31 Plays in 31 Days, #9 - "A Ruin"

This is a chunk of a larger scene that I have rewritten four times now. It's really eluding me for some reason.

None of my main characters are doing that great by 1888. Mrs. Hawking is constantly angry at herself and everyone else, Nathaniel's mildly traumatized, and Mary's been bending over backwards to maintain a relationship where's she at a constant disadvantage. I want to show these things banging against each other and creating conflicts between the cast. This is supposed to be a moment from when Mrs. Hawking and Nathaniel's problems run into each other.

Part of it will be Nathaniel having developed some bad coping mechanisms, such as drinking more. We saw this in the scene from Day #4 - Not Sleeping. For some reason I'm having a hard time depicting that with the right nuance. I want it to be more a symptom of the real problem than a huge problem in and of itself— like, he's not at the point of alcoholism or anything —but also make it not seem like the somewhat excessive level of drinking that Victorians thought was normal. But the Colonel had an alcohol problem that Mrs. Hawking is reminded of when she observes this new habit of Nathaniel's, and when she's looking to take out her anger, it makes him into an appealing target.

I'm also trying to convey the state of their relationship has matured. Nathaniel is past his desperation for her to accept and approve of him; he's now confident in his contribution to their work and her life. But he's lost some of his nerve since his ordeal, and is struggling to keep strong and not to lapse into just going along with Mrs. Hawking and letting her take care of him. It makes it hard for him to speak up against her going to consult Mrs. Frost. But she's such a disaster right now she need somebody to take care of her. Him stepping up into the authority role because she can't is part of his journey, and I'm really fighting to make that come through. I really, really don't want it to come across as more "please love and approve of me" because he's past that.



( Day #9 - A Ruin )