Biweekly Theater Writing Challenge #11.2 - Another scene from The Tailor of Riddling Way

I have settled on a new project I am very excited about. In order to scratch the theater-making itch without having to deal with organizing all the details of a production and a long rehearsal period, I have decided to make an audio drama. The script is coming along nicely, a sort of old-fashioned mystery I call The Tailor of Riddling Way. I still have to learn about the conventions of the genre, and figure out the technical logistics, but the script is coming along well. Here is another piece that I composed over the course of today. I've cast a handful of the number of roles I am going to need voices for, and this piece features Rowan Loring, the character I want for the talented . One of the best parts of dramatic writing is casting the people whose acting I like, and I am already excited just imagining it now.

ALICE: This house has always been full of secrets.

MRS. WARREN: I’m sure that’s no business of mine.

ALICE: But you’ve been with our family for years now.

MRS. WARREN: Yes, Miss Alice.

ALICE: Surely you remember something?

MRS. WARREN: Oh, I don’t know, Miss Alice.

ALICE: Please, Mrs. Warren… I just… please…

TOM: Mrs. Susan Warren, isn’t it?

MRS. WARREN: Yes, it is.

TOM: Are you by any chance a relation of Robbie Warren over on Deer Hill?

MRS. WARREN: Why, yes! He’s my nephew. Do you know him?

TOM: Him and my big brother used to be thick as thieves.

MRS. WARREN: Your brother is Luke Barrows? He and Robbie used to steal pies off my windowsill!

TOM: They always were rascals.

MRS. WARREN: How is Luke nowadays?

TOM: Very well; after the war he decided to stay in Europe. He’s got a nice English wife and a fine fat baby boy.

MRS. WARREN: Ah, God bless him. Lots of good young men never made it through that war.

ALICE: Like my father.

MRS. WARREN: Yes, miss. A true gentleman.

ALICE: He was a great hero.

MRS. WARREN: (Hesitantly) He was indeed, miss…

TOM: Yes? What is it?

MRS. WARREN: It’s just… everyone thought so well of Master Rowan, doing his duty by the country and all.

TOM: Of course. The family must have been proud of him.

MRS. WARREN: That’s just it. That’s what they said to everyone… but when he was shipping out, Mister Reginald didn’t want to let him go.

TOM: I suppose it’s natural for a man to be afraid for his son going off to war.

MRS. WARREN: Yes, but it wasn’t just like that.

ALICE: How do you know?

MRS. WARREN: Because… I heard them one night. It must have been the night that Master Rowan told his father he was enlisting. I was clearing the table after dinner. They were in Mister Reginald’s study, but I could hear them shouting, and soon they were moving through the house.

            (Flashback effect.)

REGINALD: You will not, sir! I forbid it!

ROWAN: I am a grown man, Father, you can forbid me nothing. Besides, it’s already done. I am an enlisted man. I ship out for France by the end of the month.

REGINALD: Have you lost your mind?

ROWAN: Have you lost yours? Do you know what it is you’ve done? You have made a deal with the devil!

REGINALD: You are being a naïve fool, Rowan. This is for the best interests of the family. Would you see us in ruins?

ROWAN: Some things are worth more than that, Father.

REGINALD: So you’ll throw your life away on some Godforsaken beach, for what? For principle? To teach me a Sunday school lesson?

ROWAN: Someone must do the right thing. If it will not be you, then it will be me.

REGINALD: This is madness! You are not some unoccupied gutter trash, you have responsibilities here!

ROWAN: I will have none of any obligations to you.

REGINALD: Your wife is expecting your first child!

ROWAN: I will not have that child growing up ashamed of the family it came from! There will be one Loring man that will not disgrace the name.

REGINALD: There will be no such thing!

ROWAN: Don’t be so certain. You’ll have to make good on your devil’s bargain soon enough.

REGINALD: What do you mean?

ROWAN: Just that we reap what we sew, dear Father.

REGINALD: If you think that you are going to do something—

ROWAN: And when that time comes, I will not be paying along with you. Oh, good evening, Mrs. Warren.

MRS. WARREN: Excuse me, sirs.

ROWAN: Not at all, Mrs. Warren. If you would be so good, I’ll be needing my train cases cleaned. I shall soon have some packing to do.

MRS. WARREN: Of course, Master Rowan.

ROWAN: Many thanks, madam. And now— goodnight, father.

REGINALD: This is not over, boy—

ROWAN: I said, goodnight.

            (Footsteps walking away. Door closes. Flashback effect.)