SETTING

Five old iron institutional beds alternate across the stage. The beds are the base of the five main characters, representing their homes at various stages of their lives. At times they become: a children’s home; a prison cell; a mental institution; and a girl’s bedroom. The covers on the beds are old, drab, chenille bedspreads, except for Anne’s, which is much prettier; most of her story taking place in her white adoptive parents’ home.

The only other variation in the beds is Jimmy’s; his bed is turned around so the bedhead faces the audience. At times the bars on the bed remind us of the bars of a prison cell, where he spends a lot of time.

Each of the beds also has a pillow which is used as a prop in various scenes. The only other props are a drab, green, metal filing cabinet, on the far side of stage right; and Holland blinds, painted a drab green, hanging from the ceiling, which indicate the shape of the room, a triangle, with the corner being centre stage to the rear.

The main link between the five characters is that they were all ‘stolen’ and placed in a children’s home, although not necessarily at the same time. However, in many scenes they do interact as though they were all in there together.

The ‘night’ scenes are in the children’s home. The sounds for these scenes echo the sound of a faraway playground, children’s laughing and ominous ringing sounds.

The play follows no obvious chronological order. The characters move back and forward in time, sometimes being their young child in the children’s home, and other times adults. However, the play does begin with the characters as children and end with the resolution of their characters—where they are at the present moment, the end result of all that has gone before.