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ONE ACT PLAYS FOR YOUTH & ADULT CASTS For a selection of full-length adaptations of classic works, click Classics. |
ASSIPATTLE & THE STOORWORM
Award-winning comedy by Ron Nicol. An adventure drama for youth groups. When the kingdom is threatened by a ferocious sea-monster, Queen Beatris and Murdo the sorcerer plot to have the Princess sacrificed to the creature. Assipattle, a simple farmer's son, determines to rescue her.
Cast M7 F4 + optional extras. For details plus sample script, click Assipattle. |
THE BAKER STREET KIDS
The Case of the Riverbank Chase is an exciting adventure based on Conan Doyle’s The Sign of Four, featuring a gang of boys (and girls) who assist the great detective Sherlock Holmes in tracking down a notorious criminal called Jeremiah Grogan. The climax is a thrilling chase along the banks of the River Thames.
For details plus sample script, click Baker St Kids. |
THE BEACH HUT
A black comedy set on the beach at Scarborough, a sequel to Mark Rees’ teenage comedy “It’s Only Make Believe”. It features the same two characters Geoff and Vera, who return to Scarborough after forty years of marriage.
Cast 1 man one woman with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Beach Hut. |
A BIRD IN THE BUSH
An hilarious comedy by Ron Nicol. Bernard’s stomachache and his abiding hatred of a cooing pigeon combine to keep his whole family awake.
Cast 2 men three women with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Bird in the Bush. |
THE BLUES SISTERS
A comedy with music by Mark Rees for a large cast of teenagers (fifteen, plus four parts for younger children). The script is lively, inventive and very funny.
For details plus sample script, click Blues Sisters. |
CALLING HEAVEN
Award-winning comedy by Richard Jack. Concerns a would-be suicide on a rooftop who has a close encounter with God.
Cast 3 men one woman with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Heaven. |
THE COMFORT MACHINE
By Peter Rolls. A farce for five women about four ladies, a bed, a plot and a glamorous Russian called Nadia.
Mrs Rathbone, owner of the Merrivale Private Hotel, has news for her three lady residents: an offer of a sumptuous new bed - free of charge. How exciting! Nadia - all the way from Russia - gives the sales pitch. The bed arrives: it seems to be a self-build job. There are no instructions, but the ladies do their best. Nadia re-appears and - hey presto - it isn’t a bed at all …
Cast five women. For details plus sample script, click Comfort. |
DOON THE WATTER
A comedy by Dave Buchanan. The story of two pensioners on a nostalgic trip to Rothesay.
Cast three men, two women and one youth, with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Watter. |
THE DRESSING ROOM
A drama written by Mark Rees, set in the dressing room of female impersonator "Bunny" May.
Cast two men and three women, with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Watter. |
THE EAGLE EYE
Award-winning farce by Peter Rolls. The Vicar's wife and friends write anonymous letters to parishioners to encourage them to lead more virtuous lives.
Cast three women and one man, with a simple setting. For details click Eagle. |
THE EDGE
A drama by Ron Nicol. A young man is on the roof of a high building, contemplating throwing himself over the edge. A young woman finds him there and initiates a conversation, but her readiness to slip into fantasies sounds a warning note. The young man eventually leaves the roof, apparently having come to terms with his difficulties - but the girl is fixated with death, and finally does what she’d planned to do all along.
Cast two teenagers, one male & one female, with a simple setting. For details click Edge. |
EVERGREEN
Bittersweet comedy about love and old age by Dave Buchanan.
Cast three men two women and one young girl, with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Evergreen. |
FRIENDS & NEIGHBOURS
Ron Nicol's fast-moving drama about a teenage gang and racial tension in an inner city.
Cast M3 F2. For details plus sample script, click Friends. |
THE GATHERING STORM
World War 1 drama by Mark Rees. The Great War seen through the eyes of three combatants: a worker, an aristocrat, and a recruiting sergeant.
Cast three men two women and one man/woman with a composite setting. For details plus sample script, click Storm. |
GULEESH
A fantasy tale by Ron Nicol for youth groups. Guleesh goes with the Fairy Folk to steal the King of France’s daughter, but falls in love with the Princess and takes her from the Fairies instead, enlisting the help of a friendly priest to protect her.
Cast 5M 3F + optional extras with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Guleesh. |
THE HUNT FOR AIKEN DRUM
By Jonathan Whiteside.
A lively play for youth groups (8 to 12 year-olds) involving a group of children, a man called Auld Jock, some Brownies, and a local monster.
Cast 5 boys and 6 girls (one older boy is required). For details plus sample script, click Aiken Drum. |
IT'S ONLY MAKE BELIEVE
Mark Rees’ poignant and amusing tale of young love set in Scarborough in 1956, the era of Teddy Boys and rock ‘n’ roll.
Cast 1 boy 1 girl, both 16 years old. For details plus sample script, click MakeBelieve. |
KILLING TIME
A modern/historical drama by Liz Niven. Teenagers re-enact the story of the Wigtown Martyrs (Covenanters).
Cast 2 women, one man and six teenagers, with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Killing. |
THE KNOWLEDGE
A witty two-hander for two men by Mark Edwards.
A young drama student is interviewed by an adviser bizarrely dressed in a clown outfit, and whose suggestion for an audition piece is an extract from "Dad's Army"!
Cast two men, one a teenager, the other older. For details, click Knowledge.
THE LAST POST
A World War 1 drama by Jill Sumner. Describes the love story of a young couple as they are caught up in the events of the Great War.
Cast of one man and one woman with a composite setting. For details plus sample script, click Post. | |
LILIES THAT FESTER
By Brian Freeland from the short story by Christopher Rush.
A suspenseful drama about witchcraft for five men and two women and set in a modern Scottish manse.
Winner of the Scott Salver 2005. For details, click Lilies.
LUCKY
A powerful drama by Mark Edwards about the Lord Lucan affair.
“Lucky” presents an imaginary scenario, whereby Lord Lucan fled to Africa following Sandra Rivett’s murder. One year later, he arranges for a freelance journalist to fly out for a secret rendezvous.
For details, click Lucky.
MACPHERSON'S FAREWELL
An historical drama by Dave Buchanan based on the life of James Macpherson, outlaw, who famously danced and played on his fiddle round the gallows tree on which he was due to be hanged.
Cast of four men and two women, with simple settings. For details plus sample script, click Farewell. | | |
| MARIGOLD MEWS
Award-winning farce by Peter Rolls. Three ladies of the road take on bureaucracy and strike a blow for art and free expression.
Cast of six women, with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Marigold. | |
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MOLLY WHUPPIE & THE DOUBLE-FACED OGRE
Award-winning modern fairytale by Ron Nicol. When Prince Wilfrid falls in love with Molly Whuppie, King Walter challenges her to steal the Ogre’s sword, purse and ring. Though hampered by the hapless Prince, Molly sets out on her task.
Cast 4M 3F + optional extras. For details plus sample script, click Molly. |
MRS WORTHINGTON'S DAUGHTERS
Mark Rees’ prize-winning satire on fame and modern society’s obsession with it.Melanie is a 16 year old teenager who enters the sleazy world of celebrity, talent shows and agents. With five main parts and ten choral parts, the play is ideal for a teenage cast.
For details plus sample script, click Daughters. |
MOUNTAIN HIGH
Award-winning adventure drama for youth by Dave Buchanan. Entertaining account of a youth club trip to climb Goat Fell.
Cast eight teenagers (4m/4f), two men and one woman, with a composite setting. For details plus sample script, click Goat. |
NEVER SAW IT COMING
A powerful exploration by Les Clarke of relationships in the ‘eternal triangle’ situation. A fast-moving drama for one man and two women.
For details, click Never Saw It. |
NORMAN IS AN ISLAND
A drama in one act written by Mark Rees.Winner of the Scott Salver 2004.
Norman is institutionalised. His interlocutor Mr Dun tries to bring him out of his shell, and in a series of dramatic flash-backs Norman reveals, slowly and painfully, the shocking reasons for his confinement.
Cast three men and two women with a single setting. For details plus sample script, click Norman. |
OFF THE RECORD
A political drama by Mark Edwards for three men and one woman.
Two politicians, one Labour and one Conservative, are accidentally locked inside a radio studio. In the relaxed atmosphere they reveal more about each other than perhaps they intended. And was it really an accident?...
Cast three men and one woman. For details, click Off The Record.
OUT OF TUNE
An hilarious new comedy by Mark Edwards set in 1940.
Socialite Victor’s plans for a night out and dinner with Daphne are interrupted then shattered by the arrival first of Dobbs, a wireless repairman with a penchant for limericks, and second of Mrs Troggs, the cleaning lady.
Cast two men and two women. For details, click Tune.
PLEASE DON'T TELL!
An intense and dramatic play by Les Clarke for three girls and three boys (17-18 year-olds) about friendship, blackmail, revenge and love within a group of teenage friends.
For details, click Please Don't Tell!.
THE PROTEST MEETING
A comedy drama by Gill Morrell. A public meeting in the village hall brings together a number of characters with different agendas and of varied personalities.
Cast three men and three women with a single setting. For details plus sample script, click Protest. | |
RAIN ON ME
Award-winning drama for teenagers by Mark Rees. A modern-day "Romeo and Juliet" with overtones of "West Side Story" and "Roxanne", it has great realism as well as comic dialogue that will appeal to a young cast.
Cast fourteen teenagers: 7 boys, 6 girls and one boy/girl with a various simple settings. For details plus sample script, click Rain. | |
THE REAL MCCOY
A comedy mystery by Dave Buchanan. An imaginative and entertaining parody of the Sherlock Homes stories.
Cast 4 men, 2 women and one ten year-old boy. For details plus sample script, click McCoy. |
THE REDEMPTION OF JESSIE MURDOCH
Written by Les Clarke, this is a powerful and moving two-hander for one man and one woman set in the American mid-west.
For details, click Redemption.
REMEMBRANCE
By Mark Rees.The story of a group of teenagers during the Great War, on the theme of underage soldiers.
Cast nine teenagers: 5 boys and 4 girls with various simple settings. For details plus sample script, click Remembrance. | |
THE RELUCTANT WITNESSES
By Les Clarke.A fast-moving drama on a topical theme, with lively dialogue and good parts for four men and two women. A motley group of people are assembled in a police interview room during a terrorist bomb-scare.
Cast 4 men 2 women, with one simple set.
Highly commended in the 2003/2004 NDFA One Act Playwriting Competition.For details, click Witnesses.
SANTA'S CHRISTMAS CAROL
Comedy by Claire Scott. Housewife Alison is unexpectedly visited at Christmas by a (female) Santa Claus.
Cast two women with a single setting. For details plus sample script, click Santa. | |
SAVING GRACE
Les Clarke’s satire on the green movement for a cast of three men and three women. Contains dialogue that is lively and often non-PC, but very funny.
Cast three men and three women. For details, click Grace.
SCOUNDRELS & STRATAGEMS
Ron Nicol's take on Victoria melodrama is fast, furios and very funny
Cast four men and five women. For details, click Scoundrels.
SING WHEN YOU'RE WINNING
A musical comedy for a teenage cast by Mark Rees, with music composed by Gordon Mundie. The story of a girls' football team, its coach Billy, and their heroic efforts to win the Blinkthorpe Trophy.
Cast eighteen teenagers: five boys thirteen girls with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Sing. | |
SOME MOTHER'S SON
World War 1 drama by Mark Rees, set in a casualty clearing station. A corporal tries to pin the blame for a murder he has committed on a young private who is dying.
Cast 4 men five woman and two men/women with a composite setting. For details plus sample script, click Son. | |
THE SPIRITING OF BURD ELLEN
By Ron Nicol.A lively, inventive, and often hilarious play for youth groups with a mediaeval setting. Runner-up in the 2004 Play On Words competition.
For details, click Burd Ellen.
STAR CROSSED
A challenging two-hander by Mark Rees for two 17 year-old girls set in Belfast during the Troubles.
The two girls, Elizabeth, a Protestant, and Bernadette, a Catholic who is also wheelchair-bound, meet at a community project to read a play: William Shakespeare’s “Romeo & Juliet”. The play is atmospheric and faces head-on the issues of bigotry and intolerance.
Cast 2 girls, with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Star Crossed. |
THE SUMMER OF MY TWENTIETH YEAR
A compelling drama by Mark Rees for one man and two women.
John is twenty years old and believes he has special powers of 'insight' after allegedly being visited by the Spirit of God. The visitation, he has convinced himself, was to prepare him for the Second Coming. A young newspaper reporter, Charlotte, comes to interview him, but her cynicism and failure to take him seriously have terrifying consequences for her.
Cast 1 man 2 women, with a simple setting. For details plus sample script, click Summer. |
TEEN-PEOPLE
Award-winning drama for a youth cast by Mark Rees. A futuristic, involving play with overtones of "Big Brother".
Cast fourteen teenagers: all male or female with one musician. A simple, composite setting. For details plus sample script, click Teen. | |
THANKS A LOT ELTON
Two-hander by Maxine Linnell. A young man and a young woman meet online. Their picture of each other is shattered when they actually meet.
Cast one man and one woman with a single setting. For details plus sample script, click Elton. | |
THE WISE VILLAGERS
An amusing and lively comedy set in the Middle Ages and suitable for youth groups or a mixed youth/adult group.
Cast two men three women and a number of smaller parts for male/female, with simple settings. For details plus sample script, click Villagers. |
