About the Play:

The volume By a Thread & The Raft contains two full-length dramas by Lucy Gough. Two innovative plays for high schools pitting characters in perilous situations to explore issues of responsibility, love, death and the instinct to survive.

By a Thread: Four survivors struggle to flee the horrific reality of an apocalyptic war. As they retreat up the mountain, they discover conflict and change are inescapably woven into the thread of life: the young couple cannot stop arguing, the soldier refuses to part with his lost friend's head and the old lady would rather stay put and sew her quilt. (First presented in 1992 at Cathays High School in Cardiff, Wales; Cast: 2 female, 2 male)

The Raft: In prison, a despondent teenage mother watches herself sink deeper into the sea of her despair; but the soul seems reluctant and keeps drifting back up, and then her son Robbie starts calling to her.... (First broadcast in 2002 on BBC Radio 4; Cast: 6 female, 1 male)

About the Playwright:

Lucy Gough is an acclaimed British playwright and television scriptwriter based in Wales. Her works are frequently broadcast on BBC World Service and BBC Radio. She is also a creative research fellow at Aberystwyth University in the department of Theatre, Film and Television Studies.