31 Plays in 31 Days, #4 - “Soft Touch”

Another scene from the eventual continuation of the main Mrs. Hawking series. One thing I’ve been wanting to is bring more of a presence of Nathaniel and Clara’s children into things. They’ve been too young up to this point to easily depict on stage, so we’ve only referred to them previously. But while I haven’t nailed down exactly when part 7 would take place, it likely won’t be any earlier than 1890, at which point Beatrice would be fourteen, and Reggie would be twelve. Reggie would go away to boarding school at Harrow like his old man, but Beatrice would be present to figure in the story.

My current thought is that she would represent a hope for the next generation, the idea that other bright young women could be inspired by Mrs. Hawking, and that there is greater strength in numbers than in Mrs. Hawking’s typical lone wolf ways. But I also like the idea that Clara has to come to terms with this path for Beatrice’s life, as she’d hoped her daughter would take more after her. So this would be an early scene, demonstrating the slightly different attitudes Nathaniel and Clara hold towards their children— he’s a soft touch, she’s a bit more stern —and expose Clara’s uneasiness about Beatrice becoming wayward. It’s very nonspecific now, but I think at this early point Clara would not be comfortably fully voicing her fears that she’s losing her daughter to Mrs. Hawking.

This would be continued later in the piece with #26 - Her Own from 31P31D 2019.


Photo by Daniel Fox

( Day #4 - Soft Touch )