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 61-72 of 126 items.

Lava

By Benedict Lombe

1f (playing 6 characters, with additional pre-recorded voices)

One woman's journey into her own past becomes inextricably linked with the tides of global history in this wickedly funny, strikingly lyrical and explosive debut play. Winner of the 2022 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.

Leavings

By Jez Butterworth

1m (old man)

A short monologue play from the author of Jerusalem.

Published in volume Jez Butterworth Plays: One

Limbo

By Declan Feenan

1f (late teens)

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

LORENZO

By Ben Targét

A life-affirming story about the messiness of ageing and dying. Winner of a Fringe First award at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe.

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

Madame Ovary

By Rosa Hesmondhalgh

1f (playing 11 additional roles)

The heartbreaking and hilarious true story of the author's own experience of ovarian cancer.

Maisie Says She Loves Me

By Jimmy Osborne

A one-man play about love, inheritance and not letting your feelings show.

Misterman

By Enda Walsh

1m (plus 5f 5m speaking on tape)

A virtuosic study of one man's descent into religious mania in small-town Ireland. This edition was published alongside the 2012 production at the National Theatre starring Cillian Murphy.

misterman (2001 edition)

By Enda Walsh

1m (plus 2f speaking on tape)

A strange and haunting monologue from the acclaimed Irish playwright.

Published in volume bedbound & misterman: two plays

Misty

By Arinzé Kene

1m (plus additional roles that can be pre-recorded)

An inventive blend of gig theatre, spoken word, live art and direct address, exploring the pulsating heart and underground soul of inner-city London.

Mongoose

By Peter Harness

A strange and beguiling monologue about a loner obsessed with a malign companion called Mongoose.

Published in volume Singular Male Voices

The Motherhood Project

Monologues and Reflections on Motherhood

By Various

Flexible casting (up to 12f 3m)

A collection of dramatic monologues and real-life reflections by some of the UK's leading writers, artists and thinkers, and explores all the guilt, joy and absurdity, the regrets, pressures and taboos surrounding motherhood.