and the heroes die. (You see, it's a soppy love story.) |
| 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 |
| Extras | The following additional items are available (at extra cost) to go with this script:
** A 'rehearsal CD' with piano arrangements of songs from the show
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| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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Kids in Tights - The Play by Bill Siviter
Performance by Ormlie Community Group won the SCDA, Caithness district, 2010 (also picking up the trophy for best ensemble). |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 5. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 10. Minimum total without doubling = 11. No chorus. A chorus could be added as an optional extra for the ball scene and for the gangs of Montagues and Capulets. |
| Run Time | Around 20 minutes. [Estimated!] The ball and fight scenes can be extended. |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Romeo and Juliet told as an irreverent verse play, told by the protagonists and by narrators. A good introduction to Shakespeare's story! (The specified run-time is the minimum - extending the ball and the fight will add time!) |
| Synopsis | Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet condensed into a twenty-minute verse play for kids. Boy meets girl, love overcomes the family feud - but only for the lovers. Swordplay turns rivals into kebabs. Mistakes are made and the heroes die. (You see, it's a soppy love story.) |
| 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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| 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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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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| A Midsummer Night's Dream [Modern English] by Sue Russell |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 8. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 19. Minimum total without doubling = 23. No chorus. It would be possible, by adding attendants and fairies, to increase the cast to around 30. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | The Producer's Copy of the script contains suggestions for four pieces of music. Lazy Bee Scripts does not supply any sheet music with this script. |
| Style | Shakespeare abridged and (mainly) in modern English. No formal set requirements. |
| Synopsis | A shortened version of the Shakespeare original, containing nuggets of the original text with modern insertions. Shakespeare's son Hamnet holds the whole thing together as if managing a production of the 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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| Much Ado About William by Nicholas Richards |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 5. Minimum total without doubling = 5. No chorus. Could be played by kids or by a mixed group of adults and children. |
| Run Time | Around 10 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Ten-minute comedy play. |
| Synopsis | A harassed Shakespeare tries to complete a play while his Stratford family bring noise, combat and teenage strife into the room where he works, until the silent Bard can take no more. |
| 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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