The Show Must Go Wrong

The Show Must Go Wrong - [6 actors - Runtime ~ 1 hr 20 Mins]

[Originally performed in Arthuer Cotterell Theatre, then at Kingston's International Youth Art's Festival.]

Farce.

When Abe, a director whose name was once synonomous with fame falls on hard times, he thinks of a great way to get his name back out there... A reunion piece.

Abe's most succesful (some would say only) piece of work was a farcical peiece fifteen years ago. He finds the contact details for the actors involved and relinquishing all integrity, he reaches out.

Without giving them a reason, he invites them to a room with only the hint of a proposal. Abe did not account for the fact that so many years can change people drastically. Each of the cast have achieved little success since working together, yet their ego's grew and grew and grew.

But when the group of old friends get together, they realise they have actually forgotten something... or was it someone?

Abe has to try to convince the actors to sign up for a reunion, deal with their fragile dispostions as well as handle the minor inconvenience of possible murder. Oh yeah, and there's a severed head. It is a farce, after all.

- Characters:

Abe - A has-been cursed with a nervous disposition. Abe was once the toast of London's Theatre scene and even found himself breaking in to television. However, he has now hit rock bottom and is willing to do almost anything to find some relevance.

Wendy - A botoxed nobody who clings to fame as if it were her inevitable colostomy bag, is the first to arrive. She considers herself to be a socialite who is on the top of all the guest lists as well as being acquainted with all the important people. She sees peasantry as an illness, but does not see her severe delusion of status.

Jeremy - A camp and gay actor. He has worked on all the finest, uh, well, pretty much anything he can get. His ouvrè consists of questionable plays, unpaid movies and vague advertisements. He thinks he is hiding his desperation, but you'd have to be dead to miss it.

Charles - A thespian, darling. Charles has admittedly achieved more than his old friends with his recent casting as Othello... which is incredible considering he is a white actor*. Ah, but of course, method acting holds secrets that everyone else has yet to unlock.

Diane - Since finishing the show, Diane gave up on her acting to pursue her true calling in spirituality. Her bag is filled with trinkets, powder and voodoo dolls - she is convinced she has a personal connection to the energies that make the up the world, those departed and even the planets and stars above... The rest are not so certain.

Darla - The poor cast member who was constantly insulted, mocked, casually beaten and even sometimes drugged. Darla catches wind of the reunion and breaks out of the psychiatric ward in her disgruntled and dishevelled state in order to exact revenge on those she feels ruined her life.

*Charles' ethnicity can be anything; it's a case of re-writing a joke.