No Smoke
1-act drama for six actors (4F, 2M) Running time: 50 minutes
Paul Taylor is a violin tutor who gets accused of sexual assault of one of his pupils.
Synopsis
The play opens with us hearing a violin lesson being given to a teenage girl, Ella Scott. Subsequently her mother, Jennifer, finds that Ella has posted on her Facebook page that she has a crush on Paul, which rings alarm bells with her. She talks to her friend, Amanda, who says it’s probably nothing, and advises her to discuss it with Ella before doing anything, but Jennifer is convinced that there is something going on between Paul and her daughter. A conversation with another friend, Gemma Hewitt, exacerbates the situation and Jennifer reports Paul to the police for sexual assault, even though Ella denies anything has happened. The situation quickly snowballs with a local paper reporting the alleged offence. Paul’s girlfriend, Karen, has to endure Paul’s tirade against what he sees as the injustice of the situation; a tirade that escalates to the point where he physically attacks Ella’s mother. And, just when he thought things couldn’t get worse, another of Paul’s pupils comes forward to accuse him of sexual assault...
Characters
Paul Taylor: Violin tutor – 30s-40s
Jennifer Scott: Mother of Ella, one of Paul’s pupils – 30s-50s
Amanda Cunningham: Friend of Jennifer – 30s-50s
Karen Sheppard: Girlfriend of Paul – 20s-30s
Gemma Hewitt: Friend of Jennifer – 30s-50s
Damien Wheeler: Reporter – 30s-50s
