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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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| The Three Bells Inn by Richard Hills |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 7. Minimum total without doubling = 7. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One-act slice of life from a London pub during the Second World War. (Could be used as an educational piece, but contains some mild swearing and, being set in a pub, drinking.) |
| Synopsis | Bombs are falling on London again, but some local residents have opted to spend the evening in the pub, rather than the shelters. A look at the practicalities of wartime life in Britain from a local perspective. |
| 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 Canterbury Tales by Richard James |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 5. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 7. Minimum total without doubling = 7. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 25 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One-act verse play. No set requirements, few (deliberately rough-and-ready) props. |
| Synopsis | Three of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, told in verse but adapted for the stage. The Miller, The Pardoner and the Wife of Bath are brought to life with the narration of Chaucer and the help of three other pilgrims (the Friar, the Summoner and the Nun). |
| 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 Three Little Pigs... I Mean The Three Little Hogs by Larry Brumer |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 5. Minimum total without doubling = 5. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 30 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Small-cast comedy play intended for performance by an adult or high school company to an elementary school audience. Simple sets, costumes and props. |
| Synopsis | The tale of the Three Little Pigs (building houses, wolves huffing and blowing - that sort of thing) retold for elementary pupils with audience interaction and a surprise 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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Three Women and Shakespeare's Will by Joan Greening
Best Seller 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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| Tiddley Pum by Frances Bartram |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 3. Minimum total with doubling = 6. Minimum total without doubling = 6. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 35 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | One-act comedy play. Minimal set (an ante-room for an audition, no particular requirements). Well-drawn characters and sparkling dialogue. |
| Synopsis | Six characters meeting each other for the first time as they gather to audition for a television show. Their talents are as disparate as their personalities. |
| 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 Tide is Coming In by Michael C. Appleby
Production by The Edinburgh Makars won First Prize (and the Edith Forbes Trophy) in the Scottish Community Drama Association's One Act Play Festival, Edinburgh, 2020 |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 0. Minimum Female roles = 0. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 4. No chorus. Characters written as 2m, 2F, but can be played by any combination with permissible tweaks to names and pronouns. |
| Run Time | Around 28 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A witty one-act comedy with funny characters and plenty of action. Set on a beach, furnished with rocks and (not necessarily visibly) sand! |
| Synopsis | Angela gets stuck in quicksand while walking along the beach. Her friend Brian helpfully explains the physics of thixotropy, but can’t think of a way to get her out. Deirdre and Colin pass by and are recruited into the rescue, but are more interested in a nearby black-throated diver. |
| 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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A Time for Farewells by Damian Trasler
Winner of the Author's Award, RAFTA One-Act Play Festival, 2003 & (amongst other things) the Buckhaven Trophy [Best Moment of Theatre] SCDA festival 2008. |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 4. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 45 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Serious, touching play. One act, one simple set. [Includes mild swearing] |
| Synopsis | As they dress for a social event that will mark the end of their married life together, Sarah and Alex review their relationship to find out what brought them to this point. |
| 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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