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 121-144 of 147 items.
The Shed

The Shed

By Matilda Ibini

A short monologue play exploring the power that a carer can exert over a wheelchair user's life, 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
    Sink

    Sink

    By John O'Donovan

    A play of two voices for one actor, about memory, catastrophe and sacrifice.

    small hours

    small hours

    By Lucy Kirkwood and Ed Hime With Katie Mitchell

    A collaborative theatre piece created by playwrights Lucy Kirkwood and Ed Hime with theatre director Katie Mitchell, dissecting the claustrophobic world of a new mother struggling to cope on her own.

    Snatches: Moments from 100 Years of Women's Lives

    Snatches: Moments from 100 Years of Women's Lives

    Eight Monologues

    Created by Vicky Featherstone By Various

    A collection of monologues that document, remember and bear witness to a century of struggle for progress and equality for women in the United Kingdom.

    Spacewang

    Spacewang

    By Tom Wells

    A monologue play in which a teenage girl roams the streets of Withernsea in search of aliens.

    Published in volume The Kitchen Sink
      St Nicholas

      St Nicholas

      By Conor McPherson

      An eccentric, teasing yarn from the multi-award-winning author of The Weir.

      Stacy

      Stacy

      By Jack Thorne

      A darkly confessional monologue for one male performer and a slide projector.

      Stacy & Fanny and Faggot: two plays

      Stacy & Fanny and Faggot: two plays

      By Jack Thorne

      Two troubled, disturbing but bleakly funny plays from a leading writer of Channel 4's Shameless and Skins.

      Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet

      Stories I Ain't Told Nobody Yet

      By Jo Carson

      Fifty-four monologues and dialogues drawn from ‘found’ stories told by everyday people living everyday lives in East Tennessee and the Appalachia region of the USA.

      • Paperback£13.99
        There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
      Sugar Baby

      Sugar Baby

      By Alan Harris

      A one-man comedy-drama about a small-time drug dealer in Cardiff, from critically acclaimed writer Alan Harris.

      Sunrise

      Sunrise

      By Jessie Cave

      An honest, tender-hearted and uproariously funny story from actress, comedian, writer and doodler Jessie Cave – with colour illustrations throughout.

      Superhoe

      Superhoe

      By Nicôle Lecky

      The hit stage play behind the BAFTA-winning BBC TV drama series Mood, about a twenty-something who spends all her time on social media while dreaming of becoming a success.

      Surrender

      Surrender

      By Sophie Swithinbank With Phoebe Ladenburg

      A gripping play about a woman trying to survive in a punishing and dysfunctional penal system that has separated her from her daughter. Premiered at the Arcola Theatre, London, in 2024.

      Swimming to Cambodia

      Swimming to Cambodia

      By Spalding Gray

      Spalding Gray's extraordinary memoir/monologue, based on his experiences as an actor in the film The Killing Fields.

      • Paperback£12.99
        There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
      Three Kings

      Three Kings

      By Stephen Beresford

      A heartbreaking and hilarious play for a solo actor about fathers and sons, the gifts and burdens of inheritance, and the unfathomable puzzle of human relationships. 

      Thrown

      Thrown

      By Jodi Gray

      A child-psychologist attempts to record what she's spent her whole life trying to forget, as the memories of former patients collide with her own.

      Thunderbox

      Thunderbox

      By Genevieve Barr

      A short monologue play about a pregnant wheelchair user facing a tough decision, 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
        Tituba

        Tituba

        By Winsome Pinnock

        Tituba by Winsome Pinnock is a one-woman show about Tituba Indian, the enslaved woman who played a central role in the seventeenth-century Salem Witch Trials.

        Tuesdays at Tesco's

        Tuesdays at Tesco's

        By Emmanuel Darley Translated by Matthew Hurt and Sarah Vermande

        A touching one-person play about a person's true identity, the first English-language adaptation of Emmanuel Darley's hit play, Le Mardi à Monoprix.

        • Paperback£7.99 £6.39
          There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
        • Ebook£7.99 £6.39
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        Unsuspecting Susan

        Unsuspecting Susan

        By Stewart Permutt

        A monologue play about a middle-aged woman whose adult son has converted to Islam.

        Published in volume Singular Female Voices
          The Waiting List

          The Waiting List

          By Owen McCafferty

          A blackly comic monologue about a man under siege in the community where he grew up.

          Published in volume Mojo Mickybo: Three Plays
            Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

            Wake Up And Smell The Coffee

            By Eric Bogosian

            A monologue by a master of the art - 100% pure high octane Bogosian.

            • Paperback£12.99
              There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
            Weather Girl

            Weather Girl

            By Brian Watkins

            A blistering dark comedy about wrecking the places we love. Premiered at Summerhall during the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

            Where I'm From

            Where I'm From

            By Laura Lomas

            A monologue play about a woman on the day of her release from prison.

            Published in volume Bird and other monologues for young women