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| The Taming of the Shrew [60-minute abridgement] by Shakespeare, abridged Jack Shaw |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 9. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 15. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 60 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Shakespeare's play efficiently cut down without damaging the flow of the story. A comedy in the renaissance sense of ordinary people, witty dialogue and a happy ending.
Contains Shakespearean insults. |
| Synopsis | Bianca has many suitors, but her father won't let her marry until he has also given away the hand of her hot-tempered and uncontrollable elder sister Katharina. While Lucentio concocts a plan to win Bianca as his wife, Petruchio decides to wed Katharina and subdue her shrewish nature. |
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Ted by Steven Stack
Runner-up, 2018 Maine Principals' Association Drama Festival (Production by Central High School) |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 1. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 9. Minimum total without doubling = 11. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A quirky one act play, retelling the tale of Rumplestiltskin. A companion (same style, different tale) to Hansel and Gretel... and Sadie (Of Edible Houses, Risky Bargains, and Other Grimm Happenings) |
| Synopsis | This re-telling of the story has all the traditional aspects at first, but departs from the usual by dispensing with the royal marriage and the first-born part. A very off-beat 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 |
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| The Tempest [60-minute abridgement] by Shakespeare, abridged Jack Shaw |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 7. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 11. Minimum total without doubling = 13. No chorus. The character list, like all of Shakespeare's work, is male-heavy. That has not prevented excellent productions by majority female casts! |
| Run Time | Around 61 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of Shakespeare on the boundary between a one-act and a full-lengh play. All words remain Shakespeare's, with one short speech added by the abridger to facilitate a character exit. |
| Synopsis | Since being usurped as Duke of Milan by his brother, Prospero and his daughter Miranda have lived on a deserted island. With the help of the spirit Ariel, he causes a tempest that shipwrecks his passing enemies. He aims to regain his dukedom and marry Miranda to Ferdinand, son of the King of Naples. |
| 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 |
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| The Tempest by Geoff Bamber |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 9. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 12. No chorus. The characters preserve Shakespeare's original, which means that the Naples court is all male. It need not be cast that way. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A play originally written by William Shakespeare and completely altered by Geoff Bamber. (This version is in modern, humorous. English. It extends the story back in time to avoid the long exposition speeches of Shakespeare's second act!) |
| Synopsis | Prospero, Duke of Milan and part-time magician, is tricked into undertaking a hazardous sea journey by his treacherous brother, Antonio, who promptly takes over the duchy when Prospero is conveniently shipwrecked in a great storm. Prospero, along with his daughter, Miranda, survives the wreck and finds himself on a desert island. From there he uses his magic powers to gain revenge on Antonio and Alonso, King of Naples, who is unwittingly supporting Antonio under the influence of his own unscrupulous brother, Sebastian. With the principals all gathered on the same island, Prospero sets out to divide and conquer, a task somewhat hindered by the presence of a range of bizarre and possibly deranged supporting characters. |
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| A Thirty Minute As You Like It by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 9. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 13. Minimum total without doubling = 17. No chorus. Whilst there is no formal chorus, there is scope for additional lords and servants. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'As You Like It', with the original text of two hours and more cut down to 30 minutes.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | Family persecutions drive Rosalind and Orlando from their respective homes and into exile in the Forest of Arden. Rosalind disguises herself as a boy, Ganymede, who catches the eye of Phebe, a shepherdess who is, in turn the object of the attention of a shepherd called Silvius. Thus is confusion added to the pastoral romance, but, eventually, all the tangled threads are resolved. |
| 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 |
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| A Thirty Minute Comedy of Errors by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 14. Minimum total without doubling = 19. No chorus. Not many acting companies boast two sets of identical twins! The production notes offer some sensible routes to make the look-alike comedy work. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'A Comedy of Errors', with the original text of two hours and more cut down to 30 minutes.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | The ultimate tale of mistaken identity as two sets of identical twins, separated as infants, cross paths as adults to the confusion of all concerned. |
| 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 |
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| A Thirty Minute Merchant by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 8. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 14. Minimum total without doubling = 17. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'The Merchant of Venice', with the original text of two hours and more cut down to 30 minutes.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | Bassanio is broke and needs ready money so that he can court Portia, a beautiful Heiress. He goes to his friend Antonio - the merchant - for a loan, but all Antonio's money is tied up in his shipping ventures. On the strength of his business, Antonio borrows from Shylock, the money lender, but when Antonio's vessels are lost at sea, Shylock calls in the loan. A court case follows, heard by an unexpected stand-in judge.
An introduction to Shakespeare for primary 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 |
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| A Thirty Minute Twelfth Night by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 16. Minimum total without doubling = 16. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Twelfth Night', with the original text cut down to around 40 minutes (despite the title!)
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | A comedy of mistaken identity, as the shipwrecked Viola poses as a page boy at the court of the Duke of Orsino, where she falls for the Duke, whilst Olivia, the object of the Duke's affections, is smitten with the handsome page boy! All ends happily, but only after a great deal of confusion, and the arrival of Viola's lost twin brother.
An introduction to Shakespeare for primary 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 |
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| A Thirty-Minute Dream by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 7. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 17. Minimum total without doubling = 22. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', with the original text of two hours and more cut down to 30 minutes.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | Fairies make mischief in the Athenian woods, mixing up two couples and pairing the fairy queen with one of the 'Rude Mechanicals' who are in the woods rehearsing a play. When all is straight, we finally get to see the Mechanicals' play mocked by the Athenian nobility.
An introduction to Shakespeare for primary 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 |
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| A Thirty-Minute Hamlet by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 7. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 10. Minimum total without doubling = 17. No chorus. Whilst there isn't a formal chorus, the numbers of attendants and courtiers could easily be increased. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Hamlet', with the original text of around three hours cut down to 30 minutes.
(The abridgement is copyrighted, so we charge for scripts and copying rights, but performances are royalty-free.) |
| Synopsis | Hamlet, the Danish prince, finds himself haunted by his father's ghost. The ghost confirms that he was murdered by his brother, Claudius, who is now king. Hamlet dithers in his course of action - should he avenge his father or submit to Claudius? Ultimately it ends tragically for the whole court. |
| 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 |
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| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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