The final year of my degree in Creative Writing and Journalism is upon me, and for my final Portfolio work I have to write a 7,000 word piece and 3,000 words of reflective commentary (why, what, where, when, etc.). I decided that I should write a short play, and I came up with an idea that I liked when checking into a shit hole of a hostel while in the States recently. We checked into a room that wasn’t big enough to swing a cat in, and my friend said: “I bet there’s a dead guy in the wardrobe!” BANG! Inspiration strikes me and I’m up all night thinking of ridiculous reasons as to why a dead body would be in a hostel wardrobe. This is what I came up with. I’m pretty sure it’s either going to fail me my degree or save it. It depends on how messed up your sense of humour is, I guess.

A lovely wardrobe… Contains body

Arnold Cobb loves his brother very much, but he still has to murder him.

After a tense struggle, Arnold stores his corpse in the large wardrobe within the hotel room and pays the Concierge (who may be on mushrooms but is definitely on another planet) $100 not to check anyone else into that room until he returns to dispose of the body.

Mike and Eddie are students at St. Andrew’s University enjoying a gap year in America. They are checked into the hotel room that includes the wardrobe that contains Arnold’s brother by the Concierge (who appears to be even more stoned than earlier), and begin to plan their next few days in the great city of New York.

It isn’t long until they find the body, and soon come face-to-face with the reason it’s there. Arnold is not happy (especially with the Concierge) and is torn between killing the two backpackers and letting them go, as killing his own brother has made him question his career and lifestyle choice.

The play was completed in May 2012 and I received a mark of 73% for it. Since graduating, I have published the script as an eBook. You can find it at Lulu.com.