The Interval

by Vincent OSullivan

Genre: Drama
Setting:
Format of Original Source: Short Story
Recommended Adaptation Length: Two Hours

Candidate for Adaptation? Promising

EXCERPT:

The church was old and dim, with high black pews. There was nobody there. Mrs. Wilton sat down in one of the pews and bent forward with her face in her hands.

After a few minutes she saw that a soldier had come in noiselessly and placed himself about half-a-dozen rows ahead of her. He never turned round; but presently she was struck by something familiar in the figure. First she thought vaguely that the soldier looked like her Hugh. Then, when he put up his hand, she saw who it was.

She hurried out of the pew and ran towards him. “Oh, Hugh, Hugh, have you come back?”

He looked round with a smile. He had not been killed. It was all a mistake. He was going to speak….

COMMENTS:

Mrs. Wilton is desperate to know that her husband, who was killed in the war, has not forgotten her in death. She seeks out spiritualists, and begins to see her beloved husband in all the places they used to go together. She calls out to him, but he never speaks to her. He is there to guide her to her own death. “The Interval” could make a really nice mysterious and romantic musical, but you’ll probably want to open it up a bit. Although it contains cliches (the husband appearing as a harbinger of death), the tone is very wistful and sad. If one could find a fresh approach to thiscliche, there are enough minor characters that could be fleshed out to make this a full length show. Promising, if old-fashioned.

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