Books
Joanna Murray-Smith

Honour (NHB Modern Plays)

An unsettling play about infidelity seen from the perspective of the three women involved: the wife, the lover and the daughter.
George and Honor have been happily married for thirty-two years. She is a successful writer, he is a revered columnist. They have a perfect understanding of each other. Until a pushy young female journalist – on an assignment to 'profile' George – quite deliberately seeks to undermine that understanding. The fallout is dreadful – but beautifully and convincingly portrayed in all its painful consequences.
'Murray-Smith's considerable skill lies in charting the minute emotional shifts and the subtle power play between the four people… Superb' – Mail on Sunday
'Murray-Smith's writing is searching and droll, naturalistic and poetically honed' – Independent on Sunday
'An old story, but thanks to the quality of the writing and acting we share the characters' sense of sailing into uncharted waters… And there are some excellent comic touches… the piece deserves full credit for its honesty and dramatic grip' – Sunday Telegraph
'It's an intelligent, powerful, gripping piece' – The Times
'A really powerful new play. Joanna Murray-Smith is the most exciting Australian dramatist of her generation' – New Statesman
58 printed pages
Copyright owner
Bookwire
Original publication
2014
Publication year
2014
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Quotes

  • b2032408310has quoted4 years ago
    that saved me has fallen from me and you know, I’m not a child any more. No. I’m not a kid any more. But I still feel – I need – I need . . . (Beat.) I wish – I wish I was more – Like you. Like you.
  • b2032408310has quoted4 years ago
    SOPHIE. Well, I suppose he might.
    Beat.
    You’re so – you’re so clear. You seem so clear about things. Whereas I’m – I’m so – I can never quite say what I’m – even to myself, I’m so inarticulate. (Beat.) Some nights I lie awake and I go over the things I’ve said. Confidently. The things I’ve said confidently and they – they fall to pieces. (Beat.) And where there were words there is now just – just this feeling of – of impossibility. That everything is – there’s no way through it – (Beat.) I used to feel that way when I was very small. That same feeling. Not a childish feeling – well, maybe. As if I was choking on – as if life was coming down on me and I couldn’t see my way through it. What does a child who has everything suffer from? Who could name it? I can’t. I can’t. (Breaking.) But it was a – a sort of – I used to see it in my head as jungle. Around me. Surrounding me. Some darkness growing, something – organic, alive – and the only thing that kept me – kept me – here – was the picture of Honor and of George. Silly. (Beat.) Because I’m old now and I shouldn’t remember that anymore. Lying in bed and feeling that they were there: outside the room in all their – their warmth, their – a kind of charm to them. Maybe you’re right and it was – not so simple as it looked, but they gave such a strong sense of – love for each other and inside that – I felt – I felt loved. And since I’ve gotten older I don’t feel – (Weeping.) I feel as if all that – all the – everything
  • Ella Downeyhas quoted4 years ago
    And since I’ve gotten older I don’t feel – (Weeping.) I feel as if all that – all the – everything that saved me has fallen from me and you know, I’m not a child any more. No. I’m not a kid any more. But I still feel – I need – I need . . . (Beat.) I wish – I wish I was more – Like you. Like you.

    Scene Thirteen

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