| MALTRAVERS DOES HIS BIT A Melodrama By Gordon Gribbin |
| Richard Maltravers leaves his village to do his bit for Australia in the Boer War, leaving behind him his doting mother and his girlfriend Fanny (Yes, Dick and Fanny, but it is a melodrama, did I mention that?) |
| Sergeant Roughhard is the recruiting Sergeant who lures Dick away from Fanny, and he is much admired (as is Dick) by the town tart, Dolly. |
| There is, of course, a villain, one Mr Squatt, who lusts after Fanny, as does the local Vicar. Fanny's mother, a lover of luxury, wishes her daughter would stop weeping and marry one of them, preferably Squatt. |
| But Fanny sits at home and weeps at the thought that her Dick may return to his Fanny (melodrama, remember?) with bits blown away in the war. Town Tart Dolly is pretty tense on this subject, too. |
| A bit of mayhem, weeping wailing, bullying and protesting (not to mention men dressing as women) later, all is revealed and all is well (of course). |
| Use the songs in the script or put in your own - the author doesn't care - and you can use this as the middle half of a Music Hall. Or pad it out with singing, dancing, raffles and funny business on the back row and you can make it stretch to an entire evening. |