The One-Act Play Companion - by Colin Dolley & Rex Walford (Paperback)

About the Book

Surveying the work of over 250 playwrights, this guide covers multiple styles, nationalities and periods. Guidance on performing and staging one-act plays is also covered.

Book Synopsis

The one-act play stands apart as a distinct art form with some well known writers providing specialist material, among them Bernard Shaw, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill. Alan Ayckbourn, Edward Albee and Tennesee Williams. There are also lesser-known writers with plenty of material to offer, yet sourcing one-act plays to perform is notoriously hard.

This companion is the first book to survey the work of over 250 playwrights in an illuminating A-Z guide. Multiple styles, nationalities and periods are covered, offering a treasure trove of compelling moments of theatre waiting to be discovered. Guidance on performing and staging one-act plays is also covered as well as essential contact information and where to apply for performance rights. A chapter introducing the history of the one-act play rounds off the title as a definitive guide.

Review Quotes

'...a very interesting, challenging and creative book, which should provide an engaging and provocative stimulus for young people, teachers and youth theatre workers at a time of ever increasing interest in the teaching of drama in this country, and in the relationship between theatre and society at large.'
Youth Drama Ireland (Summer 2008)

'A truly entrepreneurial publishing feat...Rich in diverse content...a veritable cornucopia...I suggest that you order your copy of this indispensable work'
Amateur Stage (April 2006)

"This is a book I have no hesitation in recommending - my only complaint is that every time I pick it up I spend far too long pottering through its pages".

"those of us who frequent festivals will recognise the expertise and enthusiasm [the authors] show...in this invaluable book."
Prompt Magazine Avon Association (October 2006)

About the Author

Colin Dolley is a past Vice-Chairman of the Guild of Drama Adjudicators (GODA) and has adjudicated at over 200 drama festivals. Rex Walford OBE is a theatre critic and Chairman of GODA, and has judged many one-act plays in over thirty years of adjudicating festivals.