Heroes (NHB Modern Plays)

By Isabel Dixon

Heroes by Isabel Dixon is a poignant exploration of fallen idols, family secrets and the human price of forgiveness. Set across two timelines, it is the tense and sensitive story of a family torn apart by an unforgiveable act.
This play is taken from Plays from VAULT 5, an anthology, the fifth from Nick Hern Books, comprising of five of the best plays from VAULT Festival 2020, London's biggest and most exciting arts festival.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Feb 20, 2020
• ISBN: 9781788503204

Isabel Dixon

Isabel Dixon is a playwright from the South West, now based in London. She trained on the Royal Court Young Writers Programme, Lyric Hammersmith Writers Group, and Soho Theatre Writers’ Lab and Alumni Groups. She was shortlisted for the Old Vic 12 in 2018 and 2019, and was the recipient of the 2019 OffWestEnd.com Adopt a Playwright Award. Previous credits include The Plough (SLAM, now under option for screen); Frankenstein (Old Red Lion and The Space); The Spectacular Starlit Circus (Watermill Theatre’s Federation Project); Troll (The Space). Other work has been performed, read and/or developed at theatres including the Old Vic, Young Vic, the Arcola, Rich Mix and BAFTA. She also works as a dramaturg, facilitator and script reader, and co-founded female-led theatre company Burn Bright Theatre in 2015.

Book preview

Scene One

A family living room, somewhere in suburbia, in 1991.

A living room, in a smartish but comfortable flat in London, in 2016.

Both of these spaces exist together.

As the audience enter, we see the characters in both timeframes interacting with the world around them.

There are cards and envelopes across the set – we are celebrating something in both years.

In 2016, CAT, mid-thirties and very pregnant, puts a cup of tea down and sits on the sofa, silently reading through a pile of cards. Somewhere in the background water is running.

In 1991, MARTIN, late thirties, watches fifteen-year-old JAMIE as he opens a present. It’s a record player. JAMIE lifts the lid.

MARTIN. Be gentle with it.

JAMIE. I am.

MARTIN. I mean it. I don’t want to see it get broken.

JAMIE. You don’t have to give it to me.

MARTIN. I want to.

JAMIE. If you’re worried I’ll break it.

MARTIN. I know you won’t. I’m just being silly.

Beat.

I got that for my fifteenth birthday.

JAMIE. Nan got me a Walkman.

MARTIN. Not the same. Not as good.

JAMIE. Don’t tell her that.

MARTIN. The thing about a record is, it sounds best when you listen to the whole thing. Without stopping. Start to end, all in the right order, like a story. None of this jumping about or rewinding or skipping to the good