This new trilogy of English plays for two, four or six actors,
was specially written by Christopher Neame for the launch
of WHAT LARKS… Featuring Catriona MacColl and Craig
Bowles, the debut performances took place in Carpentras,
Provence in February 2010.

Set in the main room and on the balcony of a modern
apartment building overlooking the old port at Cannes,
each story of Three Weeks in May has a cast of two.
These two can play the three women and three men in all
of the plays. Or Aida and Harry in La Locataire and Susan
and Mark in In Competition, while a different actor and
actress appear as Angela and Michael in Interplay.
Alternatively three men and three women can be cast in
one play apiece. There is no reason to follow this pattern
and the pot can be stirred at will.

All original material comprising Three Weeks in May© Christopher Neame 2010

‘Click’ on any of the pictures below to hear a section of the applicable scene…

Having collected a week’s rental, Harry returns to
water some plants and catches Aida half dressed

They plan a trip out for lunch together -
all part of her research into Harry(??)

In the last of three scenes, Aida reveals that she can prove Harry is in no way an accredited agent of various
owners and is actually illegally renting out their apartments during their absences solely for his own ends.

But Harry has readied himself for this and claims to have enough evidence to prove that Aida Noble (or Sharon Walters as is her real name) has, along with her sister, quite some experience as a blackmailer. The upshot is that both Harry and Aida can easily expose the other. However to avoid shooting themselves in the foot, they could form a pan Mediterranean alliance for mutual gain.

Harry and Aida seem to have a future together...

Harry’s escape from Aida’s ‘sting’ - and her ‘Plan B’

Angela finds a pair of (blue) knickers -
presumably Aida’s from the week before

INTERPLAY

During the second week in May, the apartment is being used
by the genuine owner, Sir Michael Ambler, a Harley Street
ENT specialist. He is accompanied by the elegant Angela
Roberts. Clearly they are well established friends, but
perhaps this is the start of something different in their lives.
As the play opens, Michael returns from the market with
provisions – and a cheap wedding ring he has been conned
into buying for twenty euros from an Algerian woman whose
husband, she claimed, had ditched her. Soon it is revealed
that Angela has recently come out of a long-term relationship,
and Michael’s partner died some four years earlier (an accident
is implied). Whereas Michael had assumed it was his idea to invite Angela to join him in Cannes, she confesses it was actually hers.

Angela confesses to ‘rigging’ the invitation from
Michael to join him in Cannes

Angela and Michael wait for the taxi to the
airport

Their future together is sealed when Michael makes use of the Algerian wedding ring by giving it to Angela.

A few days later, as they are about to leave for the airport, the old rot starts creeping back into their lives. She’s running late and that infuriates him and his nagging starts to irritate her.

The final straw comes when he informs her he is not going
to foot the bill for a second wedding reception. Calling him
a cheapskate, Angela refuses to return to London with him.

Adding insult to injury, she demands twenty euros and
sells him back the Algerian wedding ring.

Angela calls the whole thing off - again

The neurotic Mark Decker

IN COMPETITION

Mark Decker is at the Cannes Film Festival where ‘The Follower’, the short film he directed is ‘in competition’. Taking advantage of the expenses paid trip, he is out touting his planned new movie to financing executives. Susan Holland, the leading actress in the short, arrives at the apartment which Mark has borrowed for a couple of days from Michael Ambler (an old friend since schooldays). Mark and Susan’s relationship is warm enough – everyone likes Susan, who has or has had had two careers (actress and nurse) while also being a single mother – however Mark manages to remain ‘designer’ aloof because of his misguided assumption that he is an auteur waiting in the wings.

Mark and Susan at the Press Conference

Mark gets depressiing news from his assistant

Not only do they have an important press conference to attend, but they will both be present at the official screening, where The Follower is tipped to take the award. Though he is a neurotic and a bit liberal with his alcoholic intake, Mark remains on top. But then he hears that one of the prime movers in getting his new project off the ground has left Cannes and returned to New York. The wind is knocked out of his sails and, eschewing Susan’s more traditional remedies for his condition, he resorts to alcohol as compensation.

More bad news for Mark

Mark is in need of neat ouzo and valium

The next day is the awards day, however Mark is crumpled again by some news received by e-mail from Susan’s businessman brother that he is certain will destroy his career.

The awards ceremony

Reluctantly he attends the event and The Follower wins as
predicted. Now he makes a confession... Because she had
kept it to herself, he had only just found out that it was
Susan who had written the screenplay for The Follower,
Susan, who had arranged the funding (with the help of her
brother), and Susan who had actually picked Mark as the
director – not the other way round with him choosing her as
the actress.

Susan Holland is his boss and the film is fairly her film.

The news, which has been broken by Susan’s brother
because he wants her to be given due recognition,
has taught Mark an important lesson in humility.

The total running-time of all three plays is
around 73 to 75 minutes.

Three Weeks in May is protected by all applicable
international copyright laws.

The hug

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or amateur performances please contact

information@whatlarks.eu