A Bit O' Love

In a sun‑drenched West English village, the play opens on Ascension Day inside the modest Burlcombe farmhouse. The scene is filled with the quiet ritual of morning: a young clergyman, Michael Strangway, plays a flute while a framed portrait watches over him, and a handful of village girls—quiet Ivy, outspoken Gladys, thoughtful Connie, and fair‑eyed Mercy—drift in with prayer books and wildflowers. Their simple greetings mask an undercurrent of restless curiosity that the audience feels immediately.

Strangway, a slender thirty‑five‑year‑old minister, launches a probing discussion about the nature of love, insisting that true love must exist for its own sake, not for reward. As the girls listen, his earnest, almost sermon‑like lecture becomes a mirror for their own doubts and desires, hinting at hidden tensions among the close‑knit community. The first act sets up a delicate balance between pastoral calm and the restless stirrings of youthful hearts, promising a thoughtful drama about faith, affection, and the choices that bind a small village together.