"The Eckersley Rising"

"The Eckersley Rising" Northern Henpecking Comedy by Tony Breeze 4f + 4m + I teenager (doubling) or 8f + 7m (Singly) ISBN 1-872758-02-9 £7.00 each   Royalties £50pp    
Walter Midgley is an inoffensive little clerk working in a building firm for an arrogant councilor.  He is put upon by both his boss and his wife until one day he decides to give up work and build a chicken shed in his tiny back yard.  Having built the shed he moves his amateur radio gear in alongside his chickens and for a while all goes well.  However one night for some reason Walter receives a signal on his aerial that appears to be coming from a planet in outer space.  He sends a copy of the signal to London but locally he is made the laughing stock of the neighbourhood.  Only then does he decide to reply himself to the signal by sending up his own home-made rocket powered by the methane gas from his chicken manure! The day comes for the big launch with all the usual media attention but the rocket refuses to budge until later that night when all is quiet and his wife is searching for him in the darkness of the rocket.   First performed by Burton Joyce Players, Nottingham on 27th April 2006