Shakespeare's Next Top Fool

One-Acts 20

By: Lavinia Roberts
Cast: 7 M, 12 F, 8 flexible (Doubling possible.)
Performance Time: Approximately 30-45 minutes, 38 pgs.

FARCE. In this reality-TV show, fools compete for the title of Shakespeare’s Next Top Fool. Contestants include the clown from "Othello," King Lear’s fool, and the gravediggers from "Hamlet." With a stage full of fools, Rosalind and Touchstone have their hands full hosting this show. In addition, the camera crew, consisting of Montagues and Capulets, can’t stop fighting. Security guard Nick Bottom keeps trying to take other people’s jobs. Then the judges begin to disappear. Bianca is dragged off by her shrewish sister, Caesar is called away to the senate, and Macduff picks a fight with Macbeth. A fun way to introduce students to Shakespeare. Easy to stage.

Freeviews: To read play excerpts click here.

Lavinia Roberts is an award-winning playwright and educator. She has a MA in Theatre Education from New York University and an MFA in Playwriting from Southern Illinois University. Roberts has been a theatre teacher for more than a decade. She is an Assistant Professor and Murphy Fellow in Theatre Arts at Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas.