by Peter Griffith
Sam is eating less and less, and taking lots of violent exercise. She quarrels with her boyfriend and shouts at her parents. What is her problem?
Food for Thought is a moving play about anorexia – a disease from which some five per cent of British schoolgirls suffer. Will Sam be one of the survivors? Will she find the strength to defeat the insidious illness? And how can her friends and family cope with the fact that Sam’s relationship with the disease is now the strongest relationship in her life?
Photos of 'Food for Thought'
Extract from the script 'Food for Thought'
| Anorek: | Your mother’s bringing you some milk. What are you going to do with that milk? |
| Sam: | Drink it, I suppose. |
| Anorek: | Milk is full of little globules of fat. If you drink it, the fat will spread through your body and puff out your skin. It will make you flabby. Is that what you want? |
| Sam: | No. |
| Anorek: | Then think: how can you avoid drinking the milk? |
| Sam: | I…could spill it on the floor. |
| Anorek: | No good – she’ll just bring you another glass. |
| Sam: | I could…distract her attention, and then pour it away somewhere. |
| Anorek: | Good, that’s better. Now think, how can you distract her attention? Think! You haven't got much time! |
| Sam: | I could…I know, I could tell her that I’ve hurt my foot, and when she looks down I could pour the milk...into the bed. |
| Anorek: | So that’s the plan. Look out, she’s coming. |