A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Numbers

Short Play, Dark Comedy  /  4w

Mean Girls meets Lord of the Flies. This brutal and hilarious one-act comedy, set in an all-girls' boarding school, depicts a vicious battle of wills between four Sixth Form girls in the hour before a new Head Girl is announced.

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w
  • Duration
    Duration
    60 minutes (1 hour)
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for all audiences, Teen (Age 14 - 18)
Accolades
Accolades
  • In 2009 Kieron Barry was nominated for the Charles Wintour Award for Most Promising Playwright at the London Evening Standard Theatre Awards. He
    was also made a Norman Mailer Fellow.

Details

Summary

This brutal and hilarious one-act play was declared one of the greatest plays of all time for women in Lucy Kerbel’s volume 100 Great Plays For Women. Set in an all-girls’ boarding school, Numbers depicts a vicious battle of wills between four Sixth Form girls in the hour before a new Head Girl is announced. As the girls vie for the coveted position, old friendships and loyalties give way to ambition and betrayal. Nothing is too extreme in a battle which increasingly proves less about the disputed role and more about how the girls’ conflicting ideologies of class, privilege and morality will affect the rest of their lives.

History
Numberpremiered at the Landor Theatre, in London in 2005.
Cast Attributes
KATHERINE
ISABEL
JENNIFER
HETTY
  • Time Period Contemporary, Present Day
  • Setting An English boarding school. 
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes
  • Additional Features No intermission
  • Duration 60 minutes (1 hour)
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

"...clever, fast-paced, witty and caustic... well-crafted and wonderfully funny." - Time Out London

"
Kieron Barry's [Numbers] is a wonderfully crafted, well-constructed and deftly thought out piece of theatre." - The Stage, London

"This well constructed, four-hander is chock full of wit and littered with class wars...great entertainment." - Edinburgh Fringe Festival

Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)
  • Vocal DemandsN/A (Not a musical)
  • Chorus Size N/A (Not a musical)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £55 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:

Authors

Kieron Barry

Kieron Barry was born in Stratford-upon-Avon. His plays include the verbatim drama Stockwell, which enjoyed two sell-out runs in London in 2009. It was described by The Times in its five-star review as “more gripping than anything else to be seen in the London theatre” and by ...

View full profile

Now Playing