TREACHERY
A Pennsylvania-Gothic Tale of the Prodigal Son

CHARACTERS

Gunhilda*

Odelia

Osbert T. Beowulf

Royce Bentley

Brunhilda*

Grimhilda*

Thorhilda*

*roles of Gunhilda, Brunhilda, Grimhilda, and Thorhilda can be shared by a single player


SETTING

Wulfweardsweorth, a Pennsylvania-Gothic estate

ACT I
Winter evening, 1903.

INTERMISSION

ACT II
Immediately following.


SYNOPSIS

Royce Bentley's golddigging mother, Gunhilda, has had him committed for twenty years to Cerebellum Manor because his outrageously profligate spending threatened her fortune. While in the asylym he falls in love with a multiple personality escape artist who loses one persona for each time she attempts to flea--the guards shoot her but discover no body. Royce nicknames her "Pastiche". Upon Gunhilda's death, she leaves her son three million dollars cash, and allows him to be sent home to Wulfweardsweorth. She knows he'll arrive penniless, and the estate will be lost, unless he finds a woman who offsets his gullibility, profligacy, and generosity.

© 1999 by Michael J. Farrand