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Mother Seacole

British soldiers are transported from Jamaica to fight in the Crimean War. From her own resources, a Scottish Jamaican lady provides home comforts and medical assistance to her boys in Crimea and becomes a British heroine.

Synopsis

The script includes starring Roles for Queen Latifah type, a rugged 40-year-old man. The script is an action-adventure, historical, biographical piece in the tradition of movies such as “Charge of the Light Brigade,” “Lady With the Lamp,” “Florence Nightingale.”

Mother Seacole always had this desire to be accepted for her medical skill and knowledge in the herbal medicine her mother taught her in Jamaica but, it was difficult. When the British soldiers from the British 97th were transported from Jamaica to fight in the Crimean War, she saw her chance to provide home comforts and medicall assistance to “her boys.”

She puts her plan in motion by sailing from Panama to London when she learns that Florence Nightingale has been authorized to select and provide nurses for the troops. She makes the rounds of the war office, quartermaster-general, and medical department where she is rejected, she expects, because of the color of her skin.

Determined, she devises a plan to use her own finances to create a restaurant and store on the Crimean peninsula with the help of Thomas Day, her old companion from Panama. She sails to Constantinople where she visits Florence Nightingale at Scutari. Again, there is no offer of a position as a nurse.

Determined more than ever, she sails to Balaklava and sets her plan in motion. Despite a lack of warehouses for her stores and nightly thievery from the locals, she succeeds in building her British Hotel and survives the battles waged around her. She provides comfort and medical assistance to her soldiers who suffer diarrhea, dysentery, and other camp maladies.

She is ruined by the peace which others welcomed. Her shelves contained a large stock of stores, laid in at great cost, and there was no one to purchase them. Back in England at last, she was forced to file for bankruptcy. Lords and ladies came to her rescue and created a grand military festival, attended by thousands, to establish a fund for her benefit.

For the remainder of her life, Mrs. Seacole is remembered as one who nursed the sick, gave aid to the wounded, and performed the last offices to many of the dead soldiers. She felt pride and pleasure in chance meetings with friends in omnibuses, in river steamboats, in places of public amusement where race and gender no longer played a part.

Script Excerpt

Written by:

Patrick Harrison

Contact Author

Format:

Screenplay

Genres:

Drama Action-Adventure Historical

Budget:

Mid

Starring Roles For:

Queen Latifah Type
A young Benicio Del Toro Type
40-Year Old Man

In the Vein Of:

Charge of the Light Brigade
Lady with the Lamp
Florence Nightingale

Posted:

03/15/2016

Updated:

01/03/2026

Author Bio:

THEATRE TRAINING: Shakespeare classes with William Ball & improvisation classes with Joan Darling, Circle-in-The-Square, New York City; playwriting seminar with Edward Albee, the University of Houston where I directed an original play working with student playwright; BA, MA, MFA degrees in theatre, work on screenwriting. TELEVISION FILM – ACTING: Beulah Land Benjamin Davis Warner Bros. Mini-series, CBS The Mississippi James Satterfield CBS weekly series, The Mississippi The Mississippi Dr.

THEATRE – ACTING Pelleas and Melisande Pelleas Roundabout Theatre, NYC Hamlet Laertes Alley Theatre, Houston, Tx. Majority of One Houseboy “ “ Garden Spot, USA Boy “ “ Auntie Mame J. Lindsay Woolsay Rivoli Theatre, Houston, Tx. Blood, Sweat & Stanley Poole Captain Malcolm Erie Playhouse, Pa. Richard III George, Duke of Clarence Shakespeare Society, Houston, Tx. Unto These Hills Andrew Jackson Unto These Hills, Cherokee, Nc. Merchant of Venice Duke of Venice Stephen F. Austin State University Lion in Winter Henry II Little Theatre, Jackson, Ms. Out Town Editor Webb New Stage Theatre, Jackson, Ms. The Little Foxes Ben Hubbard “ “ What the Butler Saw Dr. Prentice “ “ Thieves Carnival Lord Edgard “ “ Boy Meets Girl Rosetti “ “ How the Other Half Loves Frank Foster “ “ As You Like It Jacques University of Houston, Tx. The Country Girl Bernie Dodd “ “ Time Limit Colonel Edwards “ “ The Matchmaker Cornelius Hackl “ “ All My Sons Chris Keller “ “ The Petrified Forest Alan Squire “ “ The Devil’s Disciple General Burgoyne “ “ Hamlet Hamlet “ “ Richard III George, Duke of Clarence “ “ Much Ado About Nothing Benedict “ “ Summer and Smoke John “ “ The Scarecrow Squire Richard Talbot “ “ Look Back in Anger Colonel Redfern “ “ Playboy of the Western World Christy Mahon “ “

THEATRE - PLAYWRITING: (Member of Dramatists Guild) Original plays: Shooks; Family Tradition; Last Meeting of Davis and Lincoln.

SCREENWRITING: The Odyssey of John Buchanan; Mother Seacole.

THEATRE – DIRECTING: Bus Stop, Canton, Ms., Community Players; The Chairs and Orpheus Descending, University of Houston, Tx.; Oklahoma, Houston, Tx.; Life With Father, A.D. Players Theatre, Houston, Tx.; Luv, Any Wednesday, The Subject was Roses and The Glass Menagerie, Dinner Theatre, Jackson, Ms. (where I designed, built, painted the sets, set the lights, secured the publicity, cast, and directed the shows.)

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Mother Seacole

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