The entertainment typically begins with 21st century guests enjoying cocktails. "Fingers" provides piano music of the period until the guests become aware that a small marching band is approaching ….complete with trumpet and booming bass drum.

Suddenly, a quartet of high-energy actors/singers marches into the cocktail scene. Beautifully costumed according to the fashions popular in 1905, they are singing, playing musical instruments and fervently proclaiming the virtues of a life of abstinence from the evils of strong drink.

They pass among the guests, (who by now are trying to hide the fact that they've been enjoying cocktails!) handing out old-fashioned handbills (programs) and Temperance Songbooks, which the guests will use over the course of the evening. The quartet introduce themselves as The Eternal Sword Temperance Union, and announce that they have advanced upon this particular establishment, on this particular evening, for the purpose of holding a Temperance rally, to rescue all the poor souls in the room who wish to forswear "King Alcohol."

As the rally proceeds, the audience gradually discovers that the self-righteous members of The Eternal Sword Temperance Union are not as pure or "vice free" as they would have their audience believe.

The (Ain't Quite) Right Rev. Dr. Josiah Peacock, a man of dubious background, is using the Temperance platform to peddle his personal brand of patent medicine, Peacock's Elixir, which he claims will "cure a man's cravings for demon rum," and all other ailments known to mankind.

. Mrs. Amelia Braithwaite Bunch, who eschews all manner of "ardent spirits" is clearly dependent upon her "nerve medicine" (Peacock's Elixir) which she carries in a small silver flask, nipping at it throughout the evening in moments of high stress. As Mrs. Bunch's "medicine" takes effect, she becomes more animated and more adamant about the Temperance cause. She also becomes much less inhibited….to the point where she causes herself some embarrassment (to the great delight of the guests) by picking a (choreographed and well-rehearsed) knock-down, roll-on-the-floor, tear-your-hair-out fight with the other female member of The Eternal Sword Temperance Union

.

That lucky lady is Euphoria Turnbottom. Euphoria, who is a charming and strikingly beautiful young woman, represents The Eternal Sword Temperance Union's greatest success: Plucked from the gutter against her will by Bunch and Peacock, Euphoria had once been a woeful inebriate, but an amazingly popular "lady of the evening." Now, thanks to the ministrations of The Eternal Sword, (all for her own good!) Euphoria has reformed, and has dedicated her life to saving other poor wretches, who are lost in shame. However, Euphoria, like Peacock and Bunch, has an appetite for vice that is not so easily denied, and she, too,eventually reverts to her former flirtatious ways and shows her scarlet petticoats to all.

The fourth character in the quartet, Jack Wellbourne, The Eternal Sword's newest recruit, only joined the Temperance Union an hour ago, somewhat under duress, at the last bar they visited. It is obvious when he arrives, that Jack is quite the bon vivant, who had enjoyed a "few too many" earlier in the evening. It is equally obvious that Jack is totally smitten with Euphoria, and would follow her anywhere.....even if he must"take the Temperance Pledge"

to win her. Jack is the one character in the production who starts out sotted, but sobers up during the course of the evening to become our very human hero. It is Jack who points out that Mrs. Bunch is overly fond of her "medicine." It is Jack who discovers that the Rev. Dr. Peacock is nothing more than a con man. (Peacock has not concocted a cure for the craving for strong drink, but has simply placed his own label over the real labels on the miniature bottles of liquor (or wine, beer, etc.) that he's been selling.) It is Jack who saves Euphoria from Mrs. Bunch's violent outburst, and ultimately wins her affection and loyalty.

With music and dramatic action skillfully and tastefully guided by the professional quartet, accompied by "Fingers" Magee, the audience is encouraged to participate in all the ribald Temperance rally activities, if they so desire. (Shy guests may simply choose to observe.)

Like the actual Temperance rallies of yesteryear, Temperance Tantrums personally involves audience members in several different kinds of activities:

• Singing simple but rousing anthems from their Temperance Songbooks, to encourage folks to personally take up the Temperance cause
• Presenting fictional, "mad-libbed," testimonies about their personal experiences with demon rum and other ardent spirits
• Acting in brief, improvised theatrical skits designed to illustrate the evils of strong drink
• Reciting and signing the Temperance Pledge; swearing off liquor forever (if they can sufficiently conquer the tongue-twister in the Pledge!)

Temperance Songs