AustLit

Play with music.

Gorman's play examines three women's conflicting emotions as they try to rid themselves of the ties of the past, and come to terms with memories of a dead man and the shelter of his decaying house. The narrative essentially revolves around the personality and grievances of the mother, Pat Harding - a dedicated hypochondriac and shrew - who having lost her husband twice, firstly through adulteries with Annie, and secondly through death, self melodramatises her existence by holding court in a sick room and issuing orders from her bed. Tension rises as each of the characters is forced to deal with differing versions of the past, and this leads to explosive clashes, mostly between mother and daughter, and the mother and her housekeeper.