Death of a Dead Guy

By William L. Bowman, Jr.

Play Description:

A silly mystery farce. Collette, the ditzy but sneaky maid, finds Reginald Bascombe III at his desk with a knife in his back, dead. Or is he? Mrs. Bascombe is totally upper class nonchalant. Collette tidies up for the authorities, feather dusting the body. But when the butler tries to call the police, the phone is dead. By coincidence, the loud-mouthed bumbling private eye Peter Cannon shows up. He accuses everyone of the crime with absurd scenarios. Finally, he decides that Reggie was playing mumblety-peg and offed himself by accident. Throughout the play, when the cast isn't looking "the corpse" looks up with a variety of silly expressions. He tops it all with the last word. Wonderfully witty with lots of action. Cast: 3W, 3M.

Cast of Characters:

Reginald Bascombe III – A recently deceased corpse. He sits slumped over his desk and occasionally makes silent editorial comments though none of the other characters see this.

Collette - The maid. She finds the body. Rather lazy, her main concern is her paycheck. Very dramatic and somewhat clumsy. Dressed in a frilly maid’s costume.

Bertram - The butler. Staunch, old world, loyal, no sense of humor. Dressed in tails and white gloves. Slight British accent.

Mrs. Bascombe - Recent widow of Reginald. Not too bright. She tries, but often just doesn’t quite get it. Dressed as one who obviously wants the world to know of her wealth and position in society.

Pete Cannon - The meanest, roughest, toughest ace private eye, ear and nose (throat comes extra) in the business. He is a caricature of every 1940s tough-guy gumshoe to ever grace the pages of a dime novel. He is always just short of the answer. He wears a fedora and a trench coat with added pockets over a crumpled ill-fitting suit.

May Fielding (AKA Toots Monahan) - Mr. Bascombe’s personal secretary who in reality is a con artist of some repute known to Pete and who, of course, has a heart of gold and a soft spot (maybe in her head) for Pete! Young, very attractive and just as intelligent, dressed in a smart business suit and hat.

Reminder:

We’ll have dresses, pants, hats, wigs and other props so that anyone can play any part. Come join the fun!