PICTURES IN YOUR DREAMS 
HOME My memories are so real, Babcia. But whose are they, and why can't I believe they are true?
First performances Etcetera Theatre, London, July 1998.
The cast:
.........................Babcia ..............................................................Jennifer Lautrec
.................................Wanda................................................................Lyn Morgan.................................Director............................................. .................Robert Tomlinson
.................................Composer/ on-stage musician ............... . Chris Nettleton
.................................Lighting ..............................................................Dominic Burnham
Set: Family photos hang from wall. Stage right a kitchen - wooden table, chairs, various props for food preparation and to indicate a birthday. Stage mid-left is a chair. Upstage left a box of framed photographs. Preset Wanda, opening presents, later peeling potatoes. Babcia preset on stage mid-left chair.
.Lighting: Stage right fully lit, stage left in darkness.
Wanda:
Where is it? Where has it gone? What is it about the first thing I remember? My earliest memory; why should it be so important? What is it that makes me always look back when I should be facing forwards? Why then am I so drawn to a time before I can easily recall, to the first sign of memory? Nobody ever tells you that they have heard the second cuckoo of spring. My earliest memory? I can see it so clearly. I'm not sure where I am; only I know that the second thing I can recall. It is a boat on a blue, blue sea. I am feeling sick, cold and feverish under the warm sun. Could this really be my earliest memory after all? If so, it is such a disappointment. No, I'm sure it can't be right. But right now, it seems that second best is all I can ever find. Why am I on this boat, bobbing about on sparkling blue sea? Am I going to another country? Yes, that must be it. I am, I was coming here. Why didn't I realise that before? But if I can remember the journey so clearly, why is the part before, the start of it, just beyond my recollection?.............................
Sound cue: Short, far-background sound of a gently lapping sea. Fade.
Lighting cue: Very gradually, through following speech, spot Babcia.
Wanda: ..................................
Wherever I have travelled, it was always to move away, never to go back, never back, never to revisit my past. It had passed. How strange then that I should yearn so for a memory that I do not possess. If I could only remember my beginnings perhaps I could have settled down and felt more at home here. I know I must have earlier memories, I can feel them. But they have no shape. These memories are so strong. But are they my own?
My earliest memory? The first thing I can remember is me on a boat, a boat on a blue, blue sea. I am feeling sick, cold and feverish under the warm sun. I so want to remember a place I must have seen as I left harbour, the place where I was
Lighting change: Light whole of stage left.
Babcia: ..................................
You never saw Beirut, that so beautiful city? My dear! Oh, so beautiful, so peaceful.
Wanda: ..................................
Yes, Babcia, I must have seen it. I just don't remember. If only I could recall a little earlier, remember just a few days earlier.
Babcia: ...................................
Yes, remember just a few hours earlier and you would see. So beautiful, happy city. Try, little one. Try to remember. My child grew up in that so beautiful place.
(end of extract)
Formerly represented in USA and Canada by Ed Udovick at IMPULSE PLAYWRIGHTS AGENCY