Read Stage 12 Page 21

WAITING

  Characters:

  Alan impatient, intolerant of inconvenience, keen on his rights.

  Betty disagreeable semi-invalid.

  Charlie businesslike ferryman.

  Derek Tanya's affectionate husband.

  Enid shrewish, still grieving for the death of her daughter.

  Gareth disgruntled and petulant.

  Helen helpfully sympathetic, a born organiser.

  Ian quietly sensible.

  Jenny exuberant daughter of Enid and Ron.

  Ken calm and logical.

  Louise Alan's wife, placid and sensible.

  Mark Betty's long-suffering husband.

  Nell Betty's carer.

  Owen humorous and philosphical.

  Pam Gareth's wife. Sensible, tries to temper her husband's aggressiveness.

  Ron Enid's husband, with a less rosy view of their deceased daughter.

  Sally a former nurse, helpful and conciliatory.

  Tanya worried about an unspecified misdemeanour in the past.

  Val teenager, anxious to get back for a task at home.

  William coach driver, asleep and unnoticed for most of the action.

  Scene

  A nondescript river bank with a few logs that serve as rough seats. The river itself is out of sight, but there are references to a boat-landing jetty off-stage right, and to a forest as the "fourth wall."

  Time

  Resembling the present.