THE SCENT OF LILAC

“a touching, beautifully written play in which a dying woman`s husband enlists the help of an American Indian who may be able to cure her”. Croydon Advertiser 15.11.02

“This is a great read and a really interesting concept - the dramatic narrative is strong and the characters compelling”
Extract from reader's report - Soho Theatre

Running time 80 minutes (approx.).

Cast requirements:
Three male - Ed, early fifties, his son, Paul, 20, Sky, American Indian, long hair, early thirties.
Two female - June, late forties, her sister, April, late thirties OR early fifties, depending whether the director thinks she is the older of the sisters or not.

June is dying at home. Her husband, Ed, who`s been having along affair with June`s sister, April, refuses to let her die, and calls in an American Indian healer to save her.
April wants to tell June about the affair and make her peace, but June isn`t having any. Paul, the son of the marriage arrives and old angers surface, as death approaches.
It is a play about life and death and the regrets or secrets that come to the surface when somebody`s life ends.

Part of a well furnished room, large, in a Georgian house. The upstage part of the room, where there are French windows leading to a garden, is screened off from the rest of the room, so that the audience can see both June in the bed, and the room on the other side of the screen, but the screen effectively cuts off the actors in June’s section of the room from those in the room itself. The garden is almost part of the room, green around the window and on into the distance.
Behind the screen is June, a woman in her mid forties. A bed has been made up for her in front of the windows. On a table by the bed, a thermos, a bottle of champagne and a
child’s drinking beaker, one with a lid and a short spout, to prevent spillages.. A flannel draped over a bowl, which once contained ice, which has almost melted away. June is dying.