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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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| Fifty! by Archie Wilson |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 5. Minimum Female roles = 7. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 13. No chorus. One offstage - radio - voice, could be pre-recorded. |
| Run Time | Around 48 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | One suggested tune is a part of the plot. Lazy Bee Scripts does not supply any sheet music with this script. |
| Style | A one act farce, with a single (living room) setting. |
| Synopsis | Seemingly boring David is fifty years old today! Wife Fran and daughter Jessica arrange a surprise party for him, but unbeknownst to them he is having an affair. Feathers fly as he appears at the surprise party with his semi-clad mistress, and assorted extra visitors also help to make it a special event! |
| 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 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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| First Time Around by Colin Calvert |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 7. Minimum Female roles = 5. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 13. No chorus. Mainly adult characters, but bridesmaids are children. Whilst there is no formal chorus, there is the option of adding non-speaking wedding guests. |
| Run Time | Around 45 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One-act comedy play, with a single (wedding reception) set. |
| Synopsis | Two families collide at a wedding. One has taken pains to ensure the speeches are suitable (and short enough!) for the eminent guests they have invited, by bringing along some chloroform. But not everyone at the event is what they seem, with the Bride's family are playing at being poor country bumpkins to avoid paying for the event. |
| 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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| Flapjacks by Karen Doling |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 4. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 9. Minimum total without doubling = 10. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One-act comedy play. Single cafe set. Contains mild swearing. |
| Synopsis | Maddie and Claire are on the verge of opening their new cafe but the builders are still working, they're not sure about making savoury food, and they only have a couple of days before the Mayor comes to cut the ribbon. |
| 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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| Flatmates by Barry Lambert |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 6. Minimum total without doubling = 6. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 49 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A one act comedy with a single (living room) setting. |
| Synopsis | One morning, recently divorced Ben is surprised and annoyed to find a strange young woman making herself at home in his flat. Even worse, she claims to have been living there rather longer than Ben has himself, and some of her other claims are still more unbelievable. Friend and colleague George and local bobby PC Pullen are unable to even see Devra, let alone resolve the situation. Devra does seem to have mysterious powers, but is it possible she might be able to improve the rapidly deteriorating relationship between Ben and his former wife, Hilary? |
| 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 My Final Act by Cheryl Barrett |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 6. Minimum total with doubling = 8. Minimum total without doubling = 8. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One-act character comedy. Single set (simple interior). Two out-of-the-ordinary props in the form of ventriloquist's dolls. Contains mild swearing. |
| Synopsis | The Accolades is a retirement home for stars of stage and screen, but just because they're in a retirement home, doesn't mean they're out of the spotlight. Rene and Judy are competing for the headline in their joint Edinburgh festival show, but they don’t know all the details yet. |
| 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 Sale - Baby Shoes - Never Worn by Damian Trasler |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 1. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 2. Minimum total without doubling = 4. No chorus. The work is divided into three pieces, each for 1M, 1F. In theory the same pair of actors could play the roles in all three - one member of the couple in the first part appears in each of the succeeding parts. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A sort of triptych for the stage. Three linked short plays, with minimal sets - essentially three stage blocks and a few props. |
| Synopsis | The story goes that Ernest Hemingway was challenged to write a novel in six words. His response was 'For sale - baby shoes, never worn.' Damian Trasler takes each part of that phrase as the starting point of a short play - three stories in the life of a young couple, not necessarily going in the direction you might expect. |
| 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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