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 109-126 of 143 items.
Shakespeare's Will

Shakespeare's Will

By Vern Thiessen

Vern Thiessen, winner of the Governor General's Award for his play Einstein's Gift, gives a voice to one of the most silent characters in history: Anne Hathaway, the wife of William Shakespeare.

  • Paperback£21.99
    There is limited availability of this title. Please enquire before placing your order.
Leavings

Leavings

By Jez Butterworth

A short monologue play from the author of Jerusalem.

Published in volume Jez Butterworth Plays: One
    The Naked Eye

    The Naked Eye

    By Jez Butterworth

    A short monologue play from the author of Jerusalem.

    Published in volume Jez Butterworth Plays: One
      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
        Decade

        Decade

        Two towers. Ten years. Twenty plays.

        By various

        Ten years after 9/11, twenty international writers respond to the defining event of our times.

        Duologue

        Duologue

        By Terence Rattigan

        Terence Rattigan's Duologue is a short monologue play for a female actor in which a woman reminisces movingly about her dead husband.

        Published in volume Who is Sylvia? and Duologue
          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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          Bunny

          Bunny

          By Jack Thorne

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

          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
            Notes for First Time Astronauts

            Notes for First Time Astronauts

            By Tom Wells

            A comic monologue warning of the perils of self-abuse in zero gravity conditions.

            Published in volume Me, As A Penguin
              Eight

              Eight

              By Ella Hickson

              Eight compelling monologues offering a state-of-the-nation group portrait for the stage.

              Limbo

              Limbo

              By Declan Feenan

              A monologue play in which a 17-year-old girl tells us the story of her relationship with an older man and what it led to.

              Published in volume St Petersburg and other plays
                random

                random

                By debbie tucker green

                An urgent play about the senseless killing of a black schoolboy, from one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary British playwriting.

                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.

                My Name is Rachel Corrie

                My Name is Rachel Corrie

                By Rachel Corrie Edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner

                The moving account of the life and early death of a young female activist, adapted from her own writings.

                Jordan

                Jordan

                By Anna Reynolds With Moira Buffini

                A short play that tells the true story of Shirley Jones, who kills her baby boy, Jordan, rather than have him taken away by his abusive father.

                Published in volume Singular Female Voices
                  The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret

                  The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret

                  By Catherine Johnson

                  The alternating stories of two women (played by the same actress), both of whom 'lose' their sons - one murdered, the other a runaway.

                  Published in volume Singular Female Voices
                    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
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