Nick Hern Books

Plays for One Performer

Discover fringe-theatre shows turned award-winning TV series, memoir-monologues, writer-actor collaborations and so many more excellent examples of solo shows in our collection below.

If you're a theatre-maker interested in creating your own solo show, there's no better place to start than with Making Your Solo Show: The Compact Guide, by Lisa Carroll and Milly Thomas – both experienced solo-show writers, who teach popular workshops on getting to grips with the form.

Discover 10 top tips to make your solo show memorable, an extract from Lisa and Milly's book over on our blog.

Showing 1-24 of 147 items.
15 Heroines

15 Heroines

15 Monologues Adapted from Ovid

By Various

Drawing inspiration from Ovid, fifteen leading female and non-binary British playwrights dramatise the lives of fifteen classical heroines in a series of new monologues for the twenty-first century.

About a Goth

About a Goth

By Tom Wells

A short play about a young man who volunteers in old people's homes, and suffers paroxyms of love and hate for the residents.

Published in volume Me, As A Penguin
    Age is a Feeling

    Age is a Feeling

    By Haley McGee

    A gripping one-person play that wrestles with the glorious and melancholy uncertainties of human life, from the author of The Ex-Boyfriend Yard Sale.

    Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays

    Age of Minority: Three Solo Plays

    By Jordan Tannahill

    Three solo plays exploring the lives of three queer youths and their resilience in the face of violence and intolerance. Winner of the 2014 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama.

    Air

    Air

    By Caryl Churchill

    A resonant and surreal short piece published alongside What If If Only.

    Published in volume What If If Only
      All On Her Own

      All On Her Own

      By Terence Rattigan

      A powerfully atmospheric one-woman play, All On Her Own tells the story of Rosemary who, alone at midnight in London, has a secret burden to share that is both heartbreaking and sinister.

      Published in volume Harlequinade & All On Her Own
        Angel

        Angel

        By Henry Naylor

        Inspired by the extraordinary true story of the Angel of Kobane, Angel is part of Henry Naylor's Arabian Nightmares trilogy.

        Angels

        Angels

        By Ronan O'Donnell

        A suspicious death at the workplace and loner security guard Nick Prentice is hauled in for interrogation. An uproarious underworld whodunit, Ronan O'Donnell's single-hander reworks the hardboiled crime thriller for our times.

        • Paperback£7.99 £6.39
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        Audition

        Audition

        By Mat Fraser

        A short monologue play about a disabled actor facing up to the traumatic experience of auditioning, commissioned by the BBC as part of CripTales, a television series marking the twenty-fifth anniversary of the UK's Disability Discrimination Act.

        Published in volume CripTales: Six Monologues
          Bird

          Bird

          By Laura Lomas

          A cutting-edge monologue that throws light on the experience of a teenager in contemporary Britain, from one of the country's most exciting young playwrights.

          Published in volume Bird and other monologues for young women
            Bird and other monologues for young women

            Bird and other monologues for young women

            By Laura Lomas

            Three hard-hitting, distinctive monologues for young female actors, from one of the country's most exciting young playwrights.

            Bloody Elle

            Bloody Elle

            By Lauryn Redding

            A heart-warming and belly-achingly funny story about falling in love for the very first time.

            Bombshells

            Bombshells

            By Joanna Murray-Smith

            Six funny and perceptive monologues about the stresses of modern female life.

            Boo

            Boo

            By Jack Thorne

            A powerful and beautifully observed short play for one actor, exploring the impact of the newly established National Health Service on working people's lives in the 1940s and 50s.

            Published in volume Jack Thorne Plays: Two
              Boy Parts

              Boy Parts (stage version)

              By Eliza Clark Adapted by Gillian Greer

              A pitch-black psychological thriller based on the critically acclaimed debut novel by Eliza Clark. Premiered at Soho Theatre, London.

              Brazil

              Brazil

              By Ronan O'Donnell

              A blistering monologue set in Scotland in the near future, when Europe is at war with America, and Scotland suffers collateral damage in the clash of civilisations.

              Published in volume Singular Male Voices
                Brute

                Brute

                By Izzy Tennyson

                A solo show about a rather twisted schoolgirl.

                Bunny

                Bunny

                By Jack Thorne

                An exhilarating coming-of-age drama for a solo performer.

                Burgerz

                Burgerz

                By Travis Alabanza

                A timely, unsettling and powerful play from one of the UK's most prominent trans voices.

                 

                Published in volume Contemporary Plays by Black British Writers
                  Cold Comfort

                  Cold Comfort

                  By Owen McCafferty

                  A powerful monologue about an Irish labourer living in London who returns home to Belfast to have a last, drunken 'conversation' with his recently dead father.

                  Published in volume Singular Male Voices
                    CripTales: Six Monologues

                    CripTales: Six Monologues

                    By Various Curated by Mat Fraser

                    Six fictional monologues portraying some very real experiences of disabled people in Britain, commissioned to mark the twenty-fifth anniversary of the UK's Disability Discrimination Act.

                    Daughter

                    Daughter

                    By Adam Lazarus

                    A darkly satirical monologue about fatherhood, love and toxic masculinity.

                    Dean McBride

                    Dean McBride

                    By Sonya Hale

                    A vivid and poetic monologue play about deprivation, loss and redemption through love, telling the story of Dean, a young man hardened by suffering, who struggles in life before finding his way back to happiness.

                    Death and Taxes: Hydriotaphia & Other Plays

                    Death and Taxes: Hydriotaphia & Other Plays

                    By Tony Kushner

                    A wide-ranging collection of work from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Angels in America.

                    • Paperback£19.99
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