Features two plays: "By a Thread" explores the immediate experience of adolescent insecurity and issues of responsibility, love, jealousy and death; and "The Raft" - produced by BBC Radio 4 - offers a moving and daring exploration of a young mother's struggle to survive the desolation of prison and separation from her son.
Two plays for secondary schools by WJEC playwright
Two plays pitting characters in perilous situations to explore issues of responsibility, love, death and the instinct to survive.
By a Thread: Four survivors struggle to flee the horrific reality of an apocalyptic war. As they retreat up the mountain, they discover conflict and change are inescapably woven into the thread of life: the young couple cannot stop arguing, the soldier refuses to part with his lost friend's head and the old lady would rather stay put and sew her quilt.
The Raft: In prison, a despondent teenage mother watches herself sink deeper into the sea of her despair; but the soul seems reluctant and keeps drifting back up, and then her son Robbie starts calling to her ...
A resource booklet on 'By a Thread' has been produced by the WJEC for use at Key Stage 3 by teachers of English.
