Recommended Shows for Drama Festivals

Celebrate the creativity and talent of the community with this eclectic mix of short plays – running from 20 minutes to an hour – that are perfect for performances in drama festivals.

A Dog’s Life by Pam Valentine (US/UK)
(Short Play, Drama / 2w, 3m, 1 any gender)
Four dogs lie in cages in an animal shelter. This compassionate drama depicts the moment when a woman comes to the shelter and has to choose among the dogs — a choice that literally means life or death to the oldest, Ben.

Advance Man: Part One of The Honeycomb Trilogy by Mac Rogers (US/UK)
(Full-Length Play, Drama / 5w, 5m)
Astronaut Bill Cooke returns from the first manned mission to Mars bearing secrets and illicit cargo. Now his wife and teenage children are all that stand between Bill and a shocking action that will alter not only their lives, but also all of humanity. Advance Man is the first part of Mac Rogers’ science fiction epic The Honeycomb Trilogy, three stand-alone plays set in the same universe chronicling a primal conflict both intimate and global that will redefine the nature of the human race. See also: Blast Radius: Part Two of The Honeycomb Trilogy (US/UK) and Sovereign: Part Three of The Honeycomb Trilogy (US/UK).

An Englishman Abroad by Alan Bennett (US/UK)
(Short Play, Drama / 1w, 4m)
Based upon the true story of a meeting in Moscow between noted English actress Coral Browne and notorious spy Guy Burgess, this is a touching portrait of a lonely man torn between his Marxist principals and his ironic longing for contact with the upper class in Britain from whom he sprung.

Clean by Audrey Cefaly (US/UK)
(Short Play, Dramatic Comedy / 1w, 1m)
Lina, a worn-out waitress, is having the “worst day of her life.” She and Roberto, a quiet, unassuming dishwasher, and one who has admired her from afar, sit alone in the diner at midnight and share stories about their lonely lives.

Cold Salmon by John Bowen (UK)
(Short Play, Drama / 6w, 4m)
In a neglected graveyard, deceased Harry is waiting for his wife, Beth, to join him. He can only watch helplessly as his daughter Angie wheels the deaf and ailing Beth to the graveside for their monthly visit. Then a five-strong family arrives to scatter Dad’s ashes, and Harry sees his chance to reach out to Beth.

Family Album by Noël Coward (US/UK)
(Short Play, Comedy / 4w, 5m)
Just back from their father’s funeral, the Featherway children cannot pull long faces nor feign regret. The last one to break into laughter is pious Lavinia, father’s companion until his death. Even she must admit that he was lecherous and mean. After some wine, Lavinia reveals that she and old Burrows burned the final will (which left nothing to the children) minutes after the old man died. Part of Tonight at 8.30, a cycle of ten one-act plays: The Astonished Heart (US/UK), Red Peppers (US/UK), Hands Across the Sea (US/UK), Fumed Oak (US/UK), Shadow Play (US/UK), Still Life (US/UK), Star Chamber (UK), Ways and Means (US/UK), and We Were Dancing (US/UK).

Harlequinade by Terence Rattigan (US/UK)
(Short Play, Comedy / 5w, 9m)
Arthur and Edna Gosport are opening a Shakespearean tour of Romeo and Juliet, during the dress rehearsal a woman turns up claiming to be Arthur’s daughter. In a few moments before the curtain rises, the harassed Arthur makes wild attempts to solve this imbroglio as he and Edna realise they may be too old to play the star-crossed lovers.

Kodachrome (One-Act Version) by Adam Szymkowicz (US/UK)
(Short Play, Dramatic Comedy / 3w, 2m)
A one-act adaptation of Adam Szymkowicz’s play about love, nostalgia, the seasons and how we learn to say goodbye. In Colchester, Suzanne, the town photographer, lets us peek into her neighbors’ lives to catch glimpses of romance in all its stages of development.

Lights Over Tesco Car Park by Jack Bradfield and Poltergeist Theatre (UK)
(Short Play / 4 any gender)
Robert reported lights over the Tesco car park. Then he told us an alien was coming to stay in his spare room. With the help of some historical abduction stories, a latex alien mask and a bucket of flying saucers, we’re working out whether to believe him.

Mister Paradise by Tennessee Williams (US/UK)
(Short Play, Drama / 1w, 1m)
A young woman visits the old home of a dying poet, Anthony Paradise. She begs him to come out of his home and present his work once more, but he refuses to be remembered until after he has died. Part of the collection Mister Paradise and Other One-Act Plays (US/UK).

She Talks to Beethoven by Adrienne Kennedy (US/UK)
(Short Play, Drama / 1w, 1m)
In Ghana, Suzanne waits in her room listening to radio broadcasts about her husband who has mysteriously disappeared while she attempts to write about and communicate with composer Ludwig van Beethoven. Her world is infiltrated by snatches of Ghanaian string music, the revolutionary words of Frantz Fanon, and strains of Beethoven’s Fidelio. Suzanne, recovering from an unspecified illness, hovers in displaced time and space, fluctuating between Vienna, Austria in 1803, and Accra, Ghana in 1961.

very still & hard to see by Steve Yockey (US/UK)
(Collection / Anthology, Dramatic Comedy / 5w, 4m)
This short play cycle recounts the history of a cursed hotel and the unfortunate guests who stay there. From riding in an erratic elevator and dealing with possessive ghosts to managing an ever-expanding hole in the floor armed only with gleaning supplies, these encounters with the unknown chillingly collapse the distance between the real and the surreal and remind us that, sometimes, bad things do happen for a reason.

For more play suggestions, visit Concord Theatricals in the US and UK.

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