Great Plague of London Class Playscript

Description

Great Plague of London Class Playscript is just on the Great Plague of London 1665. There are no references to the current pandemic. This covers the subject as seen through the eyes of the great English diarist, Samuel Pepys. As a follow up to this script I may write a comparison diary account of our times and those of the 17th century (covering the current pandemic, COVID 19).

Cast of 30 – easily adjusted up or down, Duration – around 20 minutes

Sample Text

Speaker 1:           Because although Mr. Pepys is going to tell us all about the Great Plague of 1665, this was not the first time it had reared its ugly head.

Speaker 2:           As early as the fourteenth century, the Black Death or Bubonic Plague, two of its other names, had been sweeping across Europe.

Speaker 3:           It killed around twenty-five million people!

Speaker 4:           That’s estimated to be between thirty and sixty per cent of the population!

Speaker 5:           The Great Plague of London killed around 100,000 people out of a population of around half a million – in August rising to 1,000 victims a day.

Speaker 6:       Unfortunately, nobody understood what caused it

Speaker 7:       And it wasn’t until 1898 that it was discovered to be

(Whole cast suddenly starts itching furiously)

Narrator:             (Itching) Fleas?

Speaker 8:           From black rats.

Whole Cast:        Ugh!

Narrator:             But surely the doctors at the time had some idea?

(Enter hooded doctors, mumbling behind masks)

Narrator:             (To doctors) Er, would you mind removing those masks as we can’t understand a word you’re saying!

(Doctors remove masks)

Doctor 1:             (Looking around wearily) Well, if you’re sure its safe to do so!

(Narrator takes one of the masks and looks down the ‘beak’, sniffing)

Narrator:             Oh my! Whatever is stuffed into this beak?

Doctor 2:             It’s full of herbs and spices that protected us from the plague.

Narrator:             (Sarcastically) Oh really?

Doctor 3:             Oh yes. You see, we believed the plague was like a poisonous gas.

Doctor 4:             Which is why we lit all those bonfires. To make the air clean!

Narrator:             (Shaking his head) Seriously? Er, maybe time to put your masks back on again!

Also available from www.plays-r-ussell.com Free Lockdown script, charting the early history of COVID 19.