Group Name: MJ Woodside 

Title: Hiraeth 

Playwright: Melissa Jean Woodside

Type of Play: Drama

Duration: 45 minutes

Date of Play: Thurs June 6th

Synopsis: Sibylle finds herself wishing for her abusive ex, Sean, to return but is seeing other people and throwing herself into work to distract herself from the abrupt and tragic ending, which involved a miscarriage and her becoming homeless. Confused in her own thoughts, her mind plays tricks on her as she cocoons herself and tries her best to heal. One day in the sauna, while she is attempting to meditate, she is visited by Sean’s deceased mother who appears in ghost form. She works with Sibylle, and helps her make sense of the situation, and heal faster, clearing up a lot of confusion, misunderstandings, and heartache. The mother encourages her to realize that she has the power to think about things, and decisions (aka sliding doors) and make herself the main character in her life again. The advice is freeing. This relieves a lot of pressure, realizing that she doesn’t need to rush into another relationship or throw herself into work. She can clear the slate and not date for a while as she heals. The play is intentionally written in a way so that one wonders if Grace, Sean’s dead mother is real. The play ends with an epilogue of another woman going into the sauna, with another fairy god mother type waiting. This symbolically represents the huge numbers of victims that are undergoing domestic abuse of any sort (psychological/financial/violent) and desperately needing cuts, despite current government cuts to the community groups that help women in need.

Warning: Deals with PTSD, abuse, missing peoples cases, and loss of a child

This play couldn’t have happened without friends and allies that have supported the process over the years: Robyn Rogers, Lily, and of course Kurt Archer.