Description
CHARACTERS
JESSIE BATES – Refreshments vender and budding smuggler. Cool headed and quick-witted. Still childless, she is bored with just selling food and drink to the strollers who visit the picturesque beach outside their cave.
JACK – Her spouse, cave excavator and veteran smuggler. Based on an historical couple from late 18th Century England, Jack and his wife Jessie live in a seaside cave that Jack has greatly expanded with the use of blasting powder. He is proud of providing his wife with a rent-free home.
MRS. TYLER – An acquaintance of Jessie from the nearby village.
HENRY – Her spouse, a fisherman who dabbles in smuggling. Simple but dependable
SMITH – A smuggler from down the coast. A gruff, wary, threatening man.
NEBBLE – The new and eager customs officer. Physically imposing, supercilious.
PRODUCTION HISTORY
The play received a staged reading at the Playwrights Platform, Boston, USA (2019).
The play will be produced on January 24, 2021 in Newburyport, MA, USA at the Firehouse Center for the Arts in their annual New Works Festival, where it will win the prize (already rewarded) for One-Act plays at the Festival.
RUNNING TIME
Approximately 45 minutes
PREVIEW
Preview available here