The Cricket On The Hearth (adapted from a Charles Dickens Story by Ron Nicol)
Ron Nicol
Genre: Drama
Cast size: 9
Duration: 50 mins approx
Ron Nicol | Drama | One Act | 4m, 4f, 1m/f
Short synopsis
- Synopsis
- Characters
John Peerybingle, who delivers parcels, has a much younger wife, Dot. On one trip he picks up Edward, a mysterious stranger, and brings him home. Caleb Plummer’s tight-fisted employer Tackleton invites John and Dot to a wedding party to celebrate his forthcoming wedding to May Fielding. Edward asks to rent a bed in John’s house, and John agrees. Tackleton visits Caleb t tell him about the wedding. Caleb’s blind daughter Bertha is secretly in love with Tackleton, and despairs on hearing of the wedding.
At Tackleton’s party, Bertha reveals her feelings to May. Tackleton asks John to follow him, and shows him Edward and May together – and Edward removes his disguise. May and Edward seem to know each other well, which makes John suspect that Dot and the newcomer might be secret lovers. The cricket on the hearth, considered by Dot to be her home’s guardian angel, attempts to dismiss John’s doubts with a series of visions.
Tackleton arrives next morning and John finds that Edward has gone. John confesses that his age must have been a factor in Dot’s apparent unfaithfulness, and says that he won’t stand in the way of Dot and her lover.
Eventually it’s revealed that the mysterious stranger is Caleb’s missing son Edward in disguise, who has returned to claim his childhood sweetheart May. Thanks to Dot’s intervention, Edward marries May, Tackleton gives his blessing to the marriage, and John and Dot are finally reconciled.
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