Feeding The Ducks
Michael Park
Genre: Drama
Cast size: 2
Duration: 35 mins approx
Michael Park| Drama | One Act | 1m,1f
Short synopsis
- Synopsis
- Characters
- Reviews
It is midday and Clare, a successful web site designer, is ostensibly simply taking her lunch break in the open air. Little do her staff know that this is a regular arrangement she has with her married lover, Frank, who runs another small business in the same building.
It’s going to be different today, though, because Clare has given him an ultimatum - divorce his wife and devote himself totally to her, and, as an added bonus, amalgamate his business with hers. But when she arrives, there is no sign of him, just a young man sitting on a bench feeding the ducks.
Reluctantly, she gets into conversation with Billy, only to discover that he is, or so he claims, ‘educationally challenged’. Revelling in her mental superiority, she takes him to task for being ‘a spoilt mother’s boy’ while waiting impatiently for her lover to appear not later than high noon. But there is no sign of Frank at the designated time, so she vows to end the affair right then and there.
When Billy admits to knowing far more about the lovers than he really should, it turns out there happens to be a connection between Clare, Frank and Billy’s mother, a cleaner at their nearby offices. Increasingly chillingly, we learn there is more to Billy than meets the eye. Not only is he a natural with computers, but he has used this knowledge to decoy Frank into the park early, intent on taking revenge against the man for sacking his mother following complaints from ‘the woman in the office upstairs’.
Ultimately, Clare’s only hope of survival is her mobile phone but annoyingly it takes this exact moment to run right out of battery power.
Simple to stage - a bench and atmospheric lighting - ‘Feeding the Ducks’ has proved to be a regular drama festival award winner in the UK and is also a popular choice for British ex-pat groups in Europe and elsewhere.
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