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Sotto Voce

A comic mystery in two acts

  • Mystery
  • Comedy
  • 8-character play
  • 5 women, 2 men, 1 either
  • 60 min
  • Intermediate
PDF Word Free, no sign-up

Synopsis

On the eve of the regional competition, the Saint-Aubin choir comes back from its break to find that the handwritten mass left to them by Odile, their late conductor, has vanished from the piano. There is no copy, the door has been locked since eight o’clock and nobody has gone out. Eight people in a parish hall, eight good reasons not to empty their pockets, and a conductor who insists on doing the warm-ups whatever happens.

The parish hall in Saint-Aubin, a village in Normandy, on a Friday evening in May, the night before the competition, the present day.

Casting

564 lines
  • NINA Female role, Adult 44, primary school teacher, has led the choir since Odile died six months ago.
  • CAMILLE No gender marker, Adult thirties, assesses claims for an insurance company, joined the choir three weeks ago.
  • MARTHE Female role, Senior 81, alto, has sung in the choir since 1968.
  • ROSA Female role, Senior 74, soprano, has made the tea and cakes for the break for thirty years.
  • ELENA Female role, Adult 39, the village pharmacist, soprano soloist.
  • ZOÉ Female role, Adult 33, piano teacher, accompanies the choir.
  • MARCO Male role, Adult 52, baker, the only tenor in the choir.
  • JONAS Male role, Adult 47, bass, sexton, keeps the key to the hall.

Contents

  1. Act One
    • Scene 1: The Red Folder
    • Scene 2: Where Were You
    • Scene 3: Motives
    • Scene 4: Tuesdays
    • Scene 5: Keeping Warm
  2. Act Two
    • Scene 1: The Coffee Stain
    • Scene 2: The Sacristy
    • Scene 3: The Tenor
    • Scene 4: The Freezer
    • Scene 5: Sotto Voce

Excerpt

Act One

Scene 1: The Red Folder

(A parish hall. A piano, chairs in a semicircle, a table with a teapot and cups. Upstage, the front door. On one side, the kitchen door, with a serving hatch, and right next to it the door to the sacristy; on the other, the corridor to the cloakroom. The clock says nine.)

(Nina claps her hands.)

NINA

Back to work! Cups down, mouths open. The Kyrie, from the top. Zoé, please.

ZOÉ

Whenever you like. Pass me the mass.

NINA

It’s on the piano.

ZOÉ

There’s nothing on the piano.

NINA

The red folder. On the piano. Next to the metronome.

559 more lines, 12 scenes

The rest is waiting in the file.

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