A Quiet Life
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by Stephen Bean
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Winner - BEST ORIGINAL PLAY : All England Theatre Festival (North East Heats) 2003
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Synopsis
Allison is newly arrived from the big city and is looking forward to throwing herself into village life. But, It will be no ordinary Village Hall Committee meeting tonight.
There's a scandal threatening to split the whole community. Ten thousand pounds worth of grant money has gone missing and no one knows where it's gone: no one that is except Fred Jackson, ex-copper and committee member. Fred's friend Ron has just been badly beaten by the local thug because he was getting too close to the answer. But Fred has now got hold of a newspaper clipping that he thinks will blow the lid off the whole affair.
The other members of the committee arrive. Joan, the local spinster, is the treasurer of the group. She's under suspicion by the police. Audrey, the chairperson, is the pretentious local girl who married into money. She likes to show off her wealth, but her husbands business has hit hard times and her planned showpiece garden party is in danger of being a big flop.
As the meeting goes on secrets surface: a teenage fumble in the back of the hayride wagon; Joan's addiction to credit cards; Audrey's lurid affair and Janice Dibble baring her ample breasts to the local Boy Scout Group!
When the truth about the grant money does come out during the course of the committee meeting, it leaves reputations ruined and long friendships broken. Allison's dreams of having a quiet life in a rural idyll may well have been shattered.
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Duration
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| 40 mins approx |
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Characters
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(1m, 3f)
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| Fred Jackson - mid-forties, single, level headed, a down-to-earth ex-copper |
| Allison Barnes - late thirties, has lived in the village for two weeks, streetwise and intelligent |
| Audrey Bowes-Langham - a local girl who married money, pretentious, false 'posh' accent |
| Joan Stachen - mid-forties, reserved, independent, single, allows her 'betters' to rule her |
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