Down the Line

by Cally Phillips

Down the Line is an updated version of Barrie’s classic play ‘The Admirable Crichton’ written for and first performed at the 100th Anniversary Celebration in 2002. In a world where Butlers have become bodyguards and lady’s maids are personal assistants, and where celebrity has replaced money as the criteria for ‘aristocracy’ we are asked to consider how much has really changed. Caroline Carter, pop princess, is about to announce her engagement to her footballer boyfriend. Leaving Steve behind for a match, she sets off in advance to prepare for their engagement party on a yacht. She takes her father, sister, PA, bodyguard, best man and a photographer along with her. When their boat is shipwrecked on a desert island, their carefully developed social hierarchy begins to disintegrate as survival becomes a question of knowledge and skill rather than of money and power. As romance begins to blossom, is it true that ‘what’s natural is right?’ Down the Line stays true to the original in its intent but updates the characters and their island experience, throwing them into an alien environment, distant from the ephemera essential to gratifying their sense of importance in our celebrity obsessed culture. This updated comedy of manners and class poses interesting social questions, much as the original play did in 1902. Please note there is also an omnibus edition with the text of The Admirable Crichton available but this edition is ONLY the text of Down the Line.

62 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 26, 2012

About the author

My writing career has 'downshifted' from screen to stage to page over 20 years. And now it focuses on digital. I'm in the process of publishing my back catalogue of stage plays as well as working on novels and 'advocacy' pieces. I write short stories regularly for McStorytellers, I have been editor of the Indie eBook Review and now review for Reading Between the Lines. I'm director of the Edinburgh eBook Festival and if that's not enough I'm working for a couple of Publishers - HoAmPresst, Guerrilla Midgie and Ayton Press, all of them with different niches. Spare time - hobbies? You've got to be joking. Between reading, writing and publishing there is no spare time. And I wouldn't have it any other way.