Gammer Gurton's Needle

Since introduced, the one-act adaptation of Gammer Gurton's Needle has become one of America's most popular short plays. In response to many requests, here is the full-length version of the play, a faithful rendering of the original, but in language that your students can read and audiences understand. Gammer Gurton's Needle has some of the most delightful characters ever created. Gammer is a widow in a tiny rural Elizabethan English village. She is the proud possessor of a needle—but she loses it. Hodge is terribly brave when there is no danger and terribly clever when there is no problem. Tyb is Gammer's maidservant, the only person in the world who can leave a garbage dump dirtier just by walking through it. Dame Chat is the neighbor who loves a good hair-pulling, and Dr. Rat is the curate, whose skull gets split, and Master Bailey, who has to try to settle it all. But most of all, Diccon the Bedlam is an alumnus of Bethlehem Hospital for the mentally disturbed. Everyone gets mentally disturbed when Diccon plays his tricks. Premiered by a community theatre, it was acclaimed as one of the funniest, most delightful plays available for a general audience.