Fate's Thread by Stephen Bean
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Winner - BEST ORIGINAL PLAY :
All England Theatre Festival
(North East Heats) 2004

Susan Davies is a successful executive married to her 'bit of rough' - Jack the local garage mechanic. But now Jack is fed up of being the 'kept man'. He'd like to break with Susan, but he doesn't want to lose the lifestyle … or his mistress, Margaret. Then, Susan has a fatal 'accident' in her newly repaired car.

Susan doesn't take well to being a ghost. She has to share a cold graveyard with the loud-mouthed Alice (who was burned as a witch in 1647) and the prim miss, Harriett (stabbed to death, 1884). She hates being kept prisoner by some invisible barrier that, apparently, the three of them cannot pass through. And why won't Alice and Harriet accept that the car crash was just an accident?

The trouble is that if Susan can't be 'reconciled' to her murder soon, she will be dragged off to spend the rest of eternity in the Sea of Lost Souls, something that both Alice and Harriett fear more than anything. They must convince Susan that she was murdered before the 'things' come to take her away.

The proof lies beyond the graveyard and they are unable to get to it until Alice confesses she has found a way round the barrier, a way to visit the living and hear their conversations. Can she take Susan there to listen to Jack's confession?

Fates Thread is a ghost story. It's a murder mystery, and a light comedy. It's a race against time to save a soul.


Alice Fletcher - burned as a witch in 1647, not a typical 'old hag', full of the rawness of the time
Harriett Cole - stabbed by a suitor in 1884, prim and prudish, well spoken
Susan Davies - a wealthy young executive , self-confident go-getter

Jack Davies - Susan's husband, brooding, bitter, a working man reduced to shopping and ironing

Margaret Daniels - Jack's mistress, genuinely fond of him, can't see she is being strung along
Jenny Bayes - a Detective Constable, checking some details about Susan's death that don't add up
 
 

 
 

 
 
Duration : 40 mins
Acts : 1
Scenes : 6
Principals : 1m, 4f
 
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