PATRON: Stephen Billington, actor
Full Length Plays
Full Length Plays
A-Z by Title
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?
Believe
Baz Stilinski
M6/F8
(Please note some characters can change gender as required. Jamie is a young role. Ensemble is also required which can include some of the characters. Some characters expected to sing)
Full length, comedy
Two life-long friends are reunited. One is an angel on a mission to try & save the other. The other is an atheist & doesn’t know his friend has died.
Can a group of angels get someone to believe before it is too late or will the past prove to be the biggest barrier?
Ben Jonson's Dogsbody
James Lewis Huss
M10/F5
Full length (approx. 2 hrs), comedy (Mock Renaissance Tragedy)
Ben Jonson’s Dogsbody is a mock Shakespearean tragedy in blank verse based on the real life history of Sir Henry Norris.
A comedy in five acts, it tells the story of King Henry VIII’s best friend & political ally, executed after being accused of sleeping with Anne Boleyn. Henry lived a tragic life with shit upon his hands before he died with it upon his name.
A shittier tragedy has yet to be written.
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.
Camp
Kay Andrews-Kuhn
Large Cast
Full length, panto
This original, feel good panto takes place at Sandy Shores Holiday Camp in the early 70s (when hair was long, platform heels were high & flares were wide).
The highlight of the season is the grand talent contest which attracts a young man who wants to be a star & a mysterious stranger who may not be all he seems.
Join the party for a show packed with laughs, songs, romance, mystery & nostalgia which is completely, overwhelmingly, undeniably CAMP.
Casting
Nick Wilkes
M3/F1
Full length, comedy
Julius is an award-winning gritty Director. Raymond is an independently wealthy posh Producer. Their much-anticipated production of Hamlet is about to premiere but their Hamlet and Ophelia have run off together.
They have until 6pm to overcome this problem or the money gets pulled. Such is the state of arts funding, such are the problems of casting!
Christopher Marlowe's Henry
James Lewis Huss
M7/F5 (+2-4 non speaking men)
Full length, comedy (Mock Tragedy)
This is a mock Renaissance tragedy based on the life of Henry Fitzroy, bastard son of King Henry VIII and one-time contender for the crown of England.
Henry was married at 15, died at 17, and NEVER consummated his marriage. A greater tragedy has yet to be written.
This is not just a comedy about sex and erectile dysfunction written in blank verse, it is a story of a love that grows out of friendship.
Cold Calling
Doc Watson
M2/F2
Full length, dark comedy
Matt and Louise having come into money decide to buy a house in a very upmarket area. However, they soon attract the attention of the neighbours, Michael and Vicky.
One power struggle leads to another as each couple tries to outdo the other. Matt and Helen feel the need to protect themselves with alarms and flood lights and CCTV – but have they taken things too far? Both couples seem on a collision course. The question is who turns first.
Cram
David Lydon
M3(1 boy)/F2
Full length, drama, black comedy
What is the true price of education?
Alec finds it just enough to live on, whilst his student Michael finds it an unwelcome distraction from his own imagination. Sally and Marcus are counting the cost of self-improvement whilst scouring the wreckage of previous dalliances, and Julia is trying to make sense of the logic of paying for education when you can get a perfectly good one for nothing.
Curtain Call
David Lydon
M8/F4 (1 vo)
Full length, comedy
It's the first night for Sir Andrew Samson's new play. The preview was a disaster, with the harshest critic in town giving it a terrible review.
In the audience are Michael & Fiona, a young couple. They are sitting next to another young couple, Lawrence & Charlotte, both of whom Michael hates & there's every chance the harshest critic in town might well be in the crowd.
What ensues is a very interesting first night...
Disconnected
Nick Wilkes
M3/F2
Full length, comedy
Norman is an island. Actually, Norman is a telecoms engineer and has been sent to the small island of St Peters to disconnect the old red telephone box, which is no longer commercially viable. The residents are not happy about it.
With a boat to catch and a job sheet to complete, will time and tide wait for Norman? Or like the island will he end up disconnected?
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…
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
He, Haditcummin
Jo Smith
M6/F3
Full length, comedy/parody
Lord & Lady Ownalott are hosting their annual soiree, one dark and stormy night, inviting neighbours, Mr & Mrs Fortune, and the local clergyman, Reverend Churcher, for dinner. However, the guests get more than they bargained for when one of them ends up dead...
A hilarious, light-hearted, fast-paced stage play which gently pokes fun at the classic "whodunnit" format.
Hey L'il Man
Baz Stilinski
M5/F10
(Please note that there are small ensemble parts needed which can be doubled up 2 male and 2 male are young characters. Some characters expected to sing)
Full length, drama comedy
A journey of family life told through the eyes of a stranger who becomes involved when tragedy strikes. Join two families who experience life’s twist and turns, laughter and tears, happiness and sadness.
Even in life’s greatest tragedy, can a miracle still be found?
Hood
Kay Andrews-Kuhn
Large Cast
Full length, panto
Robin & his friend Flora Mopp are transported from a future where magic is forgotten to a bright new world in pursuit of a book of fairy tales. However, all is not sunny in the magic kingdom.
In the forest, a girl in a red hooded cloak & sparkly red shoes is being followed by a big, bad wolf.
In this funny, fast paced adventure, we meet characters from panto, fairy tales & 80s sci-fi, discovering the magic of music, laughter, friendship & love.
Hooley
Peter Cowlam
M8/F8/4 extras
Full length, comedy
Hooley runs a psychotherapy practice (unsuccessfully, as she remains only one step ahead of creditors). Her personal life fares little better, having bought a vicarage occupied by squatters who are impossible to evict.
Meanwhile Pollock, a client of Hooley’s, believes Hopkins, a religious fanatic, is about to commit murder, while Hopkins thinks the universe is caught between good & evil resulting in a life & death battle.
iBard
Nick Wilkes
M4
Full length, comedy
Andrew was an English teacher. He now cleans toilets. He has a wife, a child, half a cat, and isn’t quite making ends meet.
He’s decided that if Shakespeare was indeed ‘for all time’, then he must belong in the twenty-first century too. So Andrew is off to London to seek his fortune by bringing Will Shakespeare into the digital age. Is he Fortune’s fool, or is there method in his madness? That is the question.
Jitters
Nick Wilkes
M5/F2
Full length, comedy
Saying ‘I do’ is easy, but finding that special someone to say ‘Will you?’ is an entirely different proposal. It’s a big step, especially when it’s the second time around and the first ended in disaster.
A groom with a past, a best man losing his best mate, and a father of the bride with just a little too much pride. It’s fair to say they all have jitters.
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?
Litter Hero
Nick Wilkes
M2
Full length, comedy
Mike has just been left at the altar. Forty, fat and jilted, you could say his life is rubbish.
With his girlfriend gone and a hole where the wedding once was he needs more than a happy meal to make him happy.
So when he sees a drinks can littering a country lane, and gives it a good hard kick, how could he possibly imagine where it would end up?
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.
Nay, Remember Me!
Amelia Mariette
M15/F7 (Min without doubling 22, 13 with)
Full length, comedy drama
A fast paced comedy about the printing of the first complete works of Shakespeare – The First Folio of 1623.
In the play, Shakespeare appears as a ghost; actors become editors & a wayward apprentice turns order into chaos.
The play also propels the story forward to Washington DC in the 19th Century to unravel the story of the greatest collector of First Folios – Henry Clay Folger of the Folger Library.
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.
Visit Bill's profile page
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.
Shakespeare's Robin V
James Lewis Huss
M18 speaking (7 non-speaking, can be paired with other roles)/F2
Full length, comedy
Shakespeare’s Robin V is a mock Shakespearean tragedy based on the legends of Robin Hood & the history of Richard the Lionheart.
A comedy in five acts, we follow Robin of Loxley as he struggles to convince his merry band of men to use their stolen wealth to save his true love, King Richard, from captivity in Germany before the dummy-prince John usurps the throne of England.
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.
The Get Out
Nick Wilkes
M8/F5
Full length, comedy
The curtain has fallen, the performance has concluded and the audience are on their way home. For some however, the evening has only just begun...
Props to pack away, furniture to move, scenery to take down, lights to lower, ropes to haul, a lorry to pack, a romance to conclude, and no accidents please...!
A technical comedy about keeping the show on the road.
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 Heist
Jo Smith
M6/F3
Full length, comedy
Bored of life and tired of being down on his luck, Eddie Smith gathers his not-so-merry men for one last heist.
If tempers aren’t frayed enough as the has-beens dust off their stocking masks and plan the raid of a lifetime, a surprise appearance from a skeleton in the cupboard threatens to throw a spanner in the works.
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.
Three Feet
Nick Wilkes
M3/F1
Full length, comedy
Albert works the night shift, a porter at an Isle of Man hotel. Comfortable by himself and content in his work he deals with the guest’s night-time requests.
So when two new staff are assigned to his shift he finds that more than his space is invaded. He might cope with the wisecracks of a Liverpudlian lad, but what will he do with a woman!
Is more than two company, is less than three a crowd, and will Albert ever stand on his own three feet?
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.
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.
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.
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.
Who's Afraid of the Booker Prize?
Peter Cowlam
M4/F3/3 extras
Full length, comedy/satire
Marshall Zob, a well-known novelist’s main frustration is that, although frequently shortlisted for the Booker Prize, he's never actually won it.
His latest novel is longlisted but he & his agent, Cornelius Snell, fear that Zob won’t win without clever publicity scheme. The best that Snell comes up with is a reading at the South Bank complex.
However, Snell has hatched a plan to maximise coverage of Zob's reading: a public riot.
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?
You in Your Small Corner
Steve Dimmer
M2/F2
Full length, black comedy
After the end of her marriage Christine moves in with her manipulative, scheming mother, Mon & her lodger, Gregor.
On Christmas night a remark by Mon threatens Christine's new romance with Paul. Unable to control her temper, Christine hits Mon.
Although there's no more violence, Christine begins mistreating Mon, eventually drugging her. Gregor sees this & tries to put an end to it but Mon refuses to believe him, siding with her daughter.