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Dear Mother

Mark James

Genre: Drama

Cast size: 3

Duration: 40 mins approx

Mark James | Drama | One Act | 2m, 1f

Short synopsis

Follow Thomas from a boy at the start of the 20th century on his first holiday away from his parents, through to a young man caught up in the spoils of the Great War. See how the innocents of youth are torn apart in the harsh realities of warfare, missing home and facing the loss of childhood friends. Told through letters back to home, 'Dear Mother' is a gripping and honest dramatisation of life in the trenches.

  • Synopsis
  • Characters
Thomas James Brook is an ordinary boy at the turn of the 20th Century. His innocence of youth is shown in the letters that he sends his Mother, during a holiday with extended family in Weymouth.
 
They reveal how a chance meeting, the sight of a mysterious man and how games he plays, form his perceptions of the future. Fast forward seven years and Thomas finds himself on the dock of Le Havre preparing for his journey to the front line of the Great War in 1915.
 
Continuing to write to his beloved Mother, he tries to console her with his reasons for joining up early and shares his expectation and optimism for the future months, along with some of the sights and sounds that he encounters along the way. After a long, harsh struggle, dug down for many months in the trenches of the Somme, frustration shows, the pain of loss is clear and Thomas' innocence dissipates.
 
The endless rows of muddy gullies, the constant fear of attack, the reckless attitude of the commanding forces and the loss of a childhood friend, leave a broken Thomas just wanting to be back home. Dear Mother has been well researched and uses many first-hand accounts and experiences. It is performed on a simple stage with minimum set design over one act.
 
The impact of the story is portrayed through the characters, requiring them to show a huge range of emotions from joy and playfulness, to heartbreak and pure fear. 

2m, 1f or 1m, 1f, 1jnr-m

  • Junior Thomas
  • Senior Thomas
  • Mother
More information on types below
Type
Free

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Dear Mother

Free
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Frequently asked questions

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Of course! All our plays and pantomimes have a free Preview Script available for download as an A4 pdf file that contains 60-75% of the full script. If you like what you read then you can buy an inexpensive e-script of the entire play (typically less than half the cost of a traditional printed script) which is licensed to you for your personal use. Purchasing a script copying licence allows you to make just enough copies to support rehearsals and performances.

All our musicals are included in our perusal service. Through this, representatives of producing organisations can request a USB Stick of perusal material  which comprise the script/libretto and piano/vocal score as PDF files; a Cast (or Studio) Recording as MP3 files and (where available) an MP4 file video of either the premiere production or of a subsequent production.

Some titles have the facility to read the entire script online on our website.

Do we need a Licence To Perform?

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Under the international laws of copyright, you must be in possession of a valid, unexpired licence before performing any piece of theatre unless the owner or managers of the copyright has waived their rights.

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