Murder Mystery Script Package
Murder Across the Ages - Chris McDermott (2002)
(11,846 words - including Dramatis Personae)
4 male characters; 3 female characters
The scenario involves contestants from 'across the ages' who are asked to take part in a 'Big Brother' style game in which they vie for a cash prize. The contestants have all been whisked from the age in which they lived by magical means and through the power of 'Big Brother' himself. Big Brother is never revealed to the audience, but speaks via a microphone and speaker system. The first contestants are Dame Sarah Thompson and Janet Hardcastle, both from 1704.
Sarah is a likeable and lively character, with a good sense of humour. Janet is a few years her junior, but equally pleasant. James Robson (1760) is a humorous character with the habit of saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. He has not made a successful transition from 1760 to the present, not least in terms of his poor pronunciation. The aristocrat, Lord Melchester (1884), tells us that he despises 'socialism' whereas Ettie Levene, from 1904, appears to be a feisty and outspoken woman, a defender of the poor and despiser of privilege.
Charles Inman (1815) is an old-fashioned 'gentleman'. As the plot develops, it becomes clear that each character has a strong motive for wanting to win the game. Suddenly, Sarah falls ill and dies, apparently poisoned, before reviving. James confesses that the prints on the phial containing the poison belong to him, but denies murder. Melchester admits to being an impostor before he, too, suffers Sarah's fate, this time with no happy ending. So the contestants have a real corpse on their hands, and an allegedly aristocratic one at that.
But who killed the good Lord Melchester and why? Just to add to the confusion, Big Brother claims to be the real Lord Melchester, before asking the contestants to disband for the interval whilst an investigation into who travelled 'across the ages' to commit such a heinous crime is carried out. Intrigued? So you should be. This is one for those with a bit of an eye for historical detail! Could that be you?
