Theater-filter: a play with 6-8 characters and well-distributed dialog

April 28, 2020 11:36 AM

Friends and I may do a "table read" of a play over zoom and we're trying to think of fun/interesting plays that have maybe 6-8 characters (I'm honestly not sure how many of us are up for this including me, a terrible actor) and dialog that isn't centered on one or two of them. I was kind of wondering about Travesties but then noticed a five-page monologue early on. (I haven't seen the play in 25 years but had a copy on my bookshelf.) Bonus challenge: I am just not up for Shakespeare. Too much to stumble over. I guess extra bonus points, though, for things that are in public domain and can be found online. I've gotten worse about favorite-ing responses but thanks for any ideas!
posted by less of course to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

The Importance of Being Earnest! Sliiightly more characters but some only have a couple lines iirc. (eta: man, I didn't even see the part where you mentioned Travesties!)
posted by ferret branca at 11:53 AM on April 28, 2020 [4 favorites]

I was going to say The Importance of Being Earnest, so nthing that.

You could try The Bald Soprano - it's theater of the absurd, so it's strange, but I think it would be fun. There are six characters, and it looks like this is the whole script.
posted by FencingGal at 12:07 PM on April 28, 2020

Previously
posted by stray at 12:19 PM on April 28, 2020

Pygmalion is pretty fun.

Would you consider TV scripts? Maybe you have a favorite sitcom episode?
posted by Mchelly at 12:21 PM on April 28, 2020

We actually just did Earnest this week, though the recording of it isn't online yet. That was really fun.
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:26 PM on April 28, 2020

Best answer: Travesties has a couple scenes that don't work very well in a table-reading format. If you're looking for a Stoppard fix I'd recommend Arcadia. It has 13 characters, but one of those is non-speaking, and the two-time-periods structure means that you can easily double-cast, as well as several characters who only appear in a couple scenes, and could easily be double-cast.
posted by firechicago at 12:28 PM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Wow, I am losing it—I actually commented on that earlier thread.
posted by less of course at 12:40 PM on April 28, 2020 [2 favorites]

Are you up for a mystery? I'm thinking of Agatha Christie's Mousetrap. According to Wikipedia, it was originally written as a radio play, so it might table read especially well. 7 characters and a narrator voice on the radio.

It's been running continuously in London since it opened, and the author stipulated tight regulations on performance outside London, but it looks like it was published in
The Mousetrap and Other Plays by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1978 (ISBN 0-396-07631-9)
posted by citygirl at 12:49 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

Anne Frank
posted by bbqturtle at 12:50 PM on April 28, 2020

Although it has considerably more than six characters, (though they don't really interact, so people can pick a selection, like dramatic tapas or something), Under Milk Wood is an awful lot of fun to read. Two people get to talk all the time, others get to talk intermittently. And the language is gorgeous.
posted by Grangousier at 1:06 PM on April 28, 2020

Blithe Spirit. Google for an online copy.
posted by dlugoczaj at 2:15 PM on April 28, 2020 [1 favorite]

The Glass Menagerie is four people, I think.
posted by Weeping_angel at 3:33 PM on April 28, 2020

Really any Tennessee Williams would be a good table read, IMO. His language is beautiful.

Oh! Or what about Neil Simon, like Brighton Beach Memoirs or Lost in Yonkers?
posted by Weeping_angel at 3:39 PM on April 28, 2020