A ONE - SCENE PLAY
Characters in order of appearance:
SOREL - Witch #1 in Red
MIREILLE - Witch #2 in Green
AGATHE - Witch #3 in Blue
THE BOY - Young human
***
Three witches walk into an alley, cloaked in red, green and blue. Evening. The streets are empty. Emmanuel rings in the distance, the bell signals the arrival of people at the cathedral. The witches shuffle into the alley and make an immediate stop when noticing an unconscious boy, drenched. Halting at what some might consider a safe distance from the then strange humans, the witches lean slightly forward, hats pointing towards him.
SOREL: It smells funny.
MIREILLE: Hm, how quaint.
AGATHE: I don’t like humans.
MIREILLE: Yes, you’ve mentioned that.
They glance over their shoulders for wandering humans or guards that patrol the dead streets. Seeing none, they take three cautious steps closer. The boy looks pale.
SOREL: My, my.
MIREILLE: I daresay he had a nice family.
SOREL (horrified): Do not speak of such horrors in front of the dead thing.
AGATHE: He isn’t dead. Look, air coming out of his nose!
SOREL: It isn’t supposed to be here. Notre-Dam is open today.
The witches nod and stare into the distance.
SOREL: Well, we step over it and leave it for the guards.
MIREILLE: We can’t do that, let’s take him to the cottage.
SOREL: Outrageous! I call for a revolt.
MIREILLE (firm): We should take him.
AGATHE narrows her eyes, clutching the straw basket with herbs, her head starts to become red. SOREL gestures to her.
MIREILLE (sighs): Out with it. Your head is bursting with something that’s brewing in there.
AGATHE: We haul him south. Leave him for the nomads.
MIREILLE: The nomads, yes, the nomads. That is a better thought. Excellent.
SOREL: I say we boil it along with the potatoes. That makes a vile mess. A delicious one, too.
MIREILLE: We are not boiling him with the potatoes.
SOREL: You’re right. Potatoes apart and the thing in the cauldron, with thyme, rosemary--
MIREILLE: No! NO boiling. At. All.
AGATHE (pouts): I was kind of looking forward to that.
SOREL: You? You don’t have the guts.
AGATHE: I have guts!
SOREL: As scared as the little leaf over there.
AGATHE: Excuse me?
SOREL: You are excused.
SOREL brushes invisible dust off her shoulder. AGATHE gasps. She puts a hand on her chest as if deeply offended.
MIREILLE: Witches, compose yourselves. I think he’s waking.
THE BOY wakes up, coughing violently. He tries to sit up.
SOREL: It lives!
AGATHE smacks THE BOY on the head with the basket. He falls unconscious again.
MIREILLE (scoffs in disbelief): Agathe! What even was that?
AGATHE: I’m sorry, I panicked!
MIREILLE: Terrific, now we have to wait until he wakes up again.
THE END.
Points:
Time spent:
Canary word: Present
Possible AI signals:
Original Text:
Are you sure you want to delete this comment? This cannot be undone.
Mark this comment as a review? Points will be awarded to the poster.
Your comment was posted, but it wasn’t long enough to count as a review. Reviews need about four complete sentences (at least 250 characters). Try writing another review that explains your thoughts in more detail — the author will appreciate it, and you’ll earn points for it.
125,020 Literary Works • 672,734 Reviews
This story was supposed to be humor, and it certainly gave me a chuckle. The three witches' kind of remind me of that old Halloween movie from Disney that has three witches in it who are kind of kooky (I can't remember the name of it).
''SOREL: My, my.
MIREILLE: I daresay he had a nice family.
SOREL (horrified): Do not speak of such horrors in front of the dead thing.''
I wouldn't be surprised if the boy was pretending to be dead. And if they called me, dead thing? I would have a fit I daresay.
''MIREILLE (sighs): Out with it. Your head is bursting with something that’s brewing in there.
AGATHE: We haul him south. Leave him for the nomads.
MIREILLE: The nomads, yes, the nomads. That is a better thought. Excellent.
SOREL: I say we boil it along with the potatoes. That makes a vile mess. A delicious one, too.
MIREILLE: We are not boiling him with the potatoes.
SOREL: You’re right. Potatoes apart and the thing in the cauldron, with thyme, rosemary--
MIREILLE: No! NO boiling. At. All.''
Sorel has to be one of my favorites out of all the witches. She's so funny, when she said she'll boil him.
''MIREILLE: Witches, compose yourselves. I think he’s waking.
THE BOY wakes up, coughing violently. He tries to sit up.
SOREL: It lives!
AGATHE smacks THE BOY on the head with the basket. He falls unconscious again.
MIREILLE (scoffs in disbelief): Agathe! What even was that?
AGATHE: I’m sorry, I panicked!''
No hate to Agathe, I would have done the same thing.
I hope you make this into a story because the characters are good, the plot is good, and the overall feeling of this story was hilarious!
Hi Roxanne,
I absolutely loved this script. For such a short piece, it grabbed my attention right away and kept me engaged through every line. The humor landed perfectly, and each of the witches came across with a strong personality that made their dialogue fun to follow.
Sorel especially stood out to me. Her dramatic reactions and chaotic suggestions made me laugh more than once — lines like “Outrageous! I call for a revolt” or her obsession with boiling the boy were hilarious and gave her a lot of charm. Mireille came across as the one trying to keep some control over the group, which made her exasperation funny in its own way. Agathe’s mix of innocence and sudden bursts of energy, like smacking the boy on the head, also added to the comedy. Together, their back-and-forth made the script feel lively and full of personality.
The pacing was excellent, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. The scene moved quickly enough to feel sharp and witty, but still gave enough space for the jokes to land. The moment where the boy wakes up only to be knocked out again was timed perfectly!
I also really liked the blend of darker humor with silly, almost childlike banter. The idea of boiling the boy with potatoes sounds grim on paper, but the way the characters argue over it makes it ridiculous and funny instead. That balance between eerie imagery and playful delivery is what gave the script its unique flavor.
Hi! This is spectacular. It's really funny, and I loved the conversations between the 3 witches. The way the interacted was hilarious. I always love when characters that work together still argue and bicker, because it's always funny, and the way you've done this is brilliant. I loved how one of them would say something, and one of the others would agree, and the other would disagree. It's a beautiful and fun dynamic. I keep trying to write my own play, and I haven't even started the first scene yet, so well done! This play is wonderfully written. Keep up your incredible work!