Far From Fiction

Far From Fiction is a play about self?harm and the inner world of the self-harmer. Two people, suffering from mental illness, meet in a place of confinement. Is it a prison? If not, then what is this place and who is providing the constraints and why?

One character is a 70 year old academic white lady who has recently suffered serious depression. The other is a 20 year old black woman who has been in hospital for self?harm and an eating disorder. Despite cultural differences and the age gap the two women become friends. Their relationship takes twists and turns as the story unfolds.

We witness their demons and their vacillating facility for relating to each other in a confined setting. Why on earth are they important to each other? Is there something in the other that each one needs? Is there any hope of recovery? Their developing relationship is the focus of the play.

The play starts with light-heartedness and elements of farce – not theatrical farce but the farce of everyday life – and in the course of the play there is a dramatic turn towards darkness. There is a mystery at the heart of the plot and classical themes of betrayal and sacrifice.