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My Plays
Aunty Carol's Disgusting Crumb
Synopsis:
Aunty Carol is an obsessed cleaner. Tess, her sister, feels undermined. Tess tasks her husband, Al, and their kids with stopping her from tidying when she is at work. Al places a crumb on the carpet which Aunty Carol cannot remove till her sister comes home at 6 p.m. Surreally, the crumb gets progressively bigger. Peculiarly, the cleaning utensils get smaller. Time fluctuates strangely. Sound oscillates abnormally. The family trick Aunty Carol into thinking they are eating flies and cockroaches via surreptitiously planted currants and dates. Brad's only line is: "I can't, I'm having a pooh", as he struggles with cannabis-induced constipation. Further surreal events occur till Tess comes home. The revelation is an exposure of a worrying danger to children of the passive smoking of cannabis. Contrasting with the surreal humour, the acute reality drama explores the legalising of cannabis when Aunty Carol's youngest niece suffers a respiratory arrest from the effects of eating a cannabis brownie. The attending paramedic creates conflict between Aunty Carol and her sister and brother-in-law by expounding on the risks of passive smoking and the implications of legalising social cannabis use as they attempt to save the life of her niece.
Number of Characters: 6
Minimum Number of Actors Required: 6
Length (in Pages): 53
Location: Working class flat.
Key Words: Comedy. Surreal comedy. Surreal story. Drug legalisation. Obsessive Cleaning. Absurdist. Absurdist Narrative.
Has the Play Been Produced? Yes
Are the Rights Available? Yes
Has the Play Been Published? No
Award nominations/wins: Best Comedy and Directors' Choice at the Weird and Wonderful Festival, Liverpool.
Reviews:
Disappointingly, the reviewer was unable to attend the performance. However, an AI search conjured up audience comments from, I'm guessing, Facebook:
A great watch with brilliant performances.
Audience members describe it as a "surreal absurdist play" that balances a seemingly playful exterior with a deeply unsettling undercurrent.
The creative teams and audience members note the clever, evolving use of physical props—including the central, growing "crumb" itself—to manifest the psychological breakdown on stage.
High regard was shown for how it slowly unmasks a deeply dysfunctional family system under the guise of an ordinary domestic setting.
