ONE-ACT ADAPTATIONS
THE SNOW QUEEN
Large mixed cast : doubling and trebling possible.
A one-act version of Ron Nicol's full-length adaptation of "The Snow Queen".
An adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen favourite - not of Disney's 'Frozen'. Gerda searches for her friend Kai when he's kidnapped by the Snow Queen. With the help of a Crow and a Reindeer, she travels to the far North and confronts the Queen in her ice palace.
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
Large cast with much doubling/trebling possible
Adapted from the Charles Dickens story. Ebenezer Scrooge is only interested in making money, and sees Christmas as an excuse for idleness and the expectation of charity. His former business partner Jacob Marley appears to him in ghostly form, warning Scrooge that if he continues in his avaricious ways he’ll be unable to escape a miserable fate. That night, Scrooge is visited by the Spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Glimpses of his past life as a young man, visits to the happy households of his clerk and his nephew, and fearful visions of the future persuade Scrooge to change his covetous nature.
THE CHIMES
8m 5f 10 or more m/f
Adapted from the Charles Dickens story. On New Year’s Eve, Trotty Veck is filled with gloom at reports in the newspaper about crime and immorality, and wonders if the working class is wicked by nature. Encounters with Alderman Cute and MP Joseph Bowley confirm that the poor have no place in society. Meeting homeless vagrant Will Fern and his orphaned niece Lilian, Trotty offers them hospitality. That night Trotty is summoned by the Bells, who show him how dismal the future is. Trotty wakes to find that the visions are only dreams, and that the New Year has dawned.
THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH
4m 4f 1m/f
Adapted from the Charles Dickens story. John Peerybingle has a much younger wife, Dot. When a stranger arrives, John suspects that Dot and the newcomer are secret lovers. Meanwhile, Caleb Plummer’s blind daughter Bertha, in love with Caleb’s employer Tackleton, learns that Tackleton is about to marry her friend May Fielding. The Cricket on the Hearth attempts to dismiss John’s doubts with a series of visions. It’s revealed that the stranger is Caleb’s son Edward, who has returned to claim his childhood sweetheart May. Edward marries May, Tackleton gives his blessing, and John and Dot are reconciled.
THE MAN WHO COLLECTED WOMEN
2m 5f
'Ron Nicol combines the virtues of effective fdrama and fidelity to his sources" (Sherlock Holmes Society of London)
A Sherlock Holmes adventure based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Illustrious Client”. When unscrupulous Baron Gruner persuades impressionable heiress Violet de Merville to marry him, Lady Hilda Damery approaches Sherlock Holmes for help. With the assistance of Mary Watson, underworld contact Annie Johnson and the Baron’s mistress Kitty Winter, Holmes comes up trumps. He steals Gruner’s diary of conquests and prevents the Baron adding to his collection of betrayed women, while Kitty takes her own drastic revenge.
THE MAZARIN STONE
2m 4f
Sherlock Holmes adventure based on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone”. Countess Natalia Sylvina steals a fabulous diamond. Sherlock Holmes is determined to get it back, with the help of Dr Watson's wife Mary. The Countess and her strong-arm man Sam Merton confront Holmes in his consulting rooms at Baker Street. Sylvina is tricked into revealing the whereabouts of the diamond, Mary and the police arrive, the villains are arrested, and Holmes returns the Stone to Lady Cantlemere.
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