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All Because of Agatha
All Because of Agatha
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Author: Jonathan Troy Publisher: Dramatists Play Service (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 72 Pub. Date: 1964 Edition: Acting ISBN-10: 0822200155 ISBN-13: 9780822200154 Cast Size: 6 female, 4 male
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About
the Play:
All Because of Agatha is a full-length comic mystery by
Jonathan Troy. The
play is about the
hilarious plight of the young couple
who move into a centuries-old house, only to find
that it is haunted once a year by
a slightly destructive witch named Agatha.
Refusing to be scared off, they plan a party for the night of witch's
annual visit, inviting the local psychic, the doctor
next door, the local reporter and more – all over-the-top
characters – in All Because of Agatha.
Especially
recommended for school and contest use.
All Because of Agatha is the story of Duff O'Hara and of
his young bride, Joan. Being a cartoonist, Duff can live where he
chooses and, at the urging of Joan, this turns out to be historic
Salem, Massachusetts. They are both taken by the charming old house
that is shown to them; although Duff evinces misgivings when the real
estate man reluctantly admits that the house has one rather bizarre
feature which has discouraged previous tenants from staying on – it
is visited each year by a
distressingly capricious, maddeningly tenacious yet undeniably
appealing witch, Agatha Forbes, who was burned at the stake during
the Salem Witch Trials. But Joan wants the house,
witch and all, so they settle in. Things go so well that by the time
Agatha's annual visitation is due Duff and Joan decide to make a
party of it, and hopefully a farewell one for Agatha. Joan's Aunt
Thelma comes to visit in time for the festivities for which the next
door neighbours, Dr. Randolph and his mother (a medium who calls
herself Madame La Solda), are also invited. Inasmuch as Agatha is a
local legend the newspaper sends its star reporter, Flip Cannon,
along to cover the affair, but the atmosphere of gaiety soon vanishes
when the witch herself arrives in a cloud of smoke and bad temper.
Impatient from the outset, Agatha makes no bones about the fact that
she wants everyone out of the house, although she does mellow to the
extent of admitting that if she had a choice she would rather forego
her enforced yearly visits and stay wherever it is witches live out
eternity. She even goes along with Madame La Solda's occult attempts
to dissolve the commitment that binds her, but when this fails Agatha
loses patience and repeats her evacuation order. As no one will
cooperate, she then exercises her special powers and casts a spell
which, to every one's dismay, makes them actually become,
temporarily, as they secretly wish themselves to be. The results are
uproarious. But Joan, fortunately, keeps her wits about her and
solves the riddle of how to free Agatha from her house-haunting
obligation – which she does in the nick of time and to the relief
of all.
All Because of Agatha premiered in 1962 at the Call Board
Theatre in West Hollywood. It has been a long-standing favourite of
college and community theatre groups and middle and high school drama
clubs because the action can easily take place in present-day.
Cast: 6 female, 4 male
About the Playwright:
Jonathan Troy is an American playwright and dramatist.
Among his plays are the bewitching comedy All Because of Agatha,
the mystery Web of Murder, and the romantic comedy A
Handful of Rainbows.
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