Angel Must Die
by Kim Hirst
‘Angel must Die’ is a black comedy in two acts. The cast consists of 6 characters - 5 female and 1 male, although one of the female characters (Rosalie Pratt) can be changed to male (Russell Pratt) if necessary. This play was performed at the Little Theatre on 13th- 15th May 2016 and worked very well.
Set:
The set is one scene throughout. A large drawing room in Montague Manor which contains a jumble of antique furniture, a large table centre stage and two chairs either side. The walls have old portraits and hunting pictures hanging and the whole place looks tired and tatty. There is a doorway centre stage which leads to a hall. Left is the kitchen and right is the front door. There is a cellar door to the old wine cellar downstage left and just upstage is a sofa. Upstage left are windows and downstage right is a big fireplace with two chairs either side. Other pieces such as drinks trolley and china cabinet added to the effect. There are magazines here and there and evidence of knitting everywhere.The set can be changed to accommodate the resources of the company, but we found this one worked very well.
Synopsis
Imelda and Veronica Montague have lived in Montague Manor all their lives. Their two sisters Merle and Evaline left 30 and 25 yrs ago respectively. The youngest sister Miranda is a little strange and the two look after her along with Potter the family butler. Merle died and as she was the eldest her daughter Angel inherits it all and the play opens on the night she is due to turn up and claim her inheritance. Imelda and Veronica decide they have to kill her as they fear they may be turned out as they and Merle never got on and Angel would probably hate them too. Things go wrong from the beginning and Imelda and Veronica both get injured in their attempts to kill Angel. To complicate matters the other sister Evaline turns up and Angel brings her ‘project manager’. As the play progresses they all bring up the past because that’s all they have to talk about and things get nasty. By the end of the play they have decided that they have to kill everyone including Potter and Miranda. Again, it goes horribly wrong and they discover that they themselves have been swindled and dear Angel is not such an angel after all.. One last twist at the very end means that everyone gets what they deserve.