It is good to have an established playwright finding fresh ways to explore ancient truths.
Richard Everett’s sketches are like a big floppy hat. Funny, strangely stylish and very easy to put on.
…Including Mission Accomplished, the sketch that made Prince William and Kate and the Middleton family rock with laughter on Christmas morning!
A collection of 30 seasonal sketches designed to work like mini radio plays, Sound Bites covers Christmas, New year, Lent and Easter, Mothering Sunday, Father’s Day and other occasions.
Listen to some extracts from the book…
Award-winning recordings below are performed by RE and Michele de Casanove,
produced by Emily Jeffery and first broadcast on BBC Surrey & Sussex.
Christmas
A senior angel is in meltdown as a junior angel reports back explaining that the Bethlehem Hilton was booked.
The Christmas tree fairy (who used to be action man until someone stuck a tutu on him) wants to know why they are there what they’re all doing dangling off a tree.
Jethro the shepherd wakes his wife in the night and persuades her to come and see a baby. She’s not convinced and reckons he’s been at ‘the sauce’ again.
The Bethlehem Star tells its own story of how it discovered that not all is not what you see, and how it learned the meaning of humility.
After 2,000 years Mary and Joseph are still looking for somewhere to stay and people are still finding reasons to turn them away.
Mrs Fickle wants her usual groceries plus half a pound of New Year’s Resolutions but Mrs Grovel, the shopkeeper, doesn’t recommend them: “They don’t keep and you can’t freeze them,” she says, and all she’s got left is a dusty old offer by ‘God & Son PLC’.
Easter
Jethro is in trouble when his wife, Miriam, discovers he has let a couple of total strangers steal their precious donkey ‘Caesar’ and some lunatic is now joy-riding it round the town.
A Roman soldier on duty at execution hill has a strange encounter while fishing on his day off a week later.
The Priest, The Guard & the Empty Tomb
Based on a few verses in Matthew, a guard explains to a Chief Priest that ‘a situation’ has developed at the dead Galilean’s tomb. The irritated Priest offers him a bribe to keep his mouth shut until it all blows over.
The Lent Inspector
An official from a government dept called the KGB (Keeping God in a Box) calls to collect a woman’s completed WIGUL Form (What I’m Giving Up for Lent) – i.e. 10 things without which she will be absolutely miserable until Easter.
Creation, Other occasions, and Further thoughts
The dawn of time, the Archangel fields questions from the heavenly host on who or what this new creation is for, why ‘They’ have gone to all this trouble to make it, and what happens if it all goes wrong.
When a son arrives at his mother’s house with flowers on Mothering Sunday he is greeted at the door by someone he doesn’t recognise and who insists she is God.
Two examples from the meditations and monologues adaptable for more than one voice.
Meanwhile, since the book was published I have not been idle!
More Sound Bites!
7 new sketches and 2 meditations ..
Branding Jesus
Two pushy advertising execs pitch a PR campaign to Jesus to help him improve his profile.
Basil in Bethlehem
Basil the innkeeper rants at his wife Sybil for having let a single mother and her dad, together with a bunch of shepherds, into his precious hotel.
The Ox and The Ass
A disgruntled Ox complains to a tired donkey about a family of refugees that has taken up residence in his front room and a child asleep in his food trough.
In Conversation with a Turkey
A pheasant discusses the meaning of Christmas with a turkey who seems tragically unaware of the catering arrangements.
Life After Birth
Twins in the womb discussing whether there might be anything beyond 9 months and the amniotic fluid (Watch here on the home page!).
The Baptism
Two babies discuss what this odd thing called ‘baptism’ is about, and if the water will have bubbles, and how God was when they chatted with him that morning.
Arriving Home
A guest in a hotel room is puzzled to find that all his ‘baggage’ has been thrown out in reception, the view from his room is strangely familiar and he is to be guest of honour at a banquet that evening.
Son Rise
A meditation in verse for Easter morning.
Remembering
A meditation in verse for Remembrance Sunday.
Here’s what to do next..
For £25 you will receive the scripts and a performance licence. To purchase click here. As soon as Paypal notifies me (usually instantly) I will email the scripts to you in PDF form. Your Paypal receipt will act as your licence.
If any of that sounds too complicated, inconvenient, or you have further questions
– click here and we will sort something out!
Richard discusses his work, his faith and Sound Bites…
“A script is just a pile of words waiting to become something more, so to have your work performed is always a thrill. To have your work published is a rewarding bonus and privilege.” - RE
An anthology of seasonal sketches and meditations ready to perform in a matter of minutes.
“Poignant and funny … I am sure Sound Bites will reach and touch a wide audience of readers, performers and audiences alike.”
Dr. Rowan Williams
(Former Archbishop of Canterbury)
“Richard Everett’s sketches are skewers through the pomposity of religion, that can also provide a well marinated kebab for the soul.”
Milton Jones, comedian
(TV’s ‘Mock The Week’)
Stage play. Full length comedy drama.
Set in a clergy household, the play opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2006 starring Penelope Keith where it played to a record-breaking 26,000 people in 3 weeks. It now has over 100 productions to its credit.
“Richard Everett has written a warm, glowing, serious comedy, like an Ayckbourn play finished by JM Barrie.”
The Sunday Times
Find out moreStage play. Drama. One act – 60 minutes.
Maddie has something important to confess to her husband David, but David is not in the mood to listen. Her desperate attempts to get his attention initially fail and when she finally gets through to him and makes her confession, David’s reaction is both unexpected and extreme. It is not what Maddie had anticipated or hoped for and as David’s response becomes increasingly more bizarre, what unfolds is an evening that neither of them had expected.
“This darkly comedic and beautifully observed study of infidelity probes a marriage in crisis with touching insight and wit.”
Find out more
Stage play. Full length comedy drama.
Frances, Howard and Rachel have always believed that their father, David, died in a boating accident when they were children … but he didn’t. When the three siblings gather to clear out the house of their recently deceased mother, several long-hidden secrets are revealed, but none of the skeletons to fall from their collective closets is more tangible or more shocking than David, who arrives with the news that the house is, in fact, now his.
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Stage play. Full length comedy drama.
Gerry believes his twenty three year marriage is fine. Kate, his wife, feels differently – their lives have been a series of distractions, first home, children, second home etc, but now the children are going, Kate feels useless and wonders if it all hasn’t been a terrible mistake.
Returning home after a disastrous and abandoned visit to the theatre, hi-jacked by Gerry’s lively mother, Mary, Gerry and Kate attempt to salvage the evening at a local restaurant – but it just makes a bad evening out into a worse one. Daughter Louise and her boyfriend Julian are key players in this comedy of marital mishap and mid-life crisis, as are Mary and her beau, Roy. However, the end of this amusing and highly perceptive play finds Gerry and Kate caught on the sofa for all the world themselves like mischievous teenagers.
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Stage play. Full length comedy drama.
Set in the financially heady days of the 1980’s Angus returns home to convalesce after a heart attack brought on, wife Connie believes, by City job stress but he finds a less than peaceful household awaiting him. Sid and Gary, the builders, are endeavouring to finish the kitchen extension, son Philip is permanently on the phone dealing shares and sniffing coke, and Angus’ inept brother Roger and long-suffering wife Gwen, keep turning up with their never-ending financial problems. For Angus, going back to work suddenly seems a better way to re-cuperate, much to Connie’s frustration whose valiant attempts to get him to relax make Angus even more stressed.
Publisher’s note: ” This sharply observed study of contemporary mores has enjoyed a number of successful productions in the UK and abroad. Unusually, the author offers an alternative lighter ending for companies finding the original ending too dark.”
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Stage play. Full length comedy/farce.
A pregnant wife is loath to inform her husband in case it jeopardises his career. Telling the neighbours, however, does not help…
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"Writing for the stage is the most exciting discipline and where I am most at home. It's live, it's risky and it's challenging. Attending rehearsal is such a privilege, not in order to protect my work but to find out what I've written - good actors will show me what my play is about." - RE
Comedy drama. Full length.
Set in a clergy household, the play opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2006 starring Penelope Keith where it played to a record-breaking 26,000 people in 3 weeks. It now has over 100 productions to its credit.
“Richard Everett has written a warm, glowing, serious comedy, like an Ayckbourn play finished by JM Barrie.”
The Sunday Times
Find out more ... and see if there's a production of the play near you!
Drama. Full length.
First produced at Zimmertheater, Heidelberg 2010.
“A thrilling, stirring and wise play about mourning, guilt, and responsibility.”
“This is a profoundly psychological and human play.”
RHEIN-NECKAR-ZEITUNG
Find out moreDrama. One act – 60 minutes.
Maddie has something important to confess to her husband David, but David is not in the mood to listen. Her desperate attempts to get his attention initially fail and when she finally gets through to him and makes her confession, David’s reaction is both unexpected and extreme. It is not what Maddie had anticipated or hoped for and as David’s response becomes increasingly more bizarre, what unfolds is an evening that neither of them had expected.
“This darkly comedic and beautifully observed study of infidelity probes a marriage in crisis with touching insight and wit.”
Find out more
Comedy. Full length.
“Richard Everett’s comedy of manners .. is beautifully written and performed. Everett’s skill as a writer has succeeded in making all the characters sympathetic .. it is a testimony to good writing that by the end of the play we care about the outcome of every one of them”
The Scotsman
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Comedy. Full length.
“With a touch of Ayckbourn’s black humour, it made you think, made you laugh and left me wanting to read everything ever written by Everett”
Wokingham Times
Family comedy drama.
Published by Samuel French
First produced as ‘Hindsight’ at the Watermill Theatre Newbury. Later national UK tour. Now regularly performed by amateur companies.
Find out more
Comedy drama. Full length.
Published by Samuel French
First produced Theatre Royal Windsor and toured. Later produced at The Watermill Theatre, Newbury and The Contra Kreis Theater in Bonn, Germany. Regularly performed by amateur companies.
Find out moreComedy drama. Full length.
Published by Samuel French
First produced Theatre Royal Windsor. Later enjoyed a 3 month run at the main comedy house Theater Am Kurfurstendamm, Berlin. Regularly performed by amateur companies.
Find out moreComedy/farce. Full length.
First produced Theatre Royal Windsor. Later The Royal Theatre, Northampton and national UK tour. Also Theater am Dom in Koln, Germany. Regularly performed by amateur companies.
Find out moreComedy. Full length.
A traditional English wedding complete with marquee, dysfunctional relatives, and family secrets revealed in the ladies portaloos provide the setting for this contemporary comedy.
Currently looking for a home – script available on request.
Find out morePotentially witty strapline
Find out more“Richard Everett has written a warm, glowing, serious comedy, like an Ayckbourn play finished by JM Barrie.”
The Sunday Times
Find out more… It explores what happens when ‘blame’ has more to do with the ‘accountability’ of all the characters after a tragic accident … It was a perfect evening with a deeply appreciative audience
Manhnheimer Morgen
"Writing for animation is such a blast. Even for pre-school audiences where most of my work has been, it requires all the skills and obeys all the rules of screenwriting and storytelling, but in microcosm. Also, children are wonderfully savage critics, they don’t do ‘polite’ - if it’s not funny they leave the room!" - RE
30 minute feature film using wonderful ‘stop motion’ animation by a Russian studio, tells the story of Joseph from the Bible. It was commissioned by BBC Wales as part of the Bible in Animation Series for BBC TV and nominated for a BAFTA award.
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26 x 5 min episodes of 3D animation featuring a garage of eight chatty and colourful buses. Narrated by Brian Conley and aired on The Children’s Channel and Tiny Living.
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26 x 5 minutes episodes adapted from Roger Hargreaves’ wonderfully crazy series of books. Narrated by Ronnie Corbett and produced by Terry Ward and repeatedly shown in CITV & CBBC.
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16 x 10 minute episodes created and written for Dorling Kindersley, and aired by Channel 4 and Channel 5.
Nothing makes small children laugh more than adults getting it wrong. This is a series about two bumbling construction workers who are permanently in a mess, and a little girl, Daisy, who is forever having to rescue them. Directed by Terry Ward and narrated by George Layton.
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15 x 10 minute episodes aired by ITV and featuring the voices of Lulu and Tony Robinson, it follows the loveable circus elephant through her adventures as she makes her way back to the jungle.
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A 30 minute film featuring a host of the famous characters. Jack gives his Christmas letter for Santa to Mr Forgetful to post. Oh dear! Narrated by Geoffrey Palmer and hugely popular on screen and DVD.
Find out more"Movies are marathons and writing a screenplay has become a contemporary science, but whatever the audience or size of project I find it's always about the simple art of storytelling - which I often find elusively difficult." - RE
Feature film telling the true story of two army dentists who in 1942 decided to invade occupied France on their own.
Starring Kenneth Cranham, Leo Bill, Derek Jacobi, Phyllida Law, James Fleet. Directed by John Henderson.
“Utterly delightful film… rarely seen since the great Ealing days”
Simon Rose, BBC Radio
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Twins in the womb considering whether there might be something beyond the amniotic fluid. A Jerusalem Trust Award finalist in 2015.
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An official from a government department called the KGB (Keeping God in his Box) collecting WIGUL forms (What I’m Giving Up For Lent) from the unsuspecting public.
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A confused Roman soldier tries to explain to an impatient Chief Priest that a bit of a ‘situation’ has developed at the dead Galilean’s tomb he was asked to guard.
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30 minute feature made by a Russian studio in ‘stop frame’ animation telling the story of Joseph from the Old Testament. BAFTA nominated.
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“Jack’s Christmas Letter” a 30 minute adventure featuring a host of the famous Mr Men and Little Miss characters.
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Written in 2000, Under the Black Flag is an action-packed animated tale of friendship, pirates, Spanish galleons and lost treasures.
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Based on a workshop with the L’Arche Community of adults with additional needs exploring ‘what does it mean to be important?’ – like James Bond or the Queen!
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Based on another workshop with the L’Arche Community exploring images from the Sermon on the Mount.
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