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| A Forty-Minute Othello by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 13. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 16. Minimum total without doubling = 25. Chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Othello', with the original text of around three hours cut down to 40 minutes.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | Othello, a Moorish general in the Venetian army, secretly marries Desdemona, daughter of a nobleman. Roderigo, a suitor of Desdemona, and Iago, a jealous soldier, conspire against Othello, turning him against Desdemona, with disastrous consequences.
An introduction to Shakespeare for schools. |
| 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 Pericles by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 14. Minimum total without doubling = 40. Chorus. The episodic nature of the story makes lots of doubling possible. (Or, if you have a lot of actors, there are lots of roles.) |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Pericles, Prince of Tyre', 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 | On the run from the King of Antioch, Pericles is shipwrecked and washes up on the shores of Pentapolis. There he wins the hand of Thaisa, daughter of the King of Pentapolis. On their return voyage to Tyre, Thaisa gives birth to a daughter during a violent storm. Thaisa is thought to have died and is thrown overboard in a casket. The grieving Pericles leaves his daughter, Marina, in the care of the King and Queen of Tarsus. Years later, Pericles returns to seek Marina , but is told that she died. In fact she escaped an assasination plot, and eventually Pericles finds a happy ending.
Bill Tordoff started this series as abridgements for primary schools. We think that some of the themes in Pericles are too adult for that demographic! |
| 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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| A Forty-Minute Timon of Athens by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 31. No chorus. Lots of flexibility in numbers - lots of doubling is possible or, conversely, roles like the senators and lords can be shared out. Few specifically female characters, but many could be cast female. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Timon of Athens', 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 | Timon is berated by the sour philosopher Apemantus, but Timon ignores his advice, preferring to enjoy himself through banquets and acts of generosity. However, when Timon runs into debt his friends prove false and he leaves Athens in anger and disgust. In the wilderness his fortune changes. but not his view of his fellow man. |
| 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 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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| The Frinton Fryer by Jim Pinnock |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 13. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 15. Minimum total without doubling = 15. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 35 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | Song suggestions for 3 songs are provided with the Producer's copy of the script. Lazy Bee Scripts does not supply any sheet music with this script. |
| Style | A one act play, with several solo songs. |
| Synopsis | Brenda is going for the 'Silver Star Show' audition, but Doris thinks she should try a more modern look, name, and song. Despite practice and good advice, Brenda sings as Brenda - but brings many new customers to the Fish 'n' Chip shop. |
| 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:
** Poster template, illustrated by Dale French, for 'The Frinton Fryer' by Jim Pinnock. (High resolution jpg file with space for adding information about the production.)
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| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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| Gate Thirteen by Tony Frier |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 4. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 8. Minimum total without doubling = 10. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 48 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A one act comedy, with a dark twist. |
| Synopsis | A disparate group of travellers with various levels of flying experience await the departure of their flight home from Marrakech. Gary and Julie are ingeniously attempting to avoid excess baggage charges, Derek and Pauline are collecting as many freebies as they can and the mysterious Carrie is handcuffed to her seat. |
| 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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| Ghost Walk by Gary Diamond |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 6. Minimum Female roles = 8. Minimum total with doubling = 14. Minimum total without doubling = 15. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 21 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A one act comedy drama, with various settings. |
| Synopsis | On a ghost walk in York various locations are visited - associated with ghostly happenings. Our guide is finally revealed... to be not the sort of person we thought he was. |
| 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 Girls Are Back in Town by Jonathan Edgington |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 5. Minimum total with doubling = 8. Minimum total without doubling = 12. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 53 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | One public domain song is suggested in the producer's copy of the script. Lazy Bee Scripts does not supply any sheet music with this script. |
| Style | A one-act drama set in both the present day and WW1. Seven different settings, though all can be portrayed with minimal furniture. |
| Synopsis | Four iconic suffragettes are mysteriously transported to modern-day London to finish what they started. 100 years earlier, as Alan learns the horrors of life on the Western Front, his girlfriend Beatrice carries out important work for the suffragettes. |
| 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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