Death Defining Acts (excerpt)

Synopsis:

Death Defining Acts is a work in 14 scenes – each a self-contained play in its own right – but with deeply interlocking narratives.

Scuttling back and forth over two centuries and three continents, it weaves on the stage an extraordinary tapestry of desperate human action given its focus by death.

From gypsies to morticians, from executioners to telemarketers, from life coaches to SS lieutenants, from Dr Seuss to Mozart, Death Defining Acts is a rich, sprawling feast of the blackest humour played out at breakneck speed to an audience of cockroaches.

From the lunatic who believes he is Franz Xaver Sussmayr to the widow who discovers her beloved husband’s infidelity at the very foot of his casket to the chalk outline guy who finally gets to commit his first murder, Death Defining Acts grabs a hold of its audience by their respective throats and never lets go.

With four actors playing 30 roles, Death Defining Acts – advisedly lacking a hyphen – brings it home to us just how profoundly each of our actions is influenced by the very fact of death.

Character Breakdown:
The play has a cast of four:  Two females, two males.
The play consists of 14 separate ‘acts’ or scenes involving different characters, but all played by the same cast of 4.

Production History:  Not yet produced.

Running-time: 110 minutes.

Excerpt available for download for free.