Does anybody know any funny or serious plays that only require two actors?

Question

It would be done by two 19 year olds and preferably a 2 act show, thanks!

Answer 1

You could look at Gangster Apparel by Richard Vetere.  Here is a synopsis:

Cast: 2m. "A madcap spoof of gangster movies." (N.Y. Times) Smalltime hoods Louie and Joey are about to go out on the hit of a lifetime. But Louie tells Joey that clothes make the man and his lack of style is holding back their careers. To Louie, style is everything: the suits you wear, your haircut, the way you hold your gun. Dressed to perfection, they go out on the hit- a big success, except that they are identified by an eyewitness who remembers Joey's snazzy yellow pocket handkerchief! Locked in a cell, Louie decides that they're not going to spend 25 years to life in orange prison jumpsuits. Louie spills all to the feds about "the Boss" and gets himself and Joey into a witness protection program- unfortunately it's in a remote section of Arizona where the fashion statement is jeans, plaid shirts and boots! Joey thrives there; Louie is miserable and, through an indiscreet phone call, leads the Boss' hit men to them. A play about friendship, betrayal and the battle of style over substance. "Offbeat charm and lots of laughs." (Cleveland Plain Dealer) Three simple sets.

   Our comapany did it a few years ago and it was well recieved.

  For just general info check the online play catalogs, most of them have searches and you can tailor you search to get plays for whatever criteria you need.  Here are a few for you:

http://www.dramaticpublishing.com

http://www.dramatists.com/

http://www.pioneerdrama.com/

http://www.samuelfrench.com/store/index....

http://www.playscripts.com/

Answer 2

Any plays can be done by 2 people.

A great one to choose would be 'Talking Heads' by Alan Bennet, a comedy.

I did one of the scenes, based in a group therapy session, as a monologue, acting all the roles, simply by identifying each individual character with their own distinct voice and a hat/wig.

This could easily be done with 2 people, considering I did it alone.

My friend and I also worked a 2 man show of A Christmas Carol.

Really you could do any play you want, just sit down and tweak it to your needs. Pick a play you both enjoy and run with it.

Your only other choice really is Waiting for Godot, but it can be tough to pull off as its a quite intellectual comedy play.

Answer 3

Jekyll and Hyde::

The book begins with two men, Mr. Utterson and his cousin Mr. Richard Enfield, on a walk in London. Although the two men are initially silent, after passing a mysterious cellar door in a basement, Mr. Enfield launches into a strange occurrence that centered around the door. Late one night, while he was on his way home, he chanced upon a deformed, short man who trampled a girl in the street who was on her way to get a doctor. The girl's family and Mr. Enfield catch the mysterious man and instead of getting the police, they decide to blackmail him and force him to give the girl's family money. Agreeable, the mysterious man disappears into the same cellar door and comes out with a check bearing not his own name, but that of the respectable Dr. Jekyll. Surprisingly, the check was not a forgery.

After hearing the story, Utterson returns to his home where he removes Dr. Jekyll's mysterious will, which he recently filed with Mr. Utterson. Jekyll's will stated that in case of his death, his substantial estate will pass to Mr. Hyde, but even stranger, in case of his disappearance for more than three months, Hyde will assume Jekyll's life without delay. He also realizes that the mysterious door is connected, in an L shape way, to Jekyll's home. Utterson decides that Jekyll is being blackmailed by Hyde and seeks to search to see his face in order to understand why. After tracking him down, he is initially civil but turns angry when Utterson proceeds in the conversation.

One year later, Hyde murders Sir Danvers Carew with a cane. With help from Utterson, the police find Hyde's apartment ransacked. After leaving, Utterson proceeds to Jekyll's and confronts him for harboring a murder. Jekyll claims that he is done with Hyde and promises that he has nothing left to do with him. He does, however, have a farewell note from Hyde. Utterson examines the note and his clerk, Mr. Guest, later discovers that the handwriting from the note matches a dinner invitation written by Dr. Jekyll. Angrily, Utterson assumes that Jekyll has forged a letter for a murderer.

More time passes, and we learn that although Hyde has not been located, Dr. Jekyll becomes more and more social until one day Utterson attended a dinner party at Jekyll's where Lanyon was present. Shortly there after, Jekyll secluded himself and Dr. Lanyon fell ill and died. After his death, Dr. Lanyon left Jekyll a letter than instructed him not to read it for ten years. After these mysterious events, Enfield and Utterson again walk by the mysterious door. Through one of the windows, they witness Jekyll having a frightening seizure through the windows of the cellar.

About a week later, Poole, Jekyll's butler, approaches Utterson, who is afraid because Jekyll has locked himself in the basement and the only things that hear is strange sounds, including crying. The only communication that has come is letters desperately asking for a specific type of salt. Utterson follows Poole to Jekyll's house and breaks down a red cabinet where the body of Hyde is found. In the laboratory, the two discover a large envelope addressed to Mr. Utterson. Inside, Jekyll urges Utterson to read the package from Lanyon and if he wished to know more, read the further description that Jekyll provided within the envelope.

Lanyon's narrative begins by describing a strange letter he received from Henry Jekyll, the night after a dinner party at Jekyll's residence. The letter urges Lanyon to go to Jekyll's house and get the contents of a drawer in the laboratory. Afterwards, a strange caller will come to Lanyon's house in Jekyll's name and recover these same items, powder, a phial, and a paper book. Lanyon does as much, thinking that Jekyll is crazy, and Mr. Hyde appears at the subscribed time. He gives Hyde the ingredients; Hyde mixes them into a potion, and after drinking it transforms into Dr. Jekyll. This shock, the pure evilness of the situation, was what brought about Lanyon's subsequent death.

After reading the account of Dr. Lanyon, Utterson then reads Jekyll's own account of his failed experiment. Jekyll believed that the soul is made up of two separate distinctions: evil and the good. These two separate beings live in continuous and inherent conflict with each other. Slowly, Jekyll begins an experiment where he makes two potions and transforms himself into Edward Hyde. Shortly after becoming Hyde, he drinks a second potion and once again becomes Henry Jekyll. This experiment begins Jekyll's exploration of his other self, a side that he freely explores and feels no remorse for the negative and evil actions of Mr. Hyde.

For some months, this behavior continued until one moment, "I had gone to bed Henry Jekyll, I had awakened Edward Hyde." Alerted that the character of Hyde might irrevocably stay, Jekyll chose to give up the freedom of Hyde and for two months his decision held weight. Unfortunately, he was tortured with Hyde's longing and he once again took the potion and brutally murdered Carew. Because of the manhunt for Hyde, he swore this character off forever and set out to try to remedy the evil.

This, however, failed because Hyde was an irrevocable part of Jekyll's character. One night, while contemplating the deeds of Hyde, Jekyll was once again transformed into Edward Hyde. Realizing that he could not return to his house, he sent the letter to Dr. Lanyon and Mr. Poole and went immediately to a hotel. He went home once again but every time he would fall asleep, he would revert to Mr. Hyde. Soon, his potions began to fail to work and he ran out of the salt needed for the potion. Hyde launches a desperate search across London for this potion, but was unsuccessful. In the end, Hyde kills himself and therefore lets both Jekyll and Hyde free.

Answer 4

An Awesome one is "THE WOMAN IN BLACK" A Gothic play-within-a-play ghost story from the pen of Susan Hill. In it, Mr. Kipps  has written a script about his paranormal encounters in the English countryside. He gives the play to an actor and together the two perform the tale. Kipps hopes that doing so will help him purge his memories of the events.It's a flesh-creeping journey to eerie marshlands, amid moaning winds and silence-shattering screams...a ghost ride that will keep you jumping with fear

If you guys are very good at comedy "A GREATER TUNA" its two guys but each play like a dozen roles each.

Kiss of the Spider Woman is a great play by Maunuel Puig will tell you one of the charactes is g*y but if your mature enough you can do it.

The Zoo Story by Edward Albee

I would also go to the Samuel French website and look up the plays they own which are thosands and I believe you can type in full length play 2 men and they will give u a list with discription the only Samuel French stores in the US are in LA or NYC but been to the one in LA on Sunset give them a call they are very nice and can help you out and will mail whatever scripts that look interesting to you.

Answer 5

I beleive this is a one act but its hilarious! and perfect for your age group

its called The Universal Language by david Ives and this whole play this woman comes into a place to learn the language of una munda, and shes conviced it stopped her stuttering, but the whole thing is actually a scam and at the end they decide to work together, its kind of hard to explain you just kinda have to read it oh and the male has verry wacky lines like

"abosloopdi doop" meaning absolutley

or

"yabba dabba" meaning I understand

Answer 6

Educating Rita

(Y)

serious. and funny! great characters to get your heads around.