Daughterhood (NHB Modern Plays)

By Charley Miles

One sister stayed at home to care for Dad. The other set out to 'make a difference'. Reunited under their childhood roof, Pauline and Rachel unearth more than the ten years between them.
Charley Miles's play Daughterhood is a beautiful, ferocious drama about the bonds that tie us, and how we sometimes need to break them.
Daughterhood was premiered by Paines Plough in 2019.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Jul 19, 2019
• ISBN: 9781788502146

Charley Miles

Charley Miles’ debut play, Blackthorn, premiered at the Leeds Playhouse in September 2016. Blackthorn was a 2016-2017 finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Spilt was commissioned by the Royal Court and Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and was performed in Cardiff and at the Gate Theatre London in 2018. Charley was Channel 4 Writer in Residence at Leeds Playhouse in 2017 and is Paines Plough Fellow, 2018. Charley is from Kilburn, North Yorkshire.

Book preview

Charley Miles

DAUGHTERHOOD

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Characters

Note on Play

Daughterhood

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Daughterhood was first produced by Paines Plough and Theatr Clwyd and first performed in Paines Plough's Roundabout, Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival, on 31 July 2019. The production then toured to The Lowry, Salford, Creative Civic Change, Ramsgate, CAST, Doncaster, The Lighthouse, Poole, Bournemouth, Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, Lincoln, and Theatre Royal Stratford East. The cast was as follows:

For Izzy and for Eve

Acknowledgements

All love and thanks to my Paines Plough family: George, James, Sofia, Jo, Chris, Phill, Eman, and all else – for the rock-solid foundation they have given me.

Thanks to Stef O’Driscoll, for the generosity and warmth she brings to everything and that has enabled us all to thrive; to our brilliant cast, Charlie, Charlotte and Toyin, for the depths that they have mined for this play; to Janisè, Annie, Hayley and Rachel, for their contributions to the warmest of rehearsal rooms.

To the rest of the Roundabout family – most especially to my fellow writers, Daf James and Nathan Bryon, for making this job feel bigger, safer, and more joyful.

To my actual family: Mum, Dad, sisters and Frankie, for their enduring tolerance.

To my other constants: on this occasion, most particularly Zoe Kelly and Robbie Fergusson for their early voices of wisdom and encouragement; and, as ever, to Tashan Mehta and Charlotte Salter, for keeping me strong in craft and sane in perspective.

Always thanks to my agent, Marnie Podos – another lioness.

C.M.

Characters

RACHEL

PAULINE

SCOT

JEZ

SUPPORT WORKER (SW)

THEO

DOCTOR

LOUIE

PROFESSOR

TEACHER

DAD

MUM

Note on Play

Rachel and Pauline are sisters.

Nine or ten years between them, depending on the month.

Every third scene takes place in the present, over twenty-four hours. The intervening scenes are two halves of the same moment, moving backwards in time over several years.

The play should feel like a series of mirrored images.

– in place of dialogue denotes an active choice not to speak.

– in between lines of dialogue denotes an unclaimed silence.

This ebook was created before the end of rehearsals and so may differ slightly from the play as performed.

*

Rachel and Pauline are twenty-five and thirty-four.

It’s a huge gap. Almost insurmountable.

They stand on the mouth of a volcano,

which could erupt at any moment.

They feel it beneath their feet.

Their weight is perfectly balanced

just about maintaining equilibrium

on top of the tectonic plates, to stop them from diverging.

The slightest moment of weight, on either side,

could split the earth between them

and leave a gaping hole.

*

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