Stage Plays by Ian Hornby
Voices
Thriller - single set - 4m 5f
Synopsis
Melanie arrives home from hospital after a car accident in which she was badly injured. Her plastic surgeon husband has done an amazing repair job to her facial injuries, but nobody can heal the mental anguish. Soon she begins to hear the haunting and menacing voices of two teenagers who were killed in the accident, and her marriage and job - indeed her very sanity - are threatened. Things get worse when government inspectors arrive unexpectedly at Melanie's high-tech electronics company and the board threaten to have her removed. Even her company's main rival has found out something is wrong. Her family, friends and colleagues - even those she trusts - never hear the voices, so Melanie must be going insane... or is there another explanation?
With slight alteration the lead role of Melanie could effectively be played by a disabled actress.
| Character | Lines |
| Melanie businesswoman |
539 |
| Richard Melanie's husband |
174 |
| Chris electronics genius |
40 |
| Barbara Melanie's mother |
231 |
| Gemma Melanie's friend |
93 |
| Helen company solicitor |
22 |
| Dorothy older woman |
17 |
| Philip Dorothy's husband |
17 |
| Tony offstage voice only, young |
30 |
| Amanda offstage voice only, young |
32 |
| Franz i |
135 |
Author's
notes
This play was inspired by my one-time profession, as an electronic engineer, and how miniature electronics could intrude on our lives in the most evil of ways.
It's set around the world of big business (though the set is a normal house) and is my only thriller where the crimes do no involve a murder. Nearly all the characters are an evil bunch, too, with poor "tea-is-the-answer-to-all-ills" mum providing a little lightness.
Perhaps unusually for my thrillers, nobody gets bumped off!