Young Souls
Sally Brockway
Genre: Comedic Drama
Cast size: 6
Duration: 45 mins approx
Sally Brockway| Comedic Drama | One Act | 3m,3f
Short synopsis
- Synopsis
- Characters
Beryl, Gerald and Margery are residents at the Belleview care home. It’s a miserable existence where highlights include the odd game of Scrabble, Countdown on a loop and endless snoozing.
But things are about to get interesting. Care Home manager Thelma has arranged for the residents to take part in a drugs trial. They will be part of the Animus Project run by Doctor Shulman. He is excited about the trial, but refuses to tell the old folk what the effects of the drug are.
On the day they take the pills, the old folk are joined by work experience boy Matt. A 17-year-old who would rather be anywhere else.
When Thelma and the Doctor are called to an emergency, Matt has to take charge of the experiment behind a locked door. He is supposed to record events, but things go awry when he pops half a dozen of the pills.
Each resident has a CD that must be played to unlock their memories. As the first CD plays swing music, the three pensioners come to life – eventually they are dancing around the stage like 20-year-olds. Matt meanwhile, ages to the point where he can barely stand.
Crotchety old Beryl is suddenly a little sexpot. Gerald who has motor neurone disease and cannot speak or move in his old body, is singing and dancing like Fred Astaire and Margery who has dementia and can only say the word ‘Jelly’, is a young woman with a remarkable brain who reveals she was a code breaker in the war.
The three elderly residents revel in their new found youth whilst Matt deals with grey hairs, liver spots and a barrage of aches and pains. But when the effects of the experiment wear off, Beryl urges Matt to do something drastic – she cannot bear to be old again and begs him to get hold of more pills.
The Doctor is disappointed when told that nothing happened to the pensioners after taking the drug. He leaves to discuss terms with Thelma and Matt, who has a new found respect for his charges, reveals to the three residents that he has stolen a pot filled of the pills. He ends by declaring ‘Tonight, you’re gonna party like it’s 1949!’
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