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| A Thirty-Minute Much Ado by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 14. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 18. Minimum total without doubling = 20. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing', 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 | Don Pedro, prince of Arragon comes sweeping into town - along with his wayward brother, Don John, who is bent on making mischief. He finds his opportunity when he seeks to spoil the romance between Claudio (one of the Prince's knights) and Hero, the daughter of their host. Meanwhile, Claudio and Hero try to kindle a romance between Hero's cousin Beatrice and Claudio's friend Benedick, who everyone thinks made for each other - if they can ever get beyond their endless verbal sparring. |
| 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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| A Thirty-Minute Taming of the Shrew by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 8. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 16. Minimum total without doubling = 16. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 35 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew', 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 | A lord wishes his daughters to be married. Bianca is young and beautiful and already has many suitors, but Katherina is strong-willed, hot-tempered and uncontrollable. Their father decrees that Bianca may only take a husband once Katherina is married. Lucentio and his friend Petruchio arrive, and Petruchio is convinced to marry Katherina for her money to allow Lucentio to wed Bianca. However, Lucentio finds his marriage to Bianca is not as idyllic as he would like, whilst Petruchio bends the shrew-like Katherina to his will. |
| 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 Tempest by Shakespeare, abridged Bill Tordoff |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 9. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 11. Minimum total without doubling = 15. No chorus. Like much of Shakespeare, the cast is male-heavy. Don't let that put you off! |
| Run Time | Around 35 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Abridgement of William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest', 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 | Prospero, the exiled duke of Milan, has raised his daughter Miranda alone on an island with nobody else around but Caliban, a deformed creature Prospero treats as a slave. Using his magic to wreck a ship carrying the usurping Duke of Milan and his entourage, Prospero aims to awe the noblemen, reassert his right to the throne of Milan, and find a match for his daughter. |
| 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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Three Women and Shakespeare's Will by Joan Greening
2022 Edinburgh Fringe production received a 5-Star review from Arts Reviews Edinburgh. |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 3. Minimum total without doubling = 3. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 40 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Quick-witted one-act comedy. Single set requiring only a few items of furniture. |
| Synopsis | After the death of William Shakespeare, Anne Hathaway is visited by two women with shocking revelations. Both claim to have known her husband intimately, and each want a piece of Will's will. |
| 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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| To Be Hamlet by Olivia Arieti |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 4. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 6. Minimum total without doubling = 6. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 10 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Ten-minute play. Simplest set - a bare stage - simple props. |
| Synopsis | An actor struggles with the role of Hamlet as Hamlet struggles with his destiny. |
| 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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| Toil and Trouble by Karina Fernandez |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 8. Minimum total with doubling = 10. Minimum total without doubling = 10. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 12 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A one act comedy, set backstage at a school production of 'The Scottish Play'. |
| Synopsis | Tensions mount as the young actors ready themselves for the impending curtain up, and things are made worse when the director announces that a West End producer is in the audience. |
| 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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| Tony and Bee-ing Cleopatra by Fiona Scott Patrick |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 6. No chorus. Lindsay is dressed in a bumble bee costume with a Cleopatra wig. (Just in case you need a hint about the provenance of the strange title.) The cast includes four numbered tourists. Others might drift through! |
| Run Time | Around 15 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Fifteen-minute character-driven play, minimal set. (I realise that the residents of Edinburgh might be offended by the description of one of their streets as minimal, but it doesn't need to be a realistic set!) |
| Synopsis | Lindsay is handing out flyers for her show at the Edinburgh Fringe, but she feels she's too old to be there - she's a serious actress. Then she meets Tony, a little drunk and recently dumped by her boyfriend, and the pair find a new enthusiasm for acting. |
| 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 Tragedie of Macbreth by Robert Hunter Allan |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 1. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 5. Minimum total without doubling = 5. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 11 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A short parody of Shakespeare's Macbeth with a single (dark moor) setting. |
| Synopsis | Macbreth encounters three witches, who can satisfy his avaricious ambitions if he complies with their demands for unpalatable tasks. |
| 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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| Tree Audition by Hugh Smith |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 3. Minimum total without doubling = 3. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 8 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A comedy sketch with minimal set requirements. |
| Synopsis | An actress uses underhand tactics to put off a rival while waiting to audition for the part of Lady Macbeth. |
| 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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