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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 |
| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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| There's Always Time For Dancing by Helen Boyce |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 1. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 2. Minimum total without doubling = 2. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 22 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | One song, to be played over the closing dialogue, is suggested in the producer's copy of the script. Lazy Bee Scripts does not supply any sheet music with this script. |
| Style | One-act drama on a single (living room) set. |
| Synopsis | After a lovely church service, Michael and his wife relax at home. He does his best to make her laugh, encouraging her to dance with him, though she’s tired. But a persistent noise distracts her, and leads her to a sad discovery. |
| 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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These Are The Days by Shari Gledhill
TOPs (The Oldland Players) won 1st place at the Bristol One Act Drama Festival 2024 for their production of 'These Are The Days'. The group also won awards for Best Actress, Best Director, Best Lighting and the Audience Award. |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 1. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 2. Minimum total without doubling = 2. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 24 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A one-act dramatic duologue with no set required. |
| Synopsis | Married couple Matt and Vicki re-live their relationship from its unlikely beginnings to its poignantly tragic end. |
| 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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| They Called Her Tante Anna by Elisabeth Marrion |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 6. Minimum total without doubling = 6. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 53 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A one-act historical drama suitable for educational use. Three simple settings. |
| Synopsis | From December 1938 until the outbreak of WWII, ten thousand Jewish children were evacuated from Nazi Germany to England on the Kindertransport. This is the story of some of those children. |
| 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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| Thick and Thin by Johnny Grim |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 0. Minimum total with doubling = 3. Minimum total without doubling = 3. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One-act play - the philosophy of the relationship between sport and life. The characters are in stadium seats, so could be a very simple set. Contains very strong language. |
| Synopsis | Three football (soccer!) fans are watching the fourth rematch in a cup game and discussing the benefits of tactics, the importance of buying season tickets over paying rent, the influence of women and what to eat during the match. |
| 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 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 |
| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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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 |
| 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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| A Thirty-Minute Julius Caesar by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 14. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 16. Minimum total without doubling = 28. Chorus. The chorus is flexible - there is a crowd, and unnumbered soldiers and servants. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar', 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 | Fresh from military conquests, Caesar returns to Rome in triumph. His friend, Mark Antony, offers him a crown. The Roman senate takes offence at this - the senators want to maintain the republic, rather than have Rome submit to a single ruler. Thus is born a conspiracy against Caesar, leading to his murder on the Ides of March and setting up a confrontation between Caesar's supporters and the conspirators. |
| 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. |
| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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| A Thirty-Minute Macbeth by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 16. Minimum Female roles = 5. Minimum total with doubling = 21. Minimum total without doubling = 28. No chorus. The male characters include Macduff's son who should be aged around 7. No formal chorus, but a flexible number of soldiers and offstage voices. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Macbeth', 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 | Witches foretell that, against expectations and the laws of inheritance, Macbeth will become king of Scotland. Urged on by his wife, Macbeth tries to make the prophesy come true. All goes well (in a gruesome sort of way) until the shrubbery starts walking up the drive.
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 |
| Click here to read the script or Click here for more details. |
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| A Thirty-Minute Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 10. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 14. Minimum total without doubling = 22. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet', 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 | Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
So the Montagues and Capulets are at each other's throats, but the Montague's son and Capulet's daughter, meet, fall in love and pledge to be married in secret. Things begin to fall apart when Tybalt, a hot-headed Capulet, picks a fight. Romeo intervenes to calm things down, but this only results in Tybalt killing Romeo's kinsman and Romeo killing Tybalt. Further sorrow follows not far behind.
A tragic love story, with an awful lot of fighting. |
| 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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