It's not a whodunnit. It's a whodidntit.
Christmas at the MacTavish home in rural Scotland: a time for celebration, passive aggression, and killing off the black sheep of the family. You’d think a sibling’s demise might cast a pall over a holiday get-together. But when Dougie MacTavish turns up dead, there's little time to grieve, and not just because they all hated him. Everyone’s a suspect because everyone thinks they killed him.
On the case is a newly-promoted detective inspector who must contend with duplicitous family members, disappearing evidence, a body that won’t stay put, and an apparent murder by drowning. Or gunshot. Or fire. Or bludgeoning. Or perhaps all of the above?
Keywords: mystery, dark comedy, comedy, funny, Scotland, whodunnit, murder mystery, comic, large cast, female protagonist
WINNER, 2025 Chicago Script Awards
WINNER, 2024 London Independent Story Prize, Stage Play
FINALIST, 2024 Cambridge Script Festival, Stage Play
Genre: Mystery, Dark Comedy
Acts: 3
Run time: 90 minutes
Suitable for students 16+
Content note: DOUGIE'S LAST CHRISTMAS includes adult themes, swearing, xenophobic slurs, mention of suicide, mild same-sex intimacy, and threatening behavior. The play is written for an audience thirteen and older.
Cast size: 13 actors
Male roles: 6
Female roles: 7
Casting Breakdown:
DOUGIE MacTAVISH, 47; brother of MEREDITH, CHARLES, and DEIRDRE; murderee
ISOBEL “GRAN IZZY” BICKLE, 94; mother-in-law to MEREDITH
AINSLIE BICKLE, 20; university student, daughter of MEREDITH
JOSH PERETTI, 21; university student, American
CHARLES MacTAVISH, 45; brother of DOUGIE
NIGELLA MacTAVISH, 42; wife of CHARLES
SHONA MacTAVISH, 22; daughter of CHARLES and NIGELLA, twin of KIERAN
KIERAN MacTAVISH, 22; son of CHARLES and NIGELLA, twin of SHONA
DEIRDRE MacTAVISH, 38; sister of DOUGIE
MAN ON FLOOR OF PUB (minor character, one line)
MEREDITH BICKLE, 48; sister of DOUGIE, daughter-in-law of GRAN IZZY
NORAH KINNEARLY, 31; recently-promoted detective inspector
HAMISH MacDOUGALL, 18; coroner intern