The Last of the De Mullins: A Play Without a Preface

In the quiet Dorset village of Brendon‑Underwood, the De Mullins household gathers around an aging manor steeped in centuries of family lore. When the patriarch collapses unexpectedly, his wife, sister, and daughter scramble to hide their anxiety while the local curate, Mr Brown, drops in with nervous sympathy. Their modest, oak‑filled hall becomes a stage for whispered speculation about the cause of the stroke, the lingering power of the family’s historic mill, and the uneasy bonds that tie each member to a legacy they both cherish and resent.

The dialogue crackles with dry humor and thinly veiled tension, especially as Hester, the plain‑dressed younger sister, navigates the curate’s idle jokes about their milling ancestry. As the De Mullins try to maintain composure amid gossip and dependence on the village doctor, listeners are drawn into a portrait of a genteel family confronting a sudden frailty that threatens to upend their carefully ordered world.