Little Dolls (NHB Modern Plays)

By Anna Claybourne

Vicky seeks counselling from John to overcome her intense fear of darkness. But what if there really is some truth in her anxiety, and what if the darkness really is a disease?
Nancy Harris's short play Little Dolls was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, in October 2008 as part of The Broken Space season.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Nick Hern Books
• Release date: Dec 20, 2021
• ISBN: 9781788505239

Anna Claybourne

Anne was born in Portland, Oregon, and received her BFA from Oregon State University. In addition to her collaboration with Trina Robbins on the Lulu Award-winning GoGirl!, Anne's work includes the Eisner-nominated Dignifying Science and Pigling: A Cinderella Story for Lerner's Graphic Myths and Legends series. She has illustrated and painted covers for children's books and provided interior and cover art for regional and national magazines, including Wired, Portland Review, and Comic Book Artist. Anne's art also appears in the anthology 9-11: Artists Respond and is now in the Library of Congress.

Book preview

Nancy Harris

LITTLE DOLLS

NICK HERN BOOKS

London

www.nickhernbooks.co.uk

Contents

Original Production Details

Characters

Little Dolls

About the Author

Copyright and Performing Rights Information

Little Dolls was first performed at the Bush Theatre, London, on 23 October 2008 as part of The Broken Space season, with the following cast:

Characters

VICKY, the client, late twenties

JOHN, the therapist, forties

…indicates an unfinished or unarticulated thought.

/ indicates an overlap in dialogue.

– indicates a momentary pause or a beat where a thought is being clarified.

A room without light.

An armchair and a straight-backed chair turned towards each other at an angle. VICKY sits on the straight-backed chair. In the background the loud and persistent ticking of a grandfather clock.

VICKY, when she speaks, occasionally struggles for breath. Most of the time she can control it.

Until she can’t.

Silence. The sound of VICKY’s breathing.

VICKY. I suppose – I suppose we must have looked like little dolls. Lying there. Each of us in our symmetrical beds, white nighties, faces slightly flushed from the unfamiliar heat. The school had a thing about white nightdresses. They put it on the packing list they sent home to our parents and each of us had bought one specially. I remember mine had a little lace frill along the bosom. I didn’t have much in the way of a bosom at the time, but I liked that.

Mrs Lynch said a white nightdress was the marking of a