ASK! about Performing Arts
Do you need resources for plays for your school drama club? Or perhaps you are looking for some books with scripts for an upcoming public performance?
Regina, an Orchard Library “citizen reporter”, recently asked our Librarians for help on locating some good books with scripts for her school drama club’s public performance, which is aimed at a general target audience of all ages.
Peck Keong, our ever-friendly Librarian at Esplanade Library, suggested these titles from Esplanade Library to Regina:
[1]
You could consider going through the following anthologies of short plays for young actors and young audiences. The plays collected in these volumes are suitable for all ages and young actors and actresses like yourself should have little difficulty with the scripts.Please note that some of these plays may be rather short in length, so what you might consider doing is present two of these plays for your performance.
Title: Short Plays for Young Actors
By: Craig Slaight and Jack Sharrar, eds.
Call No.: 812.041089283 SHO
Location: Theatre Village

Title: International Plays for Young Audiences: Contemporary Works from Leading Playwrights
By: Roger Ellis, ed.
Call No.: 808.820083 INT
Location: Theatre Village

Title: Plays for Young Audiences: Featuring the Emerald Circle and Other Plays
By: Bush, Max
Call No.: 812.54 BUS
Location: Theatre Village
[2]
William Shakespeare’s plays are timeless classics, but they are too long for a 1 or 2-hour performance. What you can do is to take one of his plays and ask an English teacher to help select relevant acts and scenes from it to fit into a performance of 1 or 2 hours in length.
Some possible titles to choose from would be:
Title: The Merchant of Venice
By: Shakespeare, William
Call No.: 822.33P3 SHA
Location: Theatre Village
Title: Romeo and Juliet
By: Shakespeare, William
Call No.: 822.33U3 SHA
Location: Theatre Village
Title: Macbeth
By: Shakespeare, William
Call No.: 822.33T5 SHA
Location: Theatre Village
[3]
The following are plays that I recall using as ‘O’-Level texts, so they might be worth a consideration.

Title: Journey’s End
By: Sherriff, R.C.
Call No.: 822.912 SHE
Location: Theatre Village
Title: An Inspector Calls and Other Plays
By: Priestley, J.B.
Call No.: 822.912 PRI
Location: Theatre Village
[4]
Here are some plays by playwrights known for their quick wit and humour. Tom Stoppard “Plays” collection is a particularly rich set of resources to mull over. We have the full collection of 5 volumes here at the library@esplanade. I would recommend “The Real Inspector Hound” as an accessible piece. It is found in Volume 1.
Title: Tom Stoppard: Plays 1
By: Stoppard, Tom
Call No.: 822.914 STO
Location: Theatre Village
Title: The Importance of Being Earnest
By: Wilde, Oscar
Call No.: 822.8 WIL
Location: Theatre Village
[5]
These recommendations are plays by playwrights closer to home. The themes are local and / or Asian in nature and so, you might find them more culturally accessible.
Title: The coffin is too big for the hole — and other plays
By: Kuo Pao Kun
Call No.: English KUO
Location: Theatre Village
Title: Emily of Emerald Hill
By: Kon, Stella
Call No.: S822 KON
Location: Theatre Village
Title: The Prize-Winning Plays Series
By: Various
Call No.: S822 PRI
Location: Theatre Village
So dear reader, if you are like Regina, needing help on locating any resources, we…your Librarians… are always at your service.
All images were extracted from www.amazon.com
For the availability of the above mentioned book titles, please check the library catalogue.
Posted by
Mr Justin Tan
Public Librarian
for Adult and Young People’s Services
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