CHRISTMAS AT

THOMPSON HALL

from the story by Anthony Trollope

Available from Lazy Bees Scripts

23rd of December, 1872: Mr and Mrs Brown arrive in a hotel in Paris, as does Mr Jones. They all need to travel to England early the following morning. Due to a mix-up during the night, Mr Jones believes Mrs Brown has tried to murder him. It then turns out that Mr Jones and the Browns are all travelling on to the same location for Christmas...

Characters: 9 (7 male, 2 female – but the three hotel staff could be played as female)

Extract:

Manager: (To Mr Jones.) You are saying, monsieur, that this lady entered your room? In the middle of the night?

Mr Brown: (To Mrs Brown.) You went to a man's room? In the middle of the night?

Mrs Brown: No, no, dear, of course I didn't. Well -

Mr Jones: Yes, you did!

Manager: (To Mrs Brown.) You say you did not go to this man's room?

Mrs Brown: No. Of course not. Well, yes. I did.

Manager: No, you didn't, and yes, you did?

Mrs Brown: Well, I did – er, go to his room -

Mr Jones: Yes, you did.

Manager: You went to a man's room. And he is not your husband?

Mrs Brown: (Outraged) I didn't do that!

Manager: You did not go to this man's room?

Mrs Brown: No, yes. Yes. But not like that.

Manager: Not like what?

Mrs Brown: Not like going into a man's room.

Manager: With what intent did you go into this man's room?

Mrs Brown: I was trying to cure his cough.

Mr Jones: I don't have a cough.

Mrs Brown: No, not your cough. My husband's cough.

Manager: You went into Mr Jones's room to cure Mr Brown's cough?

Mrs Brown: Yes. No. Yes.

Artwork by Simon Bond