Blister by Laura Lomas

Blister tells the story of how a single decision can have a lasting impact on a number of lives. The play explores the relationships between siblings Lisa and Liam and how Liam's actions towards Lisa's boyfriend cause a ripple effect.

The play is written as a series of duologues, and stylistically it feels relevant, featuring characters that both GCSE and A Level students will identify with and be able to explore in-depth. The text doesn't prescribe a great deal for the characters which offers opportunities for students to interpret them in a variety of ways.

It begins with visible tension between Lisa and Liam, as he expresses his disapproval of her boyfriend, Ashley. We then move forward a year to explore an interaction between Liam's friend, Jamie and Ashley's sister, Becky where we see her fury at what has happened to Ashley. The action then transitions to Lisa visiting Liam in prison, where we feel the pressure of the relationship and the finality of her goodbye. The final scene is a flashback to Lisa and Ashley at seventeen, where we not only see the relationship blooming but feel the true connection that the teenagers have.

Blister offers many opportunities for use in the classroom; its format as a selection of duologues makes it ideal for GCSE use, while its subject matter also lends itself to PSHE. It is somewhat frustrating that we never find out what Liam did to Ashley, however, this means students can interpret the text in their own way and explore several different ideas; exploration of which could be the basis for devised work. The students’ interpretation could cover several relevant topics including cyber bullying, knife crime and racism. The play has a large cast and therefore is very suitable for an upper school production.