The Prince and the Pauper

from the novel by Mark Twain

This can be performed as a straight play or as a musical. Several songs (new words to well-known tunes) are included.

Two baby boys are born on the same day: Prince Edward Tudor and Tom Canty, a pauper. A few years later, their paths cross – and the Prince suggests that, as the two boys look identical, they should change clothes for a short time. But they do not find it easy to change back again. No-one believes the Prince is a Prince and no-one believes that the pauper is not a Prince. Then King Henry VIII dies. The Prince becomes King Edward VI.

The real King Edward finds himself in all sorts of dangers, with only Miles Hendon, a dispossessed nobleman, willing to help him. And even Miles doesn't really believe him. Can the King return in time for his Coronation? And will anyone believe him when he does?

The script features characters from the court of Henry VIII and low-life characters, some of them criminals and some of them teenagers or younger. There is excitement and suspense throughout.

Extract:

Edward: Tom, tell me about Offal Court. What does your father do?

Tom: He's - he's a thief.

Edward: (Shocked) A thief? What does he steal?

Tom: Food. Money. Anything. He makes me steal too.

Edward: And you steal - anything? (Prince Edward looks alarmed)

Tom: He beats me if I don't.

Edward: (Leaping up) This is monstrous. I shall have him thrown into the Tower.

Tom: Oh, no, please, no -

Edward: Fathers can be unkind. People say my father is cruel, but he is kind to me. What about your mother?

Tom: She is dead.

Edward: (Sadly) So is mine. She died when I was twelve days old. (More positively) Do you have any brothers or sisters?

Tom: I have a sister. She is fifteen. She is a bit bossy.

Edward: My sister Elizabeth is bossy. And my sister Mary is the most gloomy person in the world. She tells her servants not to smile in case the sin destroys their souls. (Pause) I don't suppose your sister does that?

Tom: My sister? Have servants?

Edward: Who helps her to undress and put her clothes on?

Tom: She doesn't take her clothes off. She would freeze.

Edward: (Slowly) Has she - no other clothes?

Artwork by Simon Bond