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A Matter of Life and Death

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Overview

Synopsis

A mistake occurs in The Place You Go After You Die, and the airman Peter Carter lives when he shouldn’t. This makes matters a bit complicated, as Peter meets a girl and falls in love in the few extra hours of life that he’s given. When asked to die a day later, Peter argues that because of someone else’s mistake, “I am now in love. I’m in an entirely different position from last night. I expected to die, I was ready to die. It’s not my fault that I didn’t.” In order to live, “Peter is forced to take himself, and the heavenly authorities, to the Universal Court of Appeal” where life and death, and the choices made in regards to them, are debated and deliberated.

In the end, as A Matter of Life and Death has two endings (one in which he lives, and one in which he dies), Peter Carter’s fate is literally decided by the toss of a coin.

Show Information

Category
Play
Age Guidance
Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
Number of Acts
1
First Produced
2007
Genres
Drama, Romance
Settings
Multiple Settings
Time & Place
on earth - great britain 1945, between life and death - in the other world
Cast Size
large
Orchestra Size
Small
Dancing
Optional
Ideal For
professional theatre, university theatre, high school theatre, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Young Adult, Adult, Child, Early Teen, Late Teen, Mature Adult Characters, Large Cast

Characters

Showing 8 of 20 characters

Character Portrayals

See StageAgent members who have performed roles in A Matter of Life and Death.

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