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 25-36 of 126 items.

Drip Feed

By Karen Cogan

An infectious, dark comedy monologue play about the messiness of being young(ish), female and queer.

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

Eight

By Ella Hickson

9 monologues (4f 5m)

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

The Encounter

By Simon McBurney and Complicite

A solo show tracing one man's journey into the Amazon rainforest and to the limits of human consciousness, inspired by the book Amazon Beaming by Petru Popescu.

England & Son

By Ed Edwards

A one-man play about disaster capitalism, empire, Thatcherite politics, stolen youth, stolen wealth and a working-class boy who just wants his dad to smile at him. First performed by the celebrated political comedian Mark Thomas in Paines Plough's Roundabout during the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

failure project

By Yolanda Mercy

1f playing multiple characters (plus some characters in voiceover)

A warm and witty one-person play exploring grief, the strings attached to success, and what it means to 'fail'. Premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024.

Fanboy

By Joe Sellman-Leava

1m (thirties) plus additional parts (principally an 8-year-old boy) on pre-recorded video

A five-star hit at the Edinburgh Fringe, Fanboy is a love-hate letter to pop culture and nostalgia, about a thirty-something, self-confessed nerd obsessed with Star Wars and Nintendo.

Far Gone

By John Rwothomack

1m (or up to 4m)

A profoundly moving play about a young Ugandan boy's journey from childhood innocence to child soldier, seen through the eyes of those that love him and those that betray him.

Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen

By Marcelo Dos Santos

A dark and biting one-man, a huge hit at Edinburgh in 2022 and the Bush Theatre, London, in 2023, starring Samuel Barnett.

Finsbury Park

By Stephen Jeffreys

A short autobiographical monologue, first performed as part of the Come to Where I'm From festival at the Park Theatre, London, in 2016.

First Time

By Nathaniel J Hall

1m (playing age early 30s)

A hilarious and heartbreaking true story that smashes through the stigma and shame of HIV, to present an uplifting and inspirational guide to staying positive in a negative world.