One Act Dramas

Legal Warning; You can freely download any of the script samples on this site but are not allowed to perform them without first seeking a licence from us to do so.  If you do, you will be liable to civil prosecution and the resultant local publicity.

"Red Blooded" a station meeting play by Peter Bridge for 2m & 2f;  ISBN: 9789-1-910028-30-8;  £4.00 each;  Royalties £25 per perf.
Derek is on his way to a job interview in the city. In the suburban station waiting room he is accosted by an ingratiating stranger, who commences to guide Derek through certain recommended interview techniques. Derek plays along with this counselling until his train eventually approaches when, at the same time, the stranger reveals his true identity and his bona fide explanations for carrying out an extraordinary deception upon Derek.
Download first part of "Red Blooded"

"Socially Distanced" a psychological drama for 2f by Lyndon House;  ISBN: 9781910028292;  £4.00 each;  Royalties £25 per perf.
A psychological insight into a lonely, damaged young woman's battle with her own subconscious who feels she is a woman abandoned by society.
Fisrt performed in a new writing workshop at The Congress Theatre, Cwmbran, in Wales
Download first part of Socially Distanced

"The Harsher"  a Highschool drama for 6f & 6m & 3ns by Christopher Cleary;  ISBN: 978-1-910028-28-5; £4.00; Royalties £25.00 per perf.
The Harsher focuses on a group of high school students determined to create positive change at their school by pre-emptively trapping the evil perpetrated by their classmates in a butter box. Harmony is achieved until the box disappears, and the embodiment of their collective evil haunts the school causing a lockdown and student disappearances. The play climaxes in the school’s theatre – the very theatre in which the audience is seated for the performance of The Harsher.
Download first part of "The Harsher"

 "The Tiger at The White Lion" by Michael Hudd  4m & 4f + crowd;  ISBN: 978-1-910028-27-8 ;  £4.00 : Royalties £25 per perf.
The first recorded person to be killed by a tiger in Britain was Hannah Twynnoy. Her gravestone stands in the churchyard of Malmesbury Abbey. This records her name and death at the age of thirty-three on October the twenty third 1703. The parish register covering burials for that year tells us, “October the twenty forth Hannah Twynnoy, killed by a tiger at ye White Lion.” Records also exist of a plaque, since lost, displayed in Hullavington parish church, just five miles from the town. This stated that Hannah, a servant at the White Lion, took great pleasure in teasing a very fierce tiger, which happened to be part of an exhibition of wild beasts. One day the enraged creature broke from its cage and killed her.
Download first part of The Tiger

 "Heavens Wait"  by Lyndon House - 3f & 1m  ;  ISBN: 978-1-910028-26-1 ; £4.00 ; Royalties £25 per performance
We see a waiting room where two women meet.  One isnt sure where she is but the other knows that they are both deceased, that this is heaven's waiting room.   Then a third, younger, stroppy girl appears, full of anger at the world in general that she has just left.  She has been in trouble all her life, having been brought up by foster parents and in Care Homes but will not be seperated from the one childhood toy that she loves, a toy that was left by her real mother when she was given away as a baby.  The older woman then realises that this is the child that she gave away years earlier. The archangel Gabriel then enters to take them on to whatever awaits.
Download first part of Heavens Wait    

"Adelstrop - Again" by Sally Wilden - two teenage girls meet a ghostly soldier on a train; 2f & 1m  ISBN:  978-1-910028-25-4 £4.00  Royalties £25 per performance.
Dashing for a train on their way to a music festival two teenage girls find themsleves in a carriage with an old army coat lying in the corner.  The day is swelteringly hot and the train stops in the middle of nowhere ... it is "Adelstrop" and the coat seems to come to life in the form of a soldier, a soldier from World War One.  The author captures beautifully the difference between the worlds of the present day teenagers and that of the the ghostly soldier who is on his way to die.
Download first part of "Adelstrop - Again" 

"Heretic"  by Richard Zinober - an adult daughter is detained on her mothers orders;   2f & 2m  ISBN: 978-1-910028-24-7 £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
Lisa, a member of a new religious group, is being held by two deprogrammers hired by her mother.  As they try to get her to reveal the secrets of the group and to persuade her to leave it, the session becomes a psychological battle between Lisa and Mel, the head deprogrammer, who has some disturbing secrets of his own.
Download first part of "Heretic"

"Geraint" psychological drama by Lyndon House for 1f & 1m  ISBN: 978-1-910028-22-3 £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
Things happend to children that they find hard to cope with, even in adulthood.  Something happened to Rob when he was a child and when he told grown-ups nobody would believe him, nobody would listen, nobody except his teddy bear, Geraint.   As a grown-up, Rob now finds friends hard to make, lives on his own and still talks to his teddy bear, even taking it to work with him. Becky has dated Rob and come back to his flat.  She likes him but can she compete with Geraint?
Download first part of "Geraint"

"Small Talk" domestic drama by Richard Moore for 2f & 4m ISBN978-1-910028-18-6  £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
It’s a Friday evening in Suburbia, where Julia and Gordon are having a few friends round for drinks before attending an executive dinner in town.  Myles and Anne have both been invited to stay the night, whilst Peter and Patrick are driving home after the event.  The initially relaxed atmosphere gradually wanes as the conversation deepens and personal feelings are exposed. Then something unexpected comes up to change the atmosphere of the whole evening…
Download first part of "Small Talk"

"Terror"  French Revolution drama by Joan Greening 2f  ISBN: 978-1-910028-04-9  £4.00 each  Royalties £25 per performance
The play is based on a possible meeting between Madame du Barry and Grace Dalrymple Elliott in St Pelagie Prison in 1793.  Grace is already a prisoner when Jeanne Du Barry is thrown into the same cell and is horrified to learn the fate awaiting her.  The play has been staged successfully at the Edinburgh Festval and toured several UK theatres in January 2015.
Download first part of "Terror"

"Crossing the Line"  Drama about conflict between two abstract artists by Chris Joby  2m & 1f  ISBN: 978-1-873130-56-8  £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
Piet Mondriaan was an artist born in 1872 Holland who later moved to Paris where he was integral in the formation of a group of abstract artists & designers.  His work involved the reduction of all objects to blocks of colour surrounded by horizontal and vertical black lines but he split from the group when one of his colleagues proposed the introduction of diagonal lines.  This play describes the angry rift that occurred between the two of them.
Download first part of "Crossing the Line"

 "A Late Coffee"  Love affair intrigue for 2f & 2m by Les Jamieson  ISBN: 978-1-910028-11-7  £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
 Two sets of married couples meet for a nightcap / coffee after a night out.  Some chemistry and a corpse result. "A Late Coffee" follows the actions of that night and an afternoon a fortnight later.
Download first part of "A Late Coffee"

 "Table For Thirteen"  After Last Supper Drama for 2m by Michael Hudd  ISBN: 978-1-910028-05-6   £4.00 each  Royalties £25 per performance
 Set in Jerusalem, there are "Peace Keepers" ruling the country.   This isn't happening now but in the time of Jesus.  We visit an eating house where we see an empty table after the diners have gone and hear two of the staff, a waiter and a cook, frankly discussing the antics of the group that have just been in.  For one of the staff its just another set of diners but for the leader of the group he seems to know its going to be no normal evening and for the world a new beginning. 
Download first part of "Table for Thirteen" 

 "Diaghilev’s Bag" Searing Suicide Drama by Tony Breeze  3m + 1 child    ISBN 978-1-872758-04-6 £4.00 Royalties £25 per performance
The play opens with three men in overalls picking up something from the ground in the middle of the night.  They could be park-keepers or council workmen but they are not.  They are in fact policemen at the scene of a horrific suicide on a railway line and have just finished putting pieces of human torso into a bag.  Their ways of coping with the gruesome task are vastly different, one uses black humour, another relies on religion. Their sergeant can't cope and almost goes under a train himself.  Then the play concludes with a symbol of hope for the future, a runaway child, coming on the scene and wanting to know what's in the bag.  (First performed by Burton Joyce Players, Nottingham)
Download first part of "Diaghilev's Bag"

 "A Real Nightmare"  Drama for 1f & 3m by Chris Joby  ISBN: 978-1-873130-66-7  £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
If Pinter was the master of the "threatening pause" then Chris Joby must be his chosen disciple.  Here we find a man and woman having an affair and about to rehearse a play.  The husband, who is also actng in the play, arrives and produces a pistol but both we, and the actor who's having the affair with the other's wife,  don't know whether the gun is real or not.
Download first part of "A Real Nightmare"

 "Sisterhood"  short play for 3f by Lyndon House  ISBN: 978-1-873130-957  £4.00 each  Royalties £20 per performance
Two sisters meet on a riverbank bench but there is an atmosphere between them.  There is something that has happened that makes it difficult for them to speak to each other.  Can one sister forgive the other?  The answer comes in the form of a passing female drunk.
Download first part of "Sisterhood"

"The Mystery of Pine Tree Mountain"  play for 1f & 2m & 1juv by Charles Stott  ISBN:978-1-873130-92-6  £4.00 each Royalties £25 performances
There is a mystery surrounding a place high up on the nearby mountain where no-one from the village ever dares to go.  There are rumours and stories that something up there is evil but only one person, Tim's Granddad, knows what is up there.  Tonight he will take Tim up there to see for himself.
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 "The Lie" a one-act drama for 4f by Joyce Branelly  ISBN: 978-1-873130-90-2  £4.00 each  Royalties £25 per performance
Julia visits her female doctor with a problem.  She tells her that she is slowly going out of her mind beecause she suspects that her husband is having an affair.  Julia also talks to her friend about it and even to her mother-in-law.  In the end we learn that Julia was right, her husband was having an affair but it was with someone that we never suspected.
Download the first part of "The Lie"

"No Applause for Maurice"  a play for 3f & 3m by Joyce Brannelly  ISBN: 978-1-873130-81-0  £4.00 each  Royalties £25 per performance
The play is set in the present day and revolves around the lives of two gay men: Maurice, an ageing, vain, self-centred, ‘has been’ actor, and Adam his much younger partner who has supported Maurice financially for many years.  They have moved to the country when Adam inherited a small cottage and he transferred to take up the position of the local, small-town bank manager. Adam is quite content to live away from the bright lights of London, whereas Maurice is not, as he feels it will affect his career.
Download first part of "No Applause for Maurice"

 "The Falmouth Letters"  Romantic tragedy by Christine Woolf  7f & 4m  ISBN: 978-1-873130-74-2  £4.00 each  Royalties £25 per performance
The play is an imaginative reconstruction of a romance in Falmouth during the years 1904 – 1907.  Katie, whose father is a prosperous manufacturer in Glasgow, comes on holiday to her sister’s home in Falmouth, and meets James, a young pharmacist.  A romance blossoms but the opportunities to meet are rare and the constraints of letter writing eventually prove too great for the relationship to continue.  The action is woven around a box of letters which have actually been in the possession of the author’s family for about fifty-five years.
Download first part of "The Falmouth Letters"

 “ Treseder’s Seeds” Historic Emigrees Drama by Christine Woolf   6f  978-1-873130-21-6  £4.00 each Royalties  £25 per performance
Set in 1843 on board the sailing ship, The Westminster, bound for New Zealand we see the story of four women from different backgrounds travelling from their native West Country to start a new life. Their challenge is symbolised by the seeds, which they carry to plant in the new country.  (This play won the 2001 National W.I. Play Writing Competition for Best-Written Play and Outstanding Production and was chosen from sixty-one entries).
Download first part of "Treseder's Seeds"

 "Danny Boy" Modern Survival Drama by Tony Breeze 2m +lf (doubling) or 5m+3f (singly)  ISBN: 978-1-872758-18-3   £4.00 each  Royalties £25 per performance
A young man working in a shoe shop decides there must be more to life and decides to join the Territorial Army.  The play finds him on a mountain top in winter slowly dying from hypothermia as he remembers the events and people that led to his present predicament.  Ultimately he is faced with an agonizing decision upon which his very survival depends – whether he can kill and eat a tiny mouse.  (Prize winner in several UK competitions).
  Download first part of "Danny Boy" 

“ Cathy’s Kitchen” Bakery Comedy Drama by Lynn Howes 3 females ISBN 978-1-873130-23-0 £4.00 Royalties £25 per performance
Set in the present in the back kitchen of a village bakery, we are introduced via witty dialogue to the lives of three women – a young one who works there, another who used to but is now heavily pregnant and Cathy herself who is the owner and who reveals to the other two something about her that they never knew.
Download first part of "Cathy's Kitchen"

"One Without Shame" Wartime Drama by James Brockbank 4m ISBN 978-1-873130-48-3 £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
 During the First World war a young soldier is told that he is to join a firing squad which will execute one of his young comrades who is suffering from shell-shock.  He has to make the decision of whether to obey this order or not, knowing full well that if he doesn't, he will probably suffer the same fate.  (The script was part of a showcase for new writers 'Page to Stage' consisting of a paying audience who watched a rehearsed reading at The J.B. Priestley Theatre in Bradford).
Download first part of "One Without Shame"

 "5T Rules - O.K!" School Drama by Tony Breeze, A class of secondary age pupils + teacher ISBN: 978-1-872758-14-5  £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
A group of pupils at a comprehensive school stage a weekend sit-in at the top of a classroom block, at the same time taking hostage one of their teachers.  They are at first ignored by their head teacher until circumstances eventually force him to change his mind.   (Performed successfully in several competitions throughout the UK).
Download first part of "5T Rules - O.K!"

"A Fall of Snow"  Historic Cornish drama for 7f & 1m by Christine Woolf  ISBN 978-1-873130-62-9  £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
We see the public room in a small inn on a remote Cornish moor in January 1814, during a heavy blizzard of snow.   It is nightfall.  Travellers from an overturned stagecoach seek shelter in the inn, followed soon after by a solicitor and his wife, and a runaway girl apprentice who had been travelling on a stage wagon.  The tension is heightened when the employer of the apprentice arrives and there is a startling confrontation.
Download first part of "A Fall of Snow"

  “Flight Zero One”    Canadian Air-Crash Drama by Tony Breeze  7f & 5m  ISBN 978-1-872758-21-3 £4.00 each  Royalties £25 per performance
 A small plane has crash-landed in a blizzard in the middle of the Canadian Rockies and its passengers have to spend the night together in a disused fur-trappers cabin.  They are all on their way somewhere: a pregnant young woman and her partner on their way to see a specialist; a frail old man and his wife on their way to see their grandchildren; a doting mother and her precocious daughter on their way to a TV audition; a grumpy businessman on his way to his next deal and two police officers on their way to court with their Native-American prisoner.
Download first part of "Flight Zero One"

 "Ticking" Post-Holocaust Drama by Tony Breeze  6f or 6m or unisex  ISBN 978-1-872758-05-3  £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
Set in a subterranean living complex in post-nuclear Britain the inhabitants have lived underground for years and been convinced by the governing authority that no life exits on the surface.  A rebellious individual leads a group into a forbidden area to show them something that will change their minds – an old-fashioned pocketwatch that has dropped down from above and is still ticking - but his uprising is quashed when one of the conformists "accidentally" destroys the watch and the others reluctantly return to their conformity. (First performed by Castle Douglas Drama Group, Scotland)
Download first part of "Ticking"

"Left Hand, Right Hand" Doctors' Surgery Drama by Hazel Salisbury 5f & 2m  978-1-873130-08-7 £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
We see a conflict between a young male doctor, with his knowledge of modern computers, versus an elderly female doctor, whose knowledge of her patients is all kept in her head, but computers don’t always win and the apparent winners of conflicts sometimes have their own share of problems. (Performed in the NANDA One-Act festival at Nottingham)
Download first part of "Left Hand, Right Hand"

"Examination"  Exam Stress Drama, Students of either sex plus 3f & 2m adults  ISBN 978-1-872758-15-2   £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
The examination room is being prepared, the students file in but one girl comes in late.  The exam begins but the late female student stands up in her place and silently refuses to take part in the proceedings.  No-one can understand why she's doing it until the end of the play when we learn that her boyfriend has taken his own life the night before due to the stress of the forthcoming exams. (First performed at The Mitchell Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent One-Act Festival)
Download first part of "Examination"

"The Story of Peter Grimes" Seafaring Drama by Andrew Beattie, Group Casting 978-1-873130-15-5  £4.00 Royalties £25 performance
Set during a harsh East Anglian winter, the play centres on a fisher-man, Peter Grimes, a violent but lonely figure shunned by the community, who suspect him of murdering two apprentice boys.  The action moves from seashore to alehouse culminating in a dramatic chase and ending.
Download first part of "Peter Grimes"

  "A Lot To Do With Love" Comatose Husband Drama by Virginia Hobart  2f & 1m ISBN 978-1-873130-27-8 £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
Lucas used to be a successful antiques dealer until he had his car accident and now lies comatose in bed being visited by two women – one is his wife and the other his lover.  Everything is fine until the two accidentally arrive at the same time.
Download first part of "A Lot To Do With Love"

 "Far Country"  Modern Prodigal Daughter Drama by Patrick Collins 5m & 8f  ISBN 978-1-873130-30-8 £4.00 each Royalties £25 per performance
We all know the story of the Prodigal Son from the Bible.  This play cleverly brings the story up to date with a daughter who goes away to London leaving her mother and sister at home.  When things start to go wrong and her money is all spent, she wonders whether she'll still be welcome back at home.
Download first part of "Far Country"

 "A Box Set" - Three one-act plays about greed by Pete Wood ISBN 978-1-873130-35-3  £3.00 each Royalties £15 per performance
(i) The Box   2m
George is about to spend the night living in a cardboard box when he is accosted by Sid who informs him that to do so he will have to pay rent to him
Download first part of "The Box"
(ii) The Box Room   Monologue for 1 male by Pete Wood
Sidney had ended up living with Bernard and was found dead in strange circumstances.  Bernard relates how the police came to see him but he didn’t quite tell them everything
Download first part of "The Box Room"
(iii) Closing The Box 1f & 1m
George is a failed property speculator and Sarah is his wife.  They have a lengthy and bitter conversation revealing how they really feel about each other.  We learn that Sarah has been planning to get rid of George for a while but the ending isn't quite as she expects.
Download first part of "Closing The Box"

 "Incident in a Station Buffet"  Short drama by Tony Breeze   2f & 3m  ISBN 978-1-872758-25-1  £3.00 each  Royalties £15 per performance
We hear the sounds of a busy railway station and see three tables in the station buffet.  At one sit two loud-mouthed youths who are noisily discussing their sexual conquests from the night before; at the second sits a plain, unmarried woman nervously eating a sausage roll; at the third sits a well-to-do woman impatiently flicking through a glossy magazine.  A young man enters carrying a tea tray.  He is looking to meet someone for the first time ... the birth mother that he's never seen.
Download first part of "Incident in a Station Buffet"

 " Tell Them I Care"  Short drama by Tony Breeze for 2f  ISBN: 978-1-872758-26-8  £3.00 each  Royalties £15 per performance
A social worker arrives at Chrissy's council flat.  Chrissy's two young children are in the temporary care of the Local Authority after her violent partner was arrested by the police.  The social worker's task is to try and persuade Chrissy that, due to the ongoing relationship with the partner, the best thing for the children would be for her to sign them over permanently to the Local Authority.
Download first part of "Tell Them I Care"

 "Amazons in Kenwyn"  Short drama re teenage girls forced into workhouse, author Christine Woolf,  4f & 1m ISBN: 978-1-873130-61-2 £4.00 each Royalties £15 per performance
Two teenage "hellcats" are sent to the local workhouse where the Master attempts to cut off their hair (as they do with all new inmates) but he finds he has taken on more than he bargained for.
Download first part of "Amazons in Kenwyn"

 

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