|
The Acquisition by Henry P. Gravelle
New Jersey Film Awards - 2021 Winner |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 4. No chorus. Three speaking roles and one non-speaking demonic arm. |
| Run Time | Around 6 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A short one act melodrama with a single (living room) setting. |
| Synopsis | Art collector Emory has acquired an ancient artefact of immense value and horrifying malevolence. He is eager for his niece Michelle to admire it, but she uses it as an instrument of revenge against her unfaithful husband |
| 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. |
|
|
| The Corruption of Patience Undercroft by Stuart Ardern |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 2. Minimum Female roles = 2. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 5. No chorus. Four on-stage characters and an off-stage voice (that could be recorded). |
| Run Time | Around 15 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Modern pastiche of a Victorian melodrama (the same ingredients, but playing-up the comedy, rather than the Victorian sentimentality). Designed for a black-box set. Could easily be played as part of a Music Hall evening. |
| Synopsis | During a village celebration for Queen Victoria's jubilee, sweet, innocent Patience Undercroft has ventured out to a barn, summoned by a note from an admirer. She is hoping that it comes from her childhood sweetheart, Victor Knightly. Little does she know that it is the wicked Squire Grimly Blackheart who lies in wait... |
| 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. |
|
|
| The Devil and Tom Walker by Gerald P. Murphy |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 7. Minimum total without doubling = 7. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 18 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A short fantasy melodrama, adapted from the Washington Irving short story. Compèred by rhyming narrators. |
| Synopsis | Tom Walker meets the Devil, who offers him buried treasure in exchange for his soul. Eventually Tom agrees to the bargain and becomes a merciless moneylender, hoarding his great fortune. Later, Tom begins to fear damnation and makes a great show of being religious. Despite Tom's newfound piety, the Devil comes for him on a black horse, and Tom is never seen again. |
| 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. |
|
|
| The Jewel Of Lamjung by Richard Ward |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 6. Minimum Female roles = 4. Minimum total with doubling = 12. Minimum total without doubling = 14. Chorus. The cast includes an on-stage sound effects operator. |
| Run Time | Around 15 minutes. [Estimated!] (The original production, including dances, ran to 22 minutes.) |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Short Melodrama with a comedic edge (suitable for inclusion in a Music Hall evening, for example). Set in a regimental ballroom in Nepal in the days of British rule. |
| Synopsis | The Music Hall Chairman takes us through the action as smooth blackguard Major Ponsonby adds the theft of the jewel of Lamjung to his many dastardly misdemeanours. He is finally undone as, following his daughter's lead, the Colonel sees that Ponsonby really is a cad, a bounder and a disgrace to the regiment. |
| 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. |
|
|
| The Monkey's Paw by Amelia Armande |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 4. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 5. No chorus. Variations of casting could be used with minimal script changes - to enable 2m, 2f. |
| Run Time | Around 17 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | A short one act Victorian-style melodrama, with a single (cottage living room) setting. |
| Synopsis | Adapted from the short story by W. W. Jacobs, this tense thriller brings an eerie atmosphere as tension builds - with the story of a magical monkey's paw brought from the mystic East. The paw's ability to grant wishes is irresistible, but will only end in macabre tragedy. |
| 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. |
|
|
| The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe adapted Gerald P. Murphy |
| Roles | Minimum Male roles = 3. Minimum Female roles = 1. Minimum total with doubling = 4. Minimum total without doubling = 4. No chorus. |
| Run Time | Around 12 minutes. [Estimated!] |
| Music | None. |
| Style | Stage adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe's short (Gothic Horror) story. Single figurative set. |
| Synopsis | Lucas takes a homeless man into his home. Convinced the homeless man posesses 'the evil eye', Lucas waits until the dead of night and murders him. Driven mad by guilt and the memory of the evil eye, Lucas is haunted by the homeless man's heart, beating under the floorboards... |
| 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. |
|