PATRON: Stephen Billington, actor
Drama/thriller/mystery
Drama/Thriller/Mystery
A-Z by Title
A Fishy Tail
Marc Harris
M2/F2 (one aged 9)
Short, drama
The dramatic rescue of a girl on the Cornish coastline is linked by the account of an elderly man, who has waited to tell a similar story most of his life.
Can they convince those who doubt them that the incredible events, connected by many decades apart, really happened?
‘A very uplifting piece with some intriguing twists and turns. I very much enjoyed the fantasy elements that became evident towards the end of the piece’. Underscore Studios
A Good Boy
Danny Dice
M1/F0 (a woman could deliver the narrator's direct female speech)
Monologue, drama, comedy
School bores troublesome teenager Luke. He addresses Max, who’s regarded as ‘a good influence.’ Lockdown has enabled them to spend time together. Luke is a ‘harder to place’ child in foster care, awaiting his annual review.
Why is his foster carer, Rob the knob, behaving strangely?
“Important and original-unexpectedly moving” M6 Theatre judges, Love in the Time of Corona competition.
A Kind of Marriage
Charles Leipart
M5/F3
Full length, drama
E.M. Forster, the British novelist lived a homosexual life concealed from public awareness.
By the summer of 1931, aged 52, Forster has taken as his male lover a young bisexual London policeman, Bob Buckingham. Into Forster’s love affair with Bob, enters a young nurse May Hockey. May and Bob begin a passionate love and sexual relationship. Forster, along with his own hidden homosexuality, must face the bisexual preferences of his new lover.
Adrian's Wall
Nick Wilkes
M6/F1
Full length, comedy drama
Adrian has worked in an office for a long time; the same desk, the same telephone, the same office window. Having just turned forty he’s decided that the time has come to change the view.
He sets out on an hilarious journey to walk the length of Hadrian’s Wall, and finds far more than just backpacks, blisters and bricks.
A school reunion, a few military ghosts, and a short eighty-four mile wander, what could possibly go wrong?
Agnodice
Vanessa Lee
M4/F7
One act, historical
The story of Agnodice, an Athenian gynaecologist who lived during the 4th century BC, believed to be one of the first female doctors in Western history.
AIBU?
Danny Dice
M1/F2
Short, comedy drama
‘Why does something as simple as sex have to be so complicated?’ A mother posts on Mumsnet asking if she is being unreasonable for constantly snapping at her husband whenever he pesters her for sex. She sometimes gives in to his demands and asks if she should leave her husband.
In the light of #MeToo, is it ever acceptable to expect sex in a long term relationship?
Between Two Rivers
Michael Lucchesi
M3/F2
Full length, drama
An AWOL Marine returns home to help his sister deal with an abusive father.
Blast from the Past
Marc Harris
M4/F4 or M3/F4
Full length, drama/light comedy
Take one actor who wants to act; a brother, daughter and neighbour who want him to; another daughter who doesn’t, and an actor - who can’t!
The scene is set for an entertaining, poignant and humorous drama about family relationships, ageing and hope.
M4/F7
One act, historical
Inspired by the life and adventures of Clémentine Delait, an early-twentieth-century café owner and entertainer from the Vosges region in France.
Coming Clean
Anne Rainbow
M1/F2
Short, drama
Madge is an interfering mother-in-law, living with her son Lance and his wife Lily in the house she gave them.
Madge guesses daughter-in-law Lily is pregnant and is eager for the arrival of her first grandchild. She tries to persuade Lily to come clean about her condition and tell Lance. When Lance finds out, it’s Madge’s turn to come clean.
Confession
Nadya Henwood
M2/F2
Short, drama
A Priest is torn when his brother confesses to a serious crime in the confessional. Should he keep his brother’s secret or break the seal of confession? What unfolds challenges his and our beliefs that we can accept the truth, even when it is unpalatable.
Edward, Mrs Simpson and Freda
Geoff Buckingham
M7/F4
Full length, drama
This epic play examines the two main romances of King Edward VIII.
We see Edward's days in WWI, his meeting with Freda Dudley-Ward & his arguments with parents Queen Mary & George V.
Following Freda's rejection, & with war looming over Europe, he seeks solace with American socialite, Wallis Simpson. PM Stanley Baldwin urges him to give her up but Edward remains undeterred, finally deciding to abdicate rather than risk a crisis.
Elysian Fields
Nick Wilkes
M6/F2
Full length, drama
Stephen Fields is having a bad day. In fact, he’s having the worst day possible.
Although waking in an unfamiliar place, he feels fitter, healthier and more relaxed than he has in years. Things could seem pretty good?
He just doesn’t know how he got here, who brought him, or why. Worse, he may never leave…
Feeling Lost
Ali Gallo
F2
Drama
Being geographically lost leads to sisters finding each other at long last.
Fit for Purpose
Catherine O'Shea
M0-3/F6-8
Full length, drama
In 2010 50 female asylum seekers’ held in Yarl’s Wood detention centre went on strike to protest the conditions they had to endure. It ended with violence & the women moved to Holloway.
Aruna & Kaela (13) a Somali mother & daughter are detained in Yarl’s Wood at the start of the strike. The stress of the journey & subsequent treatment by the UK Border Agency makes Aruna retreat into herself while Kaela tries to understand what's happened
Grammatically Speaking
Marc Harris
M2 - or any combination of either sex
Short, drama/ghost
Simon decides to carry out his first burglary, unknowingly breaking into his former school teacher's cottage.
Clive tries to convince Simon that everyone deserves a second chance but is everything as it seems?
The script relies on numerous sound effects to enhance the production and build the suspense.
Running time: Approximately 13 minutes.
In 2020, this reached the long list of Pintsized Plays
Hoftsadter's Law
Danny Dice
M2/F0 (could be M3/F1)
Short, comedy drama
26.2 miles in under 26.2 minutes! Danny is convinced that running his first marathon with best friend B will enable him to write his first novel.
Why do two unexpected fellow competitors so unsettle Danny? Can Danny learn something from ex-world record holder Dr Ron Hill MBE? Why is B furtive about his wife’s texts? Will Danny and B’s friendship survive?
Leverage
David Lydon
M3/F2
Full length, drama, modern tragedy, legal, morality
Archie is caught at a crossroads - does he defend the man most hated by the nation or let his career, and life, stagnate?
‘Leverage’ represents modern life and all that entails. The play discusses the difficulty of modern masculinity - does working alongside the embodiment of toxic masculinity make you guilty by
association?
M
David Lydon
M3/F3
Full length, tragedy, adaptation,
‘M’ is a high-achieving Upper 6th student with a place at a good University lined up. She has lost Jason, the love of her life, to another girl in her year on the cusp of their school leaving party.
M only arrived at the school in the Sixth Form (and isn’t a native Londoner) whereas Jason and his new beau Sara-Jane have been at the school since they were eleven. M wants her revenge.
This play is inspired by Euripides’ Medea.
Men of the Empire
Bill Savage
M9/F2
Short, historical drama
After a prologue in present-day London, the scene takes place the night before the Battle of the Somme.
Two railway workers-turned-soldiers, one from Newfoundland and the other from Britain talk about their commitment to the cause.
Next we are taken to a hospital, where a nurse laments the carnage and what it's done to her generation.
An epilogue in modern-day Newfoundland provides an interaction between the generations.
Miner's Canary
Charlotte Jung
F4
Short, drama
Four female miners give voice to their endless experience of digging the mines. Talking choir format.
Mom, I Smoke!
Bill Savage
M4/F4
Short, drama
In a series of vignettes, we see not only the choices and the effects of those choices made by a man (who appears only in prologue and epilogue), but also the genesis of society's view on cigarette smoking between the 1960s and 2010s. In most of the vignettes, this character is referred to either in the third person, or cast members break the fourth wall to address "him" directly.
Offshore
Peter Cowlam
M4/F3/3 extras
Full length, tragedy/drama
England is bound with the imaginary, war-torn African country of Kbandra.
Two people who can help Kbandra are Hillier & Keller, put together by TV show hosts, Alan & Moira. Hillier is a consultant in the oil business. Keller is an English aristocrat with ancestry going back to Elizabeth I.
Neither Westerner want to use their skills/resources to alleviate suffering, leaving naïve Hillier to justify his position.
On Our Way to the Fair
Bill Savage
M4/F5
Full length, drama
Two acts of this play take place in 1939, and one in 1964. All revolve, indirectly, around the New York World's Fairs of those years. It is a story of intra-family relationships, dreams shattered by the force of history, and of the aspirations of second-generation immigrants in America. The main theme involves the continuity of generations and of youth across decades.
Only Love Can Do That
Alison Roe
M1/F3
30 mins, drama
When a young refugee requires urgent medical care, some surgery at the Royal Berkshire Hospital must be postponed.
90-year-old Anna, a child refugee from Germany, is one of those affected. The other is Joyce, a cleaner with a view about foreigners that this situation can only reinforce. Throw in an African nurse & Anna’s grieving son Paul & the stage is set for a thought-provoking & compassionate exploration of modern-day attitudes towards migration.
Playing Solitaire
Michael Lucchesi
M1/F1
One act, drama
A daughter has to tell her father (a WWII vet) that he is no longer capable of living on his own.
Protect Yourself At All Times
Mark Whicker
M16/F6
Full length, drama
Curtis “The Hammer” Jerome is an aging boxer who is finally nearing a championship. He defeats Kiki Ortega, who dies in the aftermath of the fight.
Confused by his emotions, he is angered when his promoter Eddie casts him as a killer to prop up his fame. He also struggles with his feelings for Christina, Kiki’s widow.
In the end he tries to reverse his plummeting career, and to learn to function with guilt and the self-absorption within.
Psychos Inc.
Vanessa Lee
M2-3/F4-5
One act/drama, mystery, thriller, science fiction
Psychos Inc. is a short thriller set in a world where memories are recorded, shared and sold publicly.
Carla is more than happy with her job at Psychos Inc., a powerful memory-recording company, but her husband Geoff, who is unemployed, has his doubts about the system.
One day, he is given the chance to make a change…
Running Wild Across Barren Ground
Anne Rainbow
M1/F1
Short/duologue, drama
A man and a woman, ex-lovers, meet in a bar, years after they split up and compare their experiences with lovers much older than themselves.
Say He Was a Soldier
Bill Savage
M5
Short, historical drama
Shortly after the Civil War, a young veteran of the war finds no place for him in post-war society, specifically because of his sexuality. He wanders into a town where he encounters a former officer.
The two have never spoken before, but they are united by their admiration for a former superior who died in the war.
They discuss the past and the future, and in the end, each achieves a measure of peace.
Shards
Catherine O'Shea
M2/F2
Full length, drama
It’s 2012 & the Shard is half completed. Matt, a wing dancer & Laura, a particle physicist hunting for the Higgs Boson particle, are negotiating online dating desperately looking for a connection.
On their first date there is catastrophe. We flit back & forth in time, with the Shard at different heights, witnessing the lives of swing dancers & particle physicists at different points.
Shards features live lindy hop dancing on stage throughout.
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Stuff (and Nonsense)
Charlotte Jung
M2/F2/NB1
Full length, drama
This is an absurd feminist play focusing on the liberation of the suppressed female voice & spirit.
Luce is asleep & dreams her way through the play - the stage represents her subconscious.The further the play, the further down Luce's suppressed psyche - a blocked yet unruly inner world full of her painful memories & feelings. In meeting with her painful feelings & repressed memories, Luce goes through an intense & transformational process.
Tailoring Hitler
Charles Leipart
M3/F2
One act, historical drama
Demagogues aren't born. They’re made-to-measure.
A cold rainy April evening in Munich, Germany, 1919. A wounded WWI corporal and self taught public speaker arrives in Munich with political ambitions. But Adolf is in definite need of sartorial advice. Members of Munich’s wealthiest Social Elite are charmed. They decide to lend a hand in giving this young man some much needed style and polish.
That Place
Ali Gallo
M1/ - other 3 characters can be M or F
Short, comedy
Jim is dead but he’s also got a phobia about heaven. He can’t even bring himself to say the word. So, where does he go now?
The Fall
Michael Lucchesi
M1/F1
One act, drama
A married couple living in Poland reveal secrets kept 20 years.
The Fall
Charlotte Jung
F5
Short, drama
The Five depicts the ten years preceding the commencement of what would be Hilma af Klint's life work of paintings; later to be classified as ground breaking, and western art history's first ever abstract paintings.
The Five was a group of women holding regular seances in which they communed with spirits. The decade long work of The Five was instrumental in preparing Hilma for her forthcoming mission. The Five centers on these consequential seances.
The Ghost of Blackstoke Manor
Jo Smith
M3/F2
Full length, dark comedy/ghost
Blackstoke Manor has been empty for years which has been great fodder for urban legend. They say the ghost of Ebenezer Blackstoke roams the halls, desperate to protect his manor from unwanted guests.
The gruesome stories don't seem to affect Will who drags his wife and brother-in-law to investigate the house.
If the derelict house wasn't creepy enough, an old friend of Ebenezer Blackstoke turns up to confirm the tales of terror.
The Revenger's Tragedy
Amelia Mariette
M24/F3
Full length, drama
Vindice appears holding the skull of his dead fiancée, killed by the Duke as punishment for refusing his advances.
Vindice meets with his brother, Hippolito who agrees to help in his quest for revenge. Hippolito informs him that the Duke’s son, has requested a “pander” to help win the affections of a chaste virgin.
Seizing his chance, Vindice disguises himself as the pander & takes on the mission—but to his horror the virgin is his sister.
M8/F4
Full length, drama (costume)
The true story of Spencer Perceval, Britain's only PM to be assassinated.
We follow his eventful premiership as he deals with the madness of King George, the feckless Prince Regent, the belligerent Napoleon Bonaparte & a host of enemies at home, culminating in his murder.
We examine his support for William Wilberforce & the motives of the murderer John Bellingham & the possible culprits who urged him to do the dastardly deed.
Through a Glass Darkly
Nick Wilkes
M2
Full length, drama
The Prime Minister has been assassinated.
At a state banquet a high-ranking church official, well-known to the nation and with no previous animosity towards the government, picked up his knife, extended his arm past the Prime Minister’s throat, and drew the blade back towards him…
To Build a Wooden O
Nick Wilkes
M9/F3
Full length, comedy drama
It’s 1598 & Will Shakespeare needs a new theatre.
He & his company are stuck at the ageing Curtain Theatre in the wrong part of town, whilst south of the river business is booming & theatres are packing in pounds & pennies a plenty.
Against this backdrop an audacious plan is hatched with the highest of stakes, life or death, all whilst Will is writing a new little history piece called Henry V.
Transient
Catherine O'Shea
M2/F2
Full length, drama
Germany, 1945. The war is over. Four young people meet in an underground office, sharing the obsessive pastime of reading the lists that will tell them who died & who may be alive.
As they search for answers the world changes beyond recognition as the enemy forces carve up the war-ravaged country they once knew.
Borders appear where there where none before & they find themselves trapped between imaginary countries as Germany is swallowed up.
Violette - The Fight for Freedom
Geoff Buckingham
M8/F5
Full length, drama (one act version available)
Violette Szabo was a great heroine in WW2 working for the Special Operations Executive in occupied France.
We visit her early days in London, her marriage to French soldier Etienne, her quest for revenge against the Nazis & her ultimate sacrifice when she is shot by a firing squad.
Thoroughly researched & including anecdotes from Violette's daughter, this epic play can prove a blockbuster for a drama group.
Wasters
Nick Wilkes
M3/F1
Full length, comedy drama
Peter lives in an alley at the back of the supermarket. Has done for years. He knows that at six o’clock every day the food arrives. Food that is past it’s sell-by date, which the supermarket throws out.
Mostly warm and mostly dry, his existence is one of cardboard, coffee and chatting to his friend, the bin. He is king of his road…
… and then David arrives.
When I Have Fears
Anne Rainbow
M1/F3
Short, drama
While the other inmates enjoy watered-down wine, a once remembered and much-loved poem provides Peter with the perfect route out of a Hotel for the Elderly.
And life goes on.
Whenever the Day Comes
Bill Savage
M2/F2
Short, drama
The latest tragedy in a family stricken by tragedies hits a young man especially hard in 1938, but a few years later, now a World War II veteran, he meets a mother and her daughter, with whom he shares both dread and hope.
Wolf Like Me
David Lydon
M2/F3
Full length, drama, black comedy, modern tragedy, music
Punk legend, Robin O is on the cusp of being relevant again – she's finally clean enough to tour, her fans are returning after years of neglect, & there is the promise of new material on the horizon. Yet she seems determined to see this long-overdue revival go down in flames.
Faced with the prospect of a reunion with her former band mate, her love of music is enough to conquer any personal demons. Surely?