Scripts

This page contains (links to) scripts used/written by CADS.

A majority of the following sketches have at some point been performed by members of CADS. If you would like us to perform some for your event, please get in touch. We can advise on which ones we know, and can therefore produce at short(er) notice, and which ones would need more time to prepare. We can also advise on sketches that may be suitable for your event. You are free to use these sketches yourself, for God's glory; please let us know if you have any ideas on improvements etc, and also how any performances go. If you want CADS to do a sketch, but there aren't any suitable here, let us know, and we will have a go at writing one for you.

These are some sketches from OM Luke. The main four that we liked were Aliens, Three Little Pigs, The Crucifixion, and New Heart.

Some CADS members, along with others, wrote and performed a musical version of St. George and the Dragon at the OICCU houseparty 2003.

Scripts stored on this site:

• Chatshow [pdf] - Intended as a modern version and adaptation of the parable. The Tax Collector is a drug dealer, but can be seen as anyone who would be cast out by society. The role of the Pharisee is taken by a judgemental studio audience, each of which personifies the idea of righteous self-confidence, and the belief that they will get into Heaven if they live nice, good lives, but that a sinner like a drug dealer could not be forgiven. However, please note that the sketch does not pretend to be an in-depth discussion of the issue of drugs.

• Choose Life [pdf] - An excellent crowd puller, or possibly for use in a workshop with non-actors or school children. 10 people with letters on them form various words and act them out, finishing with the words 'choose life'. Originally created for the 1997 OICCU mission of the same name.

• Cruci-fiction [pdf] - A very moving and dramatic presentation of the last hours of Christ's life, his death and resurrection, done without words and incredibly helpful in focussing the audience on what Jesus went through to pay for their sins.

• Don't Touch [pdf] - A fun sketch that takes a look at the question of sin and its consequences, and how prayer/knowing God can free us from sin. One person sees a sign on a chair saying 'Don't Touch', but decides to touch it anyway. The chair becomes sticky and they gradually get completely stuck. A passer-by tries to help, then starts to pray fervently. Eventually the first person is freed.

• Follow the money [pdf] - Ideal for finalists! The characters go through the routine of waking up, grabbing the bus, slaving at the office, getting paid and collapsing in bed. On third frantic cycle receive actual paper pay slips (A4 pieces of paper) with the words 'IS' 'THIS' 'IT?' on them. Looks at futility of the rat race and asks whether there is more to life than work.

• Heart Mime [pdf] - A man gives his heart first to a nice girl and then to a more 'tarty' girl, but they both hurt him and break his heart. Christ takes the pain on this on the cross, resurrects and mends the man's heart. He gives it back to the man, who then kneels and offers his heart back to Jesus.

• Job Application [pdf] - Set at a job centre, where a man dressed as a clown comes in looking for a job. Job worker wrongly assumes the clown works as a clown in a circus, when actually he is a chartered accountant. Quite humorous, but also looks at how people can be labelled, and also at using your gifts as best you can.

• Knocking on Heaven's Door [pdf] - You can't buy your way to Heaven, work your way there, or get there on your own spiritual merit, but only by realising that you don't deserve it, and humbly coming before God as you are. Set at the gateway to Heaven.

• Lady Vanessa [pdf] - Short and to the point - shows how you can be very wealthy, and have everything anyone could desire, and yet you will still die

• Lean on Him [pdf] - A version of Lean on Him

• Light of the World [pdf] - An experimental sketch, that remains to be revised. Tackles the question of what's gone wrong with the world, and how Jesus came to restore man to God. Based partly on Mark 7:18-23

• Listen to your heart [pdf] - A rather cheesy sketch, showing how relationships don't satisfy unless we're in a relationship with God. A girl hears the call from God and gives her heart to Him. When a boy comes along, the girl takes her heart back from God and gives it to the boy. He plays with it and drops it. The girl gives the heart back to God, who heals it. When the boy comes back, the girl tells him to give his heart to God first. 'God loves you…give your heart to God'.

• Lonely Night [pdf] - A really moving sketch that captures the experience of so many people. A girl amidst a crowd of people suddenly finds how superficial her friends are when she rings them. Christ offers friendship but she rejects and crucifies Him. Christ comes off the cross and offers her friendship and freedom. The friendship the world offers is nothing compared to Jesus, who will never leave us or betray us, and that He died to show us how much He loves us.

• Long Silence [pdf] - Not a CADS sketch, but a story/sketch that is well known, and tremendously powerful for explaining and challenging people with the Gospel. Explains how Christ has suffered all the injustice and pain and sin of the world, so that the sentence for sin could be paid.

• Masks [pdf] - Looks at the way people mask their own fears etc, with a mask of happiness.

• Mission Impossible [pdf] - Considers the issue of judgement, and the need for people to realise God's plan of salvation NOW. There is a bomb on stage, and people are oblivious to it. A secret agent tries to warn them, but is shrugged off by the different characters. At the end of the sketch, the bomb explodes, killing al those who fail to take heed of the warning. The sketch is visually very funny and is good for getting a crowd interested in what you're doing.

• Murgatroyd and Pratt [pdf] - A quick-witted sketch that tackles the question of whether we can get to Heaven by being good and observing the Law. Two lawyers speak in rhyme about how difficult it is to keep the Law. Probably best for assemblies or churches.

• Redeemer King [pdf] - One of CADS' clearest Gospel sketches, taking the crown idea from Two Ways to Live as its basis. It particularly emphasises the choice between life and death offered to us by Jesus.

• Ribbons [pdf] - CADS' classic gospel sketch (since 1995). God creates men, who then rebels and turns away from God with various symbolic actions. At each stage a red ribbon is attached to him, and these are eventually pulled tight to entangle him. God steps down as Jesus and takes the ribbons, and is crucified. He is then raised to life and breaks the bondage of sin. He then offers man a restored relationship.

• Satisfaction [pdf] - This sketch is a rip-off of the legendary Two Ronnies sketch with John Cleese. Looks at what people want from life

• Saviour and Father are One - OICCU [pdf] - Tells the story of the gospel with words and mime. God creates the world and mankind, but they reject Him and go their own way, which leads them into pain and death. Then - the clever bit! - we hear God conceiving the plan that would be necessary to save mankind. He would have to send a sinless man, able to teach and perform miracles, and eventually die on a cross and be resurrected (seen by a ribbon cross). At the end of the sketch, God realises He must step down to earth himself, and we finish with a nativity tableau to show that the 'Saviour and the Father are one'.

• Saviour and Father are One - original [pdf] - Tells the story of the gospel with words and mime. God creates the world and mankind, but they reject Him and go their own way, which leads them into pain and death. Then - the clever bit! - we hear God conceiving the plan that would be necessary to save mankind. He would have to send a sinless man, able to teach and perform miracles, and eventually die on a cross and be resurrected (seen by a ribbon cross). At the end of the sketch, God realises He must step down to earth himself, and we finish with a nativity tableau to show that the "Saviour and the Father are one".

• Saviour and Father are One - simplified [pdf] - Tells the story of the gospel with words and mime. God creates the world and mankind, but they reject Him and go their own way, which leads them into pain and death. Then - the clever bit! - we hear God conceiving the plan that would be necessary to save mankind. He would have to send a sinless man, able to teach and perform miracles, and eventually die on a cross and be resurrected (seen by a ribbon cross). At the end of the sketch, God realises He must step down to earth himself, and we finish with a nativity tableau to show that the "Saviour and the Father are one".

• Say it with flowers [pdf] - Looks at the love that Jesus showed to the world when he suffered and died on the cross, in contrast to what the world tells us love is all about. A flower seller and a chocolate salesperson compete with each other to promote their product, whilst a third character (Jesus, or just narrator) contrasts that with what Jesus went through.

• Seven seconds [pdf] - Jesus gives a person Peace and Trust, but someone mocks them and takes away their peace, and someone abuses their trust. They both press in and knock the person to the ground. Jesus steps forward and defeats them both. He offers the person back their trust and peace. Shows that we can often find the world crushes us, but Jesus wants to restore us.

• Shine [pdf] - Two window cleaners come in and move around the stage, checking a piece of glass is clean. Once they've finished cleaning it they head off. Another man comes forward from the back and walks into the glass. He tries to remove it, but fails, and ends up kicking it. He goes to the back, hurt, and the window cleaners come on and remove the window. Man then comes charging forward in an attempt to smash through the glass, only to find it's gone, and so goes crashing into the crowd. Looks at the way the there was an impenetrable barrier, which try as we might, we couldn't break through, but now that barrier has been removed.

• Shopping [pdf] - A slightly humorous look at how people are willing to accept stuff without considering what it really means.

• Sin Jacket [pdf] - Similar to Don't Touch, except with a jacket with SIN written on it instead of a piece of paper saying Don't Touch on a chair. More to it, in that it looks at the Cross, and what Jesus achieved on the Cross.

• Soap [pdf] - A fairly amusing sketch aimed at showing people that our relationship with God requires action, not just fancy words & rituals. Could be adapted, and certainly needs to be played for laughs.

• Taste and See [pdf] - Inspired by the passage 'Taste and see that the Lord is good', this sketch looks at different people's reactions to the good news of the Gospel. Only one person actually opens the gift and takes a bite of the cake i.e. realises that Jesus' promise of forgiveness is a gift worth having.

• The Agnostics [pdf] - Not a CADS sketch, but a clever idea that might prick the audience into questioning where they stand. Two smart-looking men proclaim themselves to be 'evangelistic' agnostics, and thus satirise themselves and their lack of understanding.

• The Bank Sketch [pdf] - Looks at how we need Jesus for salvation, as we in ourselves cannot save ourselves. Set in a bank, where a person is trying to open a 'salvation account'. Finds that they don't have the opening balance, and are about to give up when Jesus enters and offers to pay the balance, if only the person will accept.

• The Invitation [pdf] - Two men are waiting to get into heaven, and they find out that they were meant to reply to the "invitation". After lots of discussion about when this invitation might have come, thinking it's about how much they've gone to church, or done good things, they realise at the end that the invitation was to believe in Jesus.

• The Lord's Prayer [pdf] - Not written by CADS - a very funny sketch, looking at the power of the words we say in the Lord's prayer, and what God must be thinking of us when we pray it

• The Pit [pdf] - Looking at different peoples reactions to another persons trouble

• The Railway Controller [pdf] - The story is told of a man sacrificing his son so that a train full of people doesn't plunge into the river and kill all onboard. Looks at people's reactions to this sacrifice, drawing parallels to what people say about Jesus.

• The Story of Zacchaeus [pdf] - A slightly humorous look at the story of Zacchaeus, and how Jesus transforms lives - see Luke 19:1-10.

• The Way [pdf] - A person comes in, lost, and with a map. They ask various characters to show them the way, but the romantic, the fashion victim, the meditator and the drug addict are all unhelpful. Going to Christ, the person turns away as He is crucified, but suddenly Christ resurrects, taps the person on the shoulder and personally offers to show them the way. Based on Jesus' words:- 'I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me'.

• True Romance [pdf] - A look at what it means to love someone, and what true love looks like. Adapted from True Romance from In Yer Face by Scripture Union.

• Unbelievable [pdf] - Looks at how the devil tears apart relationships, but God restores them, and defeats the devil

• Various short sketches [pdf] - Looks at peoples shallowness

• Vogue [pdf] - To make people realise that there is a more exciting life apart from what everyone else is doing. One character breaks free from the monotonous movement of a human machine and tries to convince the others that freedom is the best thing. Also, an amazingly visual sketch that will capture an audience's attention.

• Wake Up [pdf] - An excellent sketch, tackling the theme of how rushed our lives are (especially in Oxford) and how little control we have of what we're doing. It makes people think that there must be more than just a routine. A central character wakes up late, then spends his time trying to catch up with the 3 other characters in the sketch, who are rushing in an endless circle from work to the bar to the disco. He eventually gives up in frustration.

The authors of the above sketches are acknowledged where known. Often we have been unable to ascertain whether they were written by CADS, or by people external to CADS. If there are any sketches on here that you wrote, we would be more than happy to credit you for them, just get in touch, and if you want them removed then please let us know.

Website by Jonathan Cooper.
This page last updated 22nd Nov, 2003.