Jean-Pierre Martinez, an internationally recognized playwright, has established himself as a leading figure in the genre of one-act comedies, also known as short plays, brief comedies, or “curtain-raisers.” This theatrical format, rooted in a long-standing tradition, resonates today with professional and amateur companies alike for its flexibility, stage efficiency, and appeal to contemporary audiences.
A Historic Tradition Revived for Modern Times
A few decades ago, every evening at the Comédie-Française featured two plays: the short piece – or “curtain-raiser” – preceding the main play. This shorter work, often lighter or more experimental, served as an introduction. Today, this format, with a performance duration of 60 to 75 minutes, has regained its relevance. It perfectly meets the expectations of modern audiences, often looking for dynamic, concise, and impactful performances.
Jean-Pierre Martinez’s one-act comedies embrace this tradition while renewing the genre with sharp dialogues, humorous situations, and a cast of universal characters. Despite their brevity, these plays offer narrative depth and provide audiences with a fully immersive theatrical experience.
An Original Format
Jean-Pierre Martinez’s short comedies are particularly suited for:
- Early evening performances (such as 7 PM sessions), ideal for theaters catering to audiences who want to go out after work.
- Festivals (The Avignon OFF Festival for example), where theaters schedule 2-hour slots (including setup and teardown time).
- School or community projects, thanks to their compact format and ease of adaptation.
- Professional or amateur theater companies, whether for standalone performances or combined productions.
These short plays offer an exceptional creative playground for directors, who can incorporate musical or dance elements to enrich the theatrical experience.
One-act comedies can also be combined to form a full evening program lasting 2.5 to 3 hours, including an intermission. Companies then have the choice of reusing the same actors in different roles to showcase their versatility, or involving multiple casts, allowing for a variety of interpretations.
An Example of a Combination
A short play (A Hell of a Night ), followed by a longer play (King of Fools), with an intermission in between, performed at the Theatre of Šumperk (Czech Republic).
List of short comedies
These short, funny, and modern comedies are ready to be performed on your stages. Introduce your audience to accessible, intelligent, and resolutely contemporary theater.
Peter, a dedicated researcher, stumbles upon the formula for eternal life. Faced with the potential unforeseen consequences, he contemplates keeping the discovery a secret. Yet, his wife, longing for perpetual youth, and her lover, desiring immortality, are unwilling to make such a sacrifice.
On the eve of Christmas, the unexpected return of a grandfather thought to be dead disrupts the routine of an ostensibly ordinary family. A zany and dark comedy about family ties. Go straight to hell... or draw a lucky card. 2 men - 2 women
Sloth, greed, envy, lust, pride, wrath, gluttony... How can you indulge in all seven deadly sins in a single evening, without ever leaving the comfort of your home, and without risking a one-way ticket to hell?
A CEO invites a minister to dinner with the aim of getting him to sign a large contract, and hires an escort to help seal the deal. But the escort in question is filling in for a friend who led her to believe it was just a well-paid catering job. She expects to be handing out appetizers, only to find out she’s on the menu. Naturally, nothing will go according to plan …
Alex and Emma are about to sell their house to some friends before heading abroad to start a new life. However, just after the sales agreement is signed, they discover a hitch – a significant one that could jeopardise the transaction.
Alice and Luke have been waiting for years to adopt a baby. Finally, the big day has arrived. The social worker from the Child Welfare agency is expected any minute for a final visit to assess the stability of their relationship, their motivation to adopt, and the child’s future living conditions. But disaster strikes as Alex isn’t home which risks jeopardising everything. Fred must find a way to handle this delicate situation, made worse by a sudden plumbing emergency. Unless the arrival of the plumber provides part of the solution …
You all know that famous website facilitating the reunion with long-lost schoolmates... Unfortunately, nostalgia nights can also turn into nightmares. Having invited over to his place two of his "best buddies" from high school whom he hasn't seen since graduation, a friendly loser triggers their unexpected reunion with a girl who has some unresolved issues with them...
They gather at a crash site to pay tribute to their missing brother. But what truly occurred? And who exactly are they?
In a future where assisted suicide has been replaced by voluntary recycling, a man and a woman, who met just before their reconditioning, reappear in the very ordinary home of the outdated couple they are meant to replace. Is there anything left of love when everything has been forgotten?
A well-known film director and an ambitious actress happen to meet on the Eurostar, seated opposite each other. Both are headed to London for an audition. She is willing to do anything to land the role that will make her a star. He is drawn to her charm but is unsure about taking it further... Suddenly, the train stops in the middle of the Channel Tunnel. The breakdown trick? But in this game of trickery, he is not who she thinks he is. Nor is she who he thought she was...
Four passengers who have nothing in common are participating in a tourist trip in space. The cohabitation is going more or less smoothly until the control tower announces to them that due to an oxygen leak, they will have to be evacuated urgently. The problem is: there won’t be enough air for everyone. One of them must sacrifice themselves, otherwise they will all perish. They have one hour to find the one who will show « The Right Stuff ».
Peter and Karen have invited a couple they met at a restaurant, with whom they vaguely get along, for drinks. But since then, they've all had time to sober up, and they realise they don't have much in common to share. It looks like it might be a long evening. Unless...
Mark and Peter are actors, who were once friends but haven’t seen each other for years after their friendship turned into a rivalry, both professionally and in their romantic lives. Now one of them has invited the other on the stage of a theatre to rebuild the friendship they lost with their youth. This attempt at a reconciliation will turn into a settling of scores before opening up the possibility of an unexpected collaboration.
How to Get Rid of Your Best Friends by Jean-Pierre Martinez Sometimes, it’s easier to make friends than to get rid of …
Stanley's cremation is scheduled for 3:35 PM precisely. Only a handful of close relatives are attending the ceremony since the dearly departed left few cherished memories. But, as they say, authors live on through their work. And this funeral may just turn out to be Stanley's greatest comedy ...
Fred and Sam have always dreamed of participating in the Avignon Festival, and finally, that dream has come true. But in Avignon, …
On a plane, the director of a sensationalist magazine coincidentally meets an embalmer, who claims to have a bombshell news, making her dream of a record-braking circulation. Things get complicated because this encounter takes place on a Paris-Tokyo flight: twelve hours in confinement with no way to communicate with the outside world. Holding a scoop but being unable to publish it... A true Japanese torture!
It’s been seven years since a health crisis caused the closure of all theatres. Three individuals, presumed to be actors, step on a stage for an audition. Unless it’s a public reading. Or it might even be the show’s opening … The problem is that they don’t have the script. The author hasn’t written it yet. They’re going to have to improvise…
Three people who do not know each other are summoned to participate in a jury. At least, that's what they were told. But the place where they have been gathered is not a courtroom. They learn that they are there to decide together how to manage the consequences of an inevitable catastrophe that will strike the world in the very near future. Opinions diverge, and numerous twists and turns keep the debate alive. Throughout this immersive performance, the audience will also be called upon to express their opinions to guide them in their choices, so that they can make the best possible decision to face the worst imaginable situation.
On the platform of a suburban railway station, a man and a woman who don’t know each other are waiting for the train that will take them to the new destiny they have chosen for themselves. But this 8:30 train, which they used to take in the past, has been canceled. The next one is only three hours later. This presents them with an unlikely encounter that could potentially change the course of their lives…
When three people live in a two-room apartment, it means there's one too many. But who?
On New Year’s Eve, a man is on duty at the Forensic Institute. One hour before midnight, a woman appears in front of him, covered only by a sheet. She doesn’t know who she is or where she comes from. And what was shaping up to be a deadly dull New Year’s Eve at the morgue turns out to be full of surprises… A comedy with multiple twists and turns, absurdly romantic and darkly humorous.
Lying on a hospital bed, a man, having lost his memory due to a life-saving surgery, encounters a parade of the women from his past whom he can no longer remember. Could one of them be the love of his life?
One marriage out of two ends in divorce… That night, Steven has to tell his in-laws, who idealise him, that he is getting divorced from their daughter, whom he cheated on. It is at that moment that Mabel’s parents announce to the couple that they are giving them their house in Kensington to raise their future children. How to reignite the flame without appearing simply interested in real estate?
A man and a woman encounter each other daily at a café, discreetly observing one another from separate tables, filled with curiosity but hesitant to initiate conversation. Will they yield to the longing for a rendezvous, uncertain if reality will match their mutual fantasies? While exploring the potential of deepening their connection, they also face the inevitable narrowing of options. Holding onto the preliminary stage of their interaction means risking missing out on what truly matters.
Four strangers find themselves forcefully quarantined in what turns out to be an abandoned theater. Seated behind an imaginary two-way mirror, they are observed by another group of people (the audience). The allegedly contaminated strangers consider the situation. What virus are they contaminated with? What will happen to them? How and when will all this end? Little by little, we learn that this huis-clos takes place in a near future where Big Brother reigns supreme, and that the reason for this quarantine may not be entirely medically motivated.
A journalist visits a playwright on the down and out for an interview that could launch his comeback. But in the world of theatre, appearances can be deceiving…
On a Planet Earth ravaged by climate change and rendered uninhabitable, mankind is living out its final hours. Two men and two women are set to take off in a spaceship for an unknown planet that might be their only chance for survival. The mission of these four « chosen ones » is to give humanity one last chance to save itself and carry on its evolution. But does mankind deserve a second chance if self-destructive madness caused its extermination? The passengers cannot agree…
Peter and Mary were strangers until their cruise ship, the Costa Mucho, was shipwrecked. After washing up on a deserted island, they realise that, as the lone survivors, they must overcome their differences in order to survive. Life is a shipwreck ... and the afterlife is an offshore tax haven.
Alex, a struggling playwright, contemplates abandoning his theatrical career as his comedies fail to garner interest. Just as he contemplates a shift to a more conventional job, a renowned Parisian producer contacts him, expressing eagerness to stage his latest play. It's a golden opportunity for Alex to finally gain recognition. The producer plans to visit soon for him to sign an exclusivity contract. However, this unexpected phone call is immediately followed by another. Fred, Alex's friend who already holds the rights to the play, informs him that he is finally going to stage it. He has invested all his savings in renting a small theatre. How can Alex delicately navigate the situation, persuading his amiable but less successful friend to abandon the project without it appearing as a betrayal to their longstanding friendship?
A couple has just bought the house of their dreams at a surprisingly low price. What could have happened in this house that caused it to remain unsold for so long? The previous owners died there under circumstances as dramatic as they were mysterious… A philosophical countdown about the tragicomic fate of humanity in general, and of the couple in particular.
A screenwriter tackling both a creative block and a computer breakdown gets a surprise visit from a strange repairman. Everyone deserves a wild card to play for a second chance.
When you abandoned your fiancée a year ago, just days before the wedding, leaving only a post-it note on the refrigerator as an explanation, you better never come back…
In a mysterious, enclosed setting—perhaps a madhouse, or maybe the theatre of the world—a few outcasts who have lost their Faith are being held. Not just Faith in God, but also belief in the principles upon which our society is built. What if the creator himself no longer believed in his creation? These skeptics must be re-motivated before their contagious scepticism triggers the collapse of the entire system.
In a country under the grip of a tyrant, as dissent simmers and repression rages, a doctor and a priest clash over whether the sacred duty of their respective roles outweighs that of the citizens they both are. The stakes are nothing short of the life or death of the dictator and consequently the survival of the regime or hastening its downfall...
Can money buy happiness? Out of self-respect, Michael, a broke painter, refuses the dirty money left to him by his father upon his disappearance in an airplane crash. But as Michael proudly rejects this inheritance from a father who abandoned him when he was five years old, his decision puts him at odds with his partner and his sister. The two women are less bothered about the origin of this unexpected fortune and both have very good reasons not to let it slip away. But who exactly is this man offering them ten million in exchange for a simple signature, and where does the money really come from? To each their own truth…
At Chance's Café, Thelma and Louise—stranded due to car trouble—encounter Richard and the ghost of Virginia. An odd place for an even odder meeting, feeling like both a reunion and a showdown. After all, chance doesn’t always work in our favour…
An aging novelist on the brink of suicide is visited by a young woman who claims to have lost her cat. A visit that will change his life…
The cemetery of Beaucon-le-Château is fully occupied. To accommodate new deceased, an extension would be required. However, the owner of the adjacent park stubbornly refuses to give up even the smallest plot. Faced with this urgent situation, the mayor takes a radical step: from now on, dying will be strictly forbidden within the town’s limits, under penalty of prosecution...