This tool is unavailable at the moment. Please try again later.
Start planning your production with a cost estimate you can save and share with your team. Just answer a few questions.
This estimator is only for amateur productions. Professional customers should contact the Licensing department directly to enquire about a title's availability: [email protected]
Important: The cost quoted is an estimate only and may differ when you apply for a licence.
A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE
Full-Length Play, Comedy / 7w, 6m
Graham Holliday
First broadcast as an audio play on BBC Radio, this past-paced, witty comedy follows the hilarious travails of Michael, who discovers the extent of the infamous theatrical jinx when he attempts to stage a production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth with the Shellsfoot Thespians.
Michael harbours an ambition to direct Macbeth, and gets his chance with the autumn production of the Shellsfoot Thespians. He encounters many problems – from not being able to find enough men to cast the play, to incurring the wrath of grande dame Geraldine by not giving her the part of Lady Macbeth. He casts his wife in the part opposite Frank, unaware that they are having an affair. It soon appears that the jinx surrounding the play extends to amateur productions and to Michael’s life, but he remains determined to get the show on at any cost – which eventually includes both his job and his marriage. This witty play was first broadcast on BBC Radio.
The Scottish Play was first produced 1989 in Sandgate, Kent, by the Folkestone and Hythe Operatic and Dramatic Society. Many subsequent productions followed in nine different countries. In 2024, the Phoenix Players in Stratford-upon-Avon presented the play's 100th production.
Various locations. The present.
“A gem.” – Mark Lawson, The Times (reviewing the original radio play)
“Hilarious... The temper tantrums, sudden walk-outs and awful walk-ons – all of acting life is here.” – Bexleyheath and Welling Mercury
Graham Holliday was born in Manchester in 1952 and educated at Ludworth County Primary School, Manchester Grammar School, Brasenose College Oxford and University College London. As a professional librarian, he has worked at the University of Hull (under Philip Larkin), Kingst ...