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 49-60 of 126 items.

A Hundred Words for Snow

By Tatty Hennessy

1f (playing age 15)

A play about a teenage girl's solo journey to the North Pole with her father's ashes.

I Won't Dance - Don't Ask Me

By Owen McCafferty

An early short monologue play from Northern Irish writer Owen McCafferty.

Published in volume Mojo Mickybo: Three Plays

Idyll

By Matt Hartley

1 performer (or more)

A captivating short play about rural Britain, premiered by Pentabus Theatre in 2021.

In a Vulnerable Place

By Steve Waters

A monologue documenting Steve Waters' own journey from the Norfolk Broads to the steppes of Mongolia to explore, first hand, what is happening to the natural world and the human heart.

Isolated But Open

Voices from Across The Shutdown

By various

Twelve monologues (9f 3m)

Twelve new monologues written in response to the coronavirus outbreak in 2020 as part of Papatango's scheme to inspire creativity and share brilliant new stories.

Joanne

By Deborah Bruce, Theresa Ikoko, Laura Lomas, Chinonyerem Odimba and Ursula Rani Sarma

1-5f

Five of the most exciting voices in theatre explore the pressures on our public services as one young woman buckles under pressures of her own.

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

Julie Burchill Is Away

By Tim Fountain

A one-woman show based on the life and writings of the provocative columnist, writer and broadcaster, Julie Burchill.

The Kiss

By Zoe Cooper

A tender, funny and beautifully observed study of lives in limbo, and a glimmer of hope for what lies ahead. First performed as part of the Orange Tree Theatre's Inside/Outside season.

Published in volume Inside/Outside

Kitchen

By Enda Walsh

A short play from the author of Disco Pigs and The Walworth Farce.

Published in volume Arlington

Lady Dealer

By Martha Watson Allpress

1f (additional cast possible, up to 2f 3m)

A mile-a-minute, one-person poem play about a young female drug dealer, exploring forgiveness, the exhaustion of trying, and mistaking self-destruction for self-preservation. Premiered at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.