Wednesday 16th April 2014
Bridge Hotel, Newcastle
‘Looked After’ by John Hickman
Newcastle-based company Arts In Touch are producing the second in a series of eight one-act plays, in which writers get to try out brand new material in a script-in-hand rehearsed reading format. After making a very brief appearance in the last one (‘Spending A Penny’ by Christina Maiden on 2/4/14), I have been asked to play the part of Dave in this piece by John Hickman.
A bit about the play (from Arts In Touch facebook page)
Feisty and fiercely loyal fourteen-year-old Ellie finds herself in a children’s home, following her mum, Brooke’s severe alcohol misuse. Ellie develops relationships with the other kids at the home, impressionable Karl (12) and streetwise Jordan (17). When her relationship with Jordan becomes sexual, it also becomes volatile, and when the two clash, Ellie flees home to her recuperating mum.
Ellie is desperate not to return to the children’s home and forces Brooke to agree to stop drinking, so they can run away to Scotland, to a little town they visited during family holidays. But when Brooke hits the bottle again, it hits Ellie hard and in a fit of anger, she locks her mum in the bedroom, hoping to get her off the drink for good.
When Karl and Jordan turn up on Ellie’s doorstep, they refuse to leave, and offer to help Ellie in her quest. With Brooke’s anger fraying and tensions mounting between the youngsters, the situation erupts and Ellie flees her home. She’s left with a choice. Does she go back and keep on trying to help her mum? Or does she finally put herself first and return to the children’s home?
PAUL DUNN 