Mrs. Curtis, The Young Woman, twenty-five or perhaps even a little older.
Lancelot Briggs, The Boy, slim and obviously under twenty.
Mrs. Briggs, his mother, a handsome woman of forty-five or fifty.
Jessie, his sister, a pretty girl of about twenty.
Rupert Smith, The Young Man, about twenty-five.
Mr. Ingoldsby, a man of fifty-five or, possibly, sixty.
The Mysterious Voice, male and adult.
About This Book
Set in a sitting room off a fashionable hotel lounge, this one-act farce follows a lovesick young man who awkwardly declares affection to a married woman, prompting a cascade of interruptions, misunderstandings, and competing suitors. Family members, a rival young man, an older gentleman, and an unexplained disembodied voice complicate courtship and escalate social embarrassment. The single-scene piece relies on precise stagecraft, brisk dialogue, and physical comedy to expose manners, romantic pretension, and generational differences, driving toward a compact comic resolution.