Pack

Synopsis

"This woman spat at me the other day. I could taste the saliva on me own tongue. And I don't blame her, not for one minute I don't. Because if someone beat my child half to death, I'd want to do the same." As a BNP rally gathers momentum on the streets outside, four women meet to play bridge. Struggling to find common ground, they talk about the men they married, their gifted and delinquent children and what their own heritage means. But beliefs and loyalties are tested to the limit when Stephie's fourteen year old son, Jack, is implicated in a brutal racist attack that leaves an eleven year old Pakistani boy close to death. A raw, uncompromising drama about bigotry and racism that explores the insidious rise of the British National Party.

Our Review:

30 November 2012

As ever, the Finborough impresses with its pairing of new writing talent alongside a stellar cast. Winner of the Papatango writing competition, Louise Monaghan’s play, Pack, follows the relationship of four modern women brought together by the game of bridge.

Unconventional as this sounds, the unfamiliarity of the game creates common ground for these seemingly very different women. On the one hand we have Deb (Angela Lonsdale) and Stephie (Sarah Smart); two white working class girls from Leeds, and on the other side of the bridge table- and the Leeds community- is the Asian doctor, Nasreen (Amita Dhiri). Under the careful guidance of their bridge teacher, Dianna (Denise Black), the three women not only learn about the complexities of the card game but also come to understand the nuances of the roles that each woman plays in the community; whether it be the responsibility of being a mother, a wife, a doctor or a teacher.

The play’s primary f...

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Latest User Review

Clare - 3 December 2012:

Powerful direction and acting. What a fabulous new play....

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