by Tamsin Walker - a staged reading with Nicole Ratjen, Shaleah Dancy, Lisa Meilen and Amy Nye

 

Molly Eyre’s marriage and career as a playwright are both on the rocks, and the only way she can see to save the former is by saving the latter. In order to do that, she needs a good idea. Inspiration arrives when she’s thrown together with three mothers to oversee the remodelling of a disused room at their children’s nursery. Assuming the role of social adjudicator, she decides to borrow aspects of the scenario and the women’s personalities for a new comic play. But comedy turns to tragedy as Molly’s involvement with the other women puts her marriage and career in greater jeopardy and she is forced to realize that her life is every bit as flawed as theirs.

 

Molly Eyre borrows the main characters and plot elements from three Molière plays – The Imaginary Invalid, The Hypocrite, The Misanthrope – and weaves them together to show not only how fiction reflects reality, but how reality can be informed by fiction.

 

Tamsin Walker was born and bred in England but has lived in Berlin on and off for the past 15 years. More on thatn off. She has a background in documentary and journalism and has published short stories in several anthologies.