Rinsed in Blood: The Merthyr Murders

By Des Sousa

Gingerlocks is often goaded about her war hero ancestors, how she should rub out her enemies. But all she wanted to do, ever since she was a little girl, was style hair.
Her dream began the first time she went to Hair is Everything Salon, when the Boss promised Gingerlocks that she could own the place one day. Ten years later she started work at Hair is Everything, and twenty years later, just as Gingerlocks thought she could buy the place, she got fired.
With nowhere to go, she finally became the assassin that others joked she should be. One murder covers up another, until finally, one day, Gingerlocks owns the Salon. Are any of her clients, friends or coworkers safe?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Des Sousa
• Release date: Feb 25, 2022
• ISBN: 9780463271469

Des Sousa

As a child, Des Sousa skipped the "about the author" pages and went straight to the stories. I suggest you do the same. But, curious minds are welcome to read along, if you like. More detailed snippets about his life are covered in the "about the author" pages of Sousa's books.Des Sousa loved to watch films from a young age and spent many years as an independent filmmaker. Sousa used to walk into a festival not knowing what it was, just because a film was there. Sousa heard filmmakers of all kinds, from political to artistic to purely commercial, tell about how they made their movies. Hearing these stories inspired "The Slimebag Project."Sousa lived in five countries. The first two may appear in later plays. The third, and strangest, was the United Kingdom.Des Sousa's first job in the UK was trainee hairdresser. No, things were not as violent as they are in "Rinsed In Blood", but the clients liked to gossip and the friendly atmosphere inspired the character interaction. Unfortunately, he left that job due to an illness. (What illness could prevent you from cutting hair? Well, warts. No one wants to give those to customers when you wash their heads, now do they?).Sousa also tried web design for a time. And running his own companies, trying to make films, taking photos, even designing websites for clients, and getting locked in a noisy underground office, helped inform him of the world behind "Under Quiet Neath."

Book preview

Copyright page

Rinsed In Blood:

The Merthyr Murders

A play by

Des Sousa

eBook edition 1.1 - © Copyright February 2022

The opinions expressed by the characters herein may offend some, including the author and of this play. That’s how bad it is, I offended myself. The language and violence are not suitable for young audiences.

The characters of this play do not represent any person, living or dead. Even if they did, by the end of the play almost everyone is dead anyway. Any similarity between these characters and real people is pretty scary, to be honest.

This file is for your use only. If you wish to share this book with others, please purchase a copy for each recipient.

For information about performance rights, please contact the author’s representatives. Details will be listed at https://udigrudi.com when they become available.

Previously titled The Hairdresser. Copyright 1997,2017, 2021, 2022 Des Sousa. All rights reserved. Des Sousa asserts all moral rights, including the right to be known as the author of this work.

Contents

Character List

The Play

Discussion Topics

Cool Welsh Names

About the Author

(Connect and other plays)

Rinsed In Blood: The Merthyr Murders

Character List

The hair-dressers

Alice: A young hairdresser and a good friend of Gingerlocks.

Boss: The head hairdresser. Called Boss as a childhood nickname, she now coincidentally owns her own hair salon.

Gingerlocks: The nickname for the other Alice, also a hairdresser. This one, however, is more ambitious.

Younger versions of Alice and Gingerlocks (For flashbacks to ten and twenty years before the main action.) Teenage and eight-year-old Gingerlocks and Alice may be played by the same actors if casting demands it.

The clients

Janice: A middle aged woman with many friends in the area, visiting from Neath. A client at the hairdressers.

Lady Investor: a successful woman who has made some wise investments. Her real name is not revealed in the play.

Mother: The mother of Gingerlocks, who is off stage and never seen. The voice can therefore be doubled by another actor

Mother of Wilkinson: Wilkinson’s Mother. She only has one line. She may be played by one of the hairdressers or another cast member, depending on casting.

Mrs Evans: a client at the hairdressers, and a very nosy one at that.

Old Lady: A client who has a side job that we never expected.

Postie: A cranky impolite and downright offensive woman, a real joy to do her hair. But people are normally nice to Postie because they don’t want their post to get lost.

Woman: a client who is simply known as woman, or that woman. Sadly, no one refers to her by her real name, which is not revealed in this play, anyway.

Men and Boys

Dandy-Rough: the nickname for a slightly dishevelled young man who hangs out with Wilkinson and therefore sees a lot of Gingerlocks too. Not very clever.

George the dustman: a refuse disposal man. Probably the smartest man in Merthyr.

Mr Evans: the Husband of Mrs Evans. Not the smartest tool in the box.

Wilkinson: Boyfriend of Gingerlocks and best friend of Dandy Rough. Not too smart either.

Flexible cameos

Cop: a police officer. Can be male or female but should be tough looking and rather large and intimidating.

Missionary: stops by the salon to proselytise. Probably newly converted and a bad listener, otherwise this missionary would know better than to preach in business premises.

Original Title: The Hairdresser

UK Copyright 1997 Vasco Phillip de Sousa

Modified in 2017, 2021, 2022 by Vasco Phillip de Sousa

The play

‘HAIR IS EVERYTHING’ SALON – Week 1 – Today

The name of the hair salon is, Hair is Everything.

In the window, the logo: a pair of scissors about to cut some hair that hangs over a very vague face (basically a chin and the shape of a head.) Minimalist, like the decoration inside. Mirrors, chairs, sinks, an occasional kettle, and every kind of hairdressing equipment you could want.

GINGERLOCKS is very happy. She chats with her BOSS. It's closing time, but no one rushes home from their dream job.

Those two and ALICE have been preparing to go home. They are putting away dyes and scissors, washing personal effects, and generally tidying the salon.

Alice finally leaves.

Then the Boss puts on her coat.

Gingerlocks starts to sweep the floor.

As Boss leaves, we see Wilkinson, who was waiting by the door, enters.

GINGERLOCKS

I know she'll say yes. I can sense it.

WILKINSON

Yes, to what?

GINGERLOCKS

You'll find out. Now run along and play some footie while I work my magic.

WILKINSON

Whatever you say, Gingerlicious.

Boss walks back in.

Gingerlocks

I have something to ask you.

Boss puts down coat a minute.

BOSS

A day off?

Gingerlocks laughs.

Gingerlocks

No, almost the opposite. It’s something I wanted for years.

SALON-TWENTY YEARS AGO

In the exact same spots are Young Gingerlocks and Boss. Boss looks similar, with smoother skin and another hairstyle.

The clothes, walls and hair styles reveal the age. Gingerlocks is a little girl of about eight who has never been