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Night Crossing

A thriller in five acts, from one to seven in the morning

  • Mystery
  • Thriller
  • 13-character play
  • 7 women, 4 men, 2 either
  • 85 min
  • Advanced
  • Ages 12+
PDF Word Free, no sign-up

Synopsis

On the night ferry from Marseille to Bastia, at one in the morning, a teenage girl walks into the deck 6 bar holding a green coat she found on the rail. The passenger who wore it has vanished. Vera, the ship’s purser, has until they dock at seven to tell the gendarmes whether she fell, jumped or was pushed. Twelve people spend the night in the bar, and every one of them has something to hide.

The deck 6 bar of the Calanca, a ferry of the Azur Levant line, one night in May, between Marseille and Bastia, the present day.

Casting

700 lines
  • VERA Female role, Adult 49, purser of the Calanca, twenty years with the company.
  • ALMA Female role, Adult 34, accountant at Azur Levant head office, travelling alone, cabin 6012.
  • DIANE Female role, Adult 46, passenger in cabin 8003, on the Prestige deck.
  • CLAIRE Female role, Adult 38, chief officer of the Calanca.
  • ODETTE Female role, Senior 71, retired court clerk, makes the crossing every month.
  • MILA Female role, Young adult 24, cellist, cabin 6014, on her way to play at a festival.
  • INÈS Female role, Teen 15, travelling with her grandfather.
  • BRUNO Male role, Adult 58, director of operations at Azur Levant, cabin 8001.
  • MARCO Male role, Adult 44, lorry driver; his lorry is on the car deck, deck 3.
  • JOSEPH Male role, Senior 76, Inès’s grandfather, going home to his village.
  • TIAGO Male role, Young adult 21, cabin steward, first season on board.
  • SAM No gender marker, Adult Forties, has run the deck 6 bar for twelve years.
  • CHARLIE No gender marker, Adult Thirties, writes for a Bastia daily paper.

Contents

  1. Act One: One O’Clock
    • Scene 1: The Green Coat
    • Scene 2: The Purser
    • Scene 3: Seven O’Clock
  2. Act Two: Two O’Clock
    • Scene 1: Cabin 6012
    • Scene 2: Odette’s Bag
    • Scene 3: The Lorry
    • Scene 4: Two Splashes
  3. Act Three: Three O’Clock
    • Scene 1: The Reports
    • Scene 2: The Cigar
    • Scene 3: The Reconstruction
    • Scene 4: B Flat
    • Scene 5: Three Sugars
  4. Act Four: Four O’Clock
    • Scene 1: The Missing Woman
    • Scene 2: Nobody Leaves
  5. Act Five: Until Seven
    • Scene 1: Five O’Clock
    • Scene 2: The Till
    • Scene 3: The Night Light
    • Scene 4: What Gets Recovered
    • Scene 5: Bastia

Excerpt

Act One: One O’Clock

Scene 1: The Green Coat

(The deck 6 bar. A counter, bar stools, tables bolted to the floor, a long banquette under the black portholes. Behind the counter, a narrow door marked “Storeroom”, and a small door on the right, to the toilets. At the back, the glass door onto the passageway. A round clock says two minutes to one. The engine can be heard everywhere, all the time.)

(Sam is wiping the counter. Odette sits alone at a table, a crossword and a notebook in front of her. Diane, on the banquette by the porthole, a wool cardigan round her shoulders, is finishing a herbal tea. Marco, at the counter, stares into the bottom of his beer.)

SAM

We close in two minutes. Just saying, for anyone who’s still thirsty.

MARCO

I’m still thirsty.

SAM

What you’ve still got is five hours of driving after Bastia.

MARCO

Four. I know a short cut over the pass.

SAM

I know your short cut. It goes past three bars.

695 more lines, 24 scenes

The rest is waiting in the file.

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