Summary

Drama Summary1

A family move from a quiet country town to the busy City as the father has got a new job. The father works at an office branch accounting facts and figures. He gets a better offer and moves his family to a small house in the city centre. The mother Irene who was a pillar of community and helped with Charity is now working at the local youth centre looking after children with disabilities. Her two daughters Faith 14 and Imogen ( Immy for short) 11 attend the local Primary and secondary school. On the outside everything looks fine and dandy, but the truth couldn’t be more sinister. The father is a very uptight man with a lot of rules; he used to be in the navy before he went into accounting. He runs his family and household like a ship, much to his family’s annoyance. He has a very nasty temper, and can be extremely violent at times especially to Irene, but he tries to take his temper out on her rather than his kids, and Irene would prefer it that way. Irene has always thought about leaving him, but he has threatened her saying he will find her, and also she couldn’t look after her children with the little money that comes in. It wouldn’t be enough to support the children and her, so she believes its best to stay with her abusive husband. He likes everything to be perfect, have the perfect suit, wife kids and home. He has very high standards and expectations of his family and if they don’t meet his expectations there is hell to pay. His youngest daughter Imogen is very bright and a fantastic hockey player, so he is very supportive of what she does and she tends to be the favourite and gets off with murder. But his oldest daughter Faith isn’t quite so smart and isn’t athletic she prefers to read, write poetry and draw. 2

Due to being in the countryside the two girls aren’t' up-to-date with the latest fashions and what’s cool etc so moving to the local school in the city is a big change for both of them. Fortunately Imogen fits in just fine and gets along with her new friends but Faith doesn’t and her life starts to fall apart.3

The play starts off with everyone getting ready for school and work. Its very hectic, like you’d expect on the first day of school. Everyone is rushing about and shouting. Keith comes down and starts yelling at everyone for moving his keys. Irene spills coffee over his clean shirt and he really has a go at her saying how stupid and useless she is. She tries to clean his shirt but he hits her away. She hurries her kids up and tells them that they will be late. 4

At school Faith is put into an older class, as she is slightly young for her year, she is introduced by the teacher and told to sit in the only available space, next to the boys. That morning she is bullied horribly, the boys make fun of the lack of style and confidence she has and poke fun at her weight. Later on during school two girls called Lori and Linzi who like to stand out from the crowd make friends with Faith. For the rest of the day Faith stays with them and they start to become good friends. Then just before the end of the day the popular girls walk by and make fun at Faith and her new friends. Faith is horrified at this, as she is not used to people saying such horrible things. It really hurts her. The two girls explain that this always happens and that she will eventually get used to it. 5

At the end of school the popular girls taunt her about her being goofy looking and a snob etc. They say that she is a freak if she hangs about with the “Emos”.6

Faith gets really upset about this and tries to stick up for herself but the girls continue to tease her, eventually Jade and Yasmin leave and Holly is left behind. She starts talking about how Faith can be cool and popular if she hangs out with them and maybe dyes her hair. Faith is really excited and agrees to meet them later at the mall, after arranging to meet Lori and Linzi. She tries to lie her way out of meeting her new friends in order to be popular. Holly watches Faith with an evil stare then gives her a cruel piece of advice “ to lay off the chocolates”. 7

Faith gets home from school and has a fashion show trying everything on, thus annoying her mum. When she is finally ready she comes down stairs and her family are eating tea, her father tells her that her tea is in the microwave, but Faith doesn’t want to eat it after the comment that Holly said about her. Her Dad has ago at her, but her mum quickly jumps up and offers to drive her to save an argument. 8

Later that night Faith comes home all excited she tells her mum what a wonderful time she had, and talks about dying her hair. As soon as her dad walks in she stops talking. Her dad is in a really bad mood and picks a fight with her about trying to act like a tart and being fake. She gets upset because now she feels like a silly little girl, but resents this and it isn’t long before she snaps back with a venomous cutting remark. Knowing she’d be better making herself scarce, she storms up stairs and into her bedroom. She feels really angry and starts ripping up magazines and throwing things across the room. She turns on her CD player and turns up the volume. And just sits on her bed crying, in the background you can hear her mother and father screaming at each other. Her Dad comes upstairs and asks Faith to open the door as she has locked it. Faith is too scared and says no and hides, he kicks the door open and heads straight for Faith, she tries to get away but he shuts the door. 9

A few months later and the children come home from school wearing hats and gloves. Its three weeks before the Christmas holidays and Faiths weight has dropped dramatically. She pulls out her homework and sits down. Her sister boasts about her score that she got in a test, and her dad is very pleased with her. He then starts having ago at Faith for not being as bright as Immy. Which really upsets her, she then goes upstairs and starts crying. She takes out her diary and starts writing how she feels. (There is a voice over and someone reads out what she is writing down). She realises that she has forgotten her math book, so goes downstairs. She overhears her mum and dad arguing again about how she is slacking off in school and that she never works hard. Her Dad mumbles something about being a waste of space and always being so moody and down. Her mum tries to stick up for her saying that she is worried about her eating habits. Her dad then starts having ago at her for not being a proper mother and tells her she’s been too soft over the years and not backing him when it came to the girls. Irene gets really angry and says that its no ones fault but his if she gets an eating disorder and he has always made fun of her weight and said she isn’t good enough. This angers Keith and he hits Irene. He then storms off and leaves Irene crying. She sees Faith and tries to explain how worried she is about her, and that she knows that she isn’t eating and she looks too thin, and that she is making herself ill. Faith doesn’t want to know so grabs her book and yells at her mum to butt out of her life. Irene sits down and starts to cry, Immy walks in and tries to comfort her mum. 10

Later on that evening around the table Immy and Faith are arguing about who is going on MSN later, Irene is busy setting the table and Keith is preparing the meal. He puts it on plates and hands it out, deliberately putting more on Faith’s plate knowing she won’t eat, but he wants to control her. Faith tried to protest to her mum, but her mum won’t hear it and tells her to at least eat some of it. She tries to scrape most of it onto Immy’s plate but her dad catches her and starts yelling at her saying she is a pig for bingeing when she came home and eating biscuits and chocolate and then making herself sick, Faith tells him to shut up. This makes him really annoyed and he says she has to eat the whole lot if she doesn’t want to be grounded and if she wants to go to the Christmas Ball. He then says that he is locking the toilet doors so she can’t make herself sick. This panics Faith and she doesn’t know what to do, she refuses to eat it so Keith force-feeds her. This causes her to choke, and Irene jumps up in her daughter’s defence. She helps Faith, but Keith hits her and she falls. She gets up and tries to fight him off Faith. She gives Faith some money and tells her to take her little sister to the Mall and buy her a hot chocolate. As she doesn’t want her children seeing what her husband is away to do to her. 11

Irene gets up and starts cleaning away the dishes, but Keith blocks her and starts shouting at her for sticking her nose in again, and ruining the family meal. She laughs at him, and says that his daughter has a problem and he is failing to see that and help her. They start fighting about money issues and Faiths school attendance and how she is doing. The fight gets out of hand and Keith goes for Irene he starts hitting her and pushes her to the floor.12

Keith turns to leave then freezes, Irene goes into a monologue telling the audience about how she feels about everything that is going on. After that Faith and Immy arrive home shivering. Irene puts the kettle on and Faith goes upstairs. Immy talks to her mum about her concerns for her sister and the fact she isn’t eating at all. Her mum tries very hard to try and explain why Faith is doing it but Immy is to young to understand and says that Faith is tearing the family apart according to her dad. She then says about how selfish she is being and that she is making the family miserable. Unfortunately Faith hears the end of the conversation, she comes down and starts telling Immy to mind her own business and that Immy is just a show off and is a suck up. Faith runs to her bedroom, but Immy follows saying nasty cruel remarks to her. Faith sits on her bed and cries. She then has a monologue explaining exactly how she feels about herself and how much she hates being her. 13

After the holidays everyone is back at school and all excited about meeting up with their friends. By now Faith fits in very well with her new group of friends, she even is starting to act like them: being cheeky in class, shouting stuff at others etc. No one seems to notice what goes on at home, which Faith is relieved about. At lunch her friends order salads with cheese, pasta, tuna, and then order coke and have cookies but Faith only has a plain chopped salad. This alarms her friends as they are starting to worry about her weight loss. At first they were only friends with her for a joke but over time she seem to mould herself into one of them. Holly tries to share her concerns with Faith but she hears nothing of it and walks away. 14

Faith seems to come more and more withdrawn with her friends, not really involving herself, she spends all her time trying to find new ways of hiding what she eats and thinking of good excuses so that she doesn’t have to eat at all. By now she has lost a lot of weight and is just over 7st after originally weighing 10st. Her mother is very worried but can’t seem to get through to her at all. She takes drastic measures and goes to the school to express her concerns. She also has some leaflets about Teenage girls with eating disorders and wants to give them to her daughter. 15

Faith is called into the head teacher’s office with the head and the nurse. They all feel that Faith should take a few weeks off school to try and recover. But Faith is really angry with her mum for getting the school involved and rips up the leaflets saying she doesn’t have an eating disorder. She then runs out and into the canteen. Her friends ask if she is okay and Faith suddenly collapses. Everyone is shocked and an ambulance is called. Faith’s heart has stopped.16

Faith is rushed straight to hospital and her heart is re-started, but she is unconscious. She is then put to a recovery ward after suffering a cardiac arrest. She starts to come round but is very drowsy; she sees her mum and starts to cry asking what happened. It’s an emotional time for the two of them. The mother is warned that it is very touch and go with her daughter and there is a possibility she might not make it. Faith asks is she is going to die and her mother makes a very quick decision to tell her a white lie in order to comfort her daughter. She says that everything will be fine, and she will be out in no time. Faith smiles weakly but her mum is fighting back tears. Faith then admits that she does have a problem and wants help but was always to scared to ask before and like the fact she was in control of something. Her mother nods trying to take in what she is hearing. Irene is over the moon when she hears that her daughter wants to get better, and prays that her daughter will make it to the next day. 17

In the night Irene gets a call from the hospital saying that Faith has taken a turn for the worst and that she better come in with her husband and if she wants Immy can come to.18

When they get to the hospital they are led to the relatives room, where they are given the devastating news that Faith died a few minutes ago from a heart complication. Immy breaks down in tears and Keith tries to comfort her, Irene can’t believe it, she keeps asking the doctor if they’re sure. She then breaks down and cries. Keith can’t handle his wife in tears and leaves unable to handle his emotions. Immy cuddles up to her mum and they cry together. The nurse then looks after Immy and takes Irene to say goodbye. This bit is very emotional for Irene saying goodbye to her daughter. She sobs about how much she loved her daughter and that she was always very proud of her. She then kisses her on the forehead and whispers that God had chosen her, as he needed an angel that was so perfect and so special to look after all the little ones and watches over them and keeps them safe. She then says goodbye and covers her up and leaves.19

At home everything is quiet Irene comes down with some suitcases and Immy follows her with Faith’s favourite teddy bear she sits on the couch and cries. Keith comes home and asks where they think there going, and Irene replies she is leaving to stay with her mum in England and that she is taking Immy with her. Keith tries to put up a fight. He asks Immy who she would rather stay with (normally with them being so close she would have chosen him, as they have so much in common) but she just looks at her dad and says that she wants to stay with mum, and she will call him later. Keith goes to give her a hug but she just walks away, its obvious that she blames him for Faiths death. Keith and Irene are left standing in the living room, Irene whispers that she wants the funeral in their home town, and she will arrange it and let him know when it is. She then says bye and walks out. Keith stands staring at the door, hoping that she will come back. He slumps down into his chair, and grabs a bottle he pours himself a large glass and says “She’ll be back”.20