Hywel John
WHO Bea, a pre-adolescent child.
TO WHOM Sophie, her godmother.
WHERE The sitting room of a family house, in a remote part of the countryside.
WHEN Present day.
WHAT HAS JUST HAPPENED Bea and her twin brother Jack have lost their parents in a car accident. The only person who is able to look after them is Sophie, their godmother. Sophie has not seen them in years, and they can barely remember her. Bea can just about recall Sophie from a birthday party the twins had when they were very little. She has an abiding memory of her mother shouting at her father afterwards. The play starts straight after the funeral. Sophie has come to stay in their large house on the edge of the forest. The three of them are in shock and are struggling to come to terms with what has just happened. It is shortly before dawn after their second night together and Bea has woken up early. She is wearing her mother’s floral dress and has come downstairs to the sitting room where Sophie is asleep on the couch. She practises her ballet, and Sophie wakes up. She explains to Sophie that she is not very good at ballet and that Jack thinks she is a ‘clodhopper’. She asks Sophie if she will dance with her.
WHAT TO CONSIDER
WHAT SHE WANTS
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To imagine her mother is still alive. |
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To hang on to what is familiar and normal by recreating the family routine. |
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To find a way forward. |
KEYWORDS wake/woke early kiss pieces puzzle quiz game
Will you do dancing with me, Sophie? […] Oh, come on. […] I don’t care. I’m a clodhopper, so you’ll only be as bad as me. […] Come on, come on, come on. […] Sometimes I wake up this early and come down and I see Mum standing right here, looking out at the sun rising on the garden. She wears this dress sometimes when I’ve seen her. I’m in my jim-jams though.
She stands here all quiet just looking out of the window and I know she’s just like me because she obviously woke up straight away very early too just like me. I stand still and look at her sometimes. Mostly I say hello and she gives me a kiss and walks into the kitchen and puts the kettle on. Then I do my dancing practice.
Dad and Jack are fast asleep and they never saw it. Not once. But Mum comes back in with her tea and watches me here. In this spot, right here, watching me be a right old clodhopper. Then once she finishes her tea she comes over and helps me a bit. And we dance together a bit. Then she gives me a kiss and goes to wake up Dad.
So, come on. Come on, Sophie. Then I’ll go and wake up Jack. […] Just hold my hands as I practise pirouetting on my tiptoes. […]
We have to fill the gaps. […] Like a jigsaw. […] Jack and me were talking about it. […] Is that what the phrase ‘picking up the pieces’ means? […]
We read it in some book. It said something like: ‘When something as terrible as this happens, only the children are left to pick up the pieces.’ Something like that. And I thought, what pieces do I have to pick up? And I’ve been looking around and I think it’s like a jigsaw puzzle, where you have to pick up all the pieces to complete the picture all over again. And we just got to figure out what those pieces are. It’s like a quiz. Like a game of hide-and-seek or something. I’m going to have a morning bath now. […] Put the kettle on. Mum puts the kettle on. 