Too Old To Climb Trees
Les Clarke
Genre: Drama
Cast size: 4
Duration: Two Act
Les Clarke | Drama | Full-length | 2m, 2f
Short synopsis
- Synopsis
- Characters
Charles is a well-known theatre director and suffers from Bipolar. It is the blight of his life, no two days are the same, he can be up one minute and down the next and it takes a lot to come through it and that’s where the whiskey comes in.
Out of the blue an aspiring young writer, Annie knocks on his door having tracked him down. Charles is on the phone to Tim, his Agent and Charles is having one of his days and has been out in the garden naked, trying to cope. He hangs up the phone and wraps a towel around himself and reluctantly opens the door. Annie explains who she is and that she has emailed him to let him know she was coming although Charles has no recollection and then it transpires that due to all the travelling she’s had to do to get there, she is desperate for the loo, and after a lot of protesting Charles finally gives in and lets her use the toilet.
Annie then almost bullies Charles into promising to read the play she’s written and because he’s having a bad day he agrees, so she leaves the script and promises to return in the morning. Charles reads the script and is surprised at how good it is and when Annie turns up the next day, a chemistry develops between them despite their ages and Annie ends up moving in with Charles and then one night when they’ve both had a drink, Annie comes onto him and they sleep together. It transforms Charles and he is reborn, but to Annie it was just ‘the moment’ when making love felt right and that was that.
Charles feels betrayed and decides she’s just used him to get her play performed and he boots her out and then reality hits him about how much she meant to him and he starts drinking heavily and taking drugs. Tim is distraught as Charles should have been preparing to direct a play but hasn’t done any prep work for it. Tim is so worried he enlists the help of a Counsellor and therapist, Janet, and they want to Section Charles to a safe place until he’s well. When they leave, Charles puts his life in order and then takes a fatal overdose of tablets washed down with whiskey, and then Annie knocks on his door …
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