Brief Synopsis
Stealing sweets and Punching People is about a sixteen year old girl named Emily who is living with her dad Mick. The main plot to the play is that Emily mother tragically died and Emily blames herself for her mother’s death.
Emily desperately wants to move back to the seaside so that she can feel closer to her mother's memory, but her father does not want to return. When he becomes involved with Junk shop owner Monica, Emily rebels by becoming interested in eighteen year old Ben. When she discovers he does not reciprocate her feelings, things go from bad to worse.
The play ends with Mick telling Emily that they can return to the seaside as a family.
Emily desperately wants to move back to the seaside so that she can feel closer to her mother's memory, but her father does not want to return. When he becomes involved with Junk shop owner Monica, Emily rebels by becoming interested in eighteen year old Ben. When she discovers he does not reciprocate her feelings, things go from bad to worse.
The play ends with Mick telling Emily that they can return to the seaside as a family.
A Word from the Playwright
An Extract from a review of a performance.
It works extremely well in the most part, with Mike and Emily (the equally excellent James Duke and Mariah Gale) having moved from the seaside after Emily inadvertently caused her mother’s death. The apparently overbearing father and the confused sixteen year old have both stopped living; their painful journey to acceptance is convincing. This is a problem too, though, in that convincing or not, the histrionics of a fifteen-year-old tend to be quite predictable and only slightly sad. The nervous sweetness and spite of Mike’s getting together with Emily’s employer is, however, very well judged.
Journal Task: Initial Reaction to Script Extract
1. What is happening during this moment in the play? Respond in as much detail as you can.
2. What is the relationship between the two characters? E.g. How do they feel about each other?
3. Who has the higher status in the scene? How do you know? Does the status shift between the characters throughout the scene. Explain your answer?
2. What is the relationship between the two characters? E.g. How do they feel about each other?
3. Who has the higher status in the scene? How do you know? Does the status shift between the characters throughout the scene. Explain your answer?