The Well Being

A 1999 physical theatre piece created by Andrew Buckland, Lionel Newton, and Lara Foot-Newton.

Plot synopsis

''The Well Being tells the strange tale of Flo Deluge, a young woman living in narrow-minded village at the edge of a forest in a valley. Flo is raped by the local preacher and in her trauma she retreats to live in an isolated cottage in the forest where she obsessively proceeds to dig a huge hole as if her life depends on it. Flo’s bizarre behaviour has become the principal topic of conversation for the villagers. The rains come, turn into floods, and her estranged community leaves her to the rising waters and the company of two garrulous "skollie" frogs. To the rescue comes a porpoise who persuades Flo to frolic with him in the waves. He leaves her with a strange "egg" to which she eventually gives birth, the offspring being a half-fish half-human. The flood is followed by a scorching drought which devastates the countryside once more. The fate of Flo and her baby is sealed when the rumour mill in the community decides that this strange woman and her deformed offspring are the cause of all its misery. The villagers descend on Flo and insist that she give them the water from her well. In short, The Well Being is the story of love, water, a porpoise, a watermelon, and two frogs. [1]