When Elaine, a young homeless girl, is befriended and offered a bed for the night by the older and middleclass Tara, she is at first suspicious – unsure of her motives. Elaine has already had first hand experience of ‘caring’ adults and she knows to tread warily. And when it’s revealed that Tara’s daughter Juliet, a girl uncomfortably similar to Elaine, committed suicide a year earlier, her first impulse is to run. But as trust develops, Elaine discovers that it’s Tara and not she who is most in need of comfort and shelter from the world outside.
Within a few days the two women seem to be reaching a genuine understanding and a kind of healing seems possible. But then an unwelcome phone call from Elaine’s malignant stepfather threatens to drive a wedge between the two women and destroy their fledgling friendship.
Through malice and misunderstanding, Elaine is driven away. Accusations of theft and exploitation are levelled at Elaine by Tara’s friends and family. But making a decision of extraordinary emotional boldness, Tara decides to risk all in saving Elaine from a hopeless and abusive future, with surprisingly positive results.
Photo above: (Robert Patterson (Kenny) and Eileen McCloskey (Sinead)
By being instrumental in Tara's emotional recovery, Elaine realises that it is not her failing that she was not loved, because she has love of her own to give. For her part Tara recognises that Elaine was exactly what she needed, a glimpse at the possibility of a life beyond Juliet.

The Writer
Dominique Moloney the writer explains “Water Lens is the way the world distorts after a death.” Dominique has now written two plays for Radio 4. The Greenhouse (2003) and The Reign of Joseph Cain (2004). She was the winner of BBC NI's Tony Doyle Bursary for New Writers in 2003. She is developing a variety of projects from television including a series for BBC NI Drama. A graduate from The London College of Printing, she set up her own production company Debut Films which has produced a series of short films.
Photo from Left to right: Eileen McCloskey, Katy Gleadhill, Dominique Moloney (writer) & Frances Tomelty

The Cast
Elaine Katy Gleadhill
Tara Frances Tomelty
Georgina Julia Dearden
Sinead Eileen McCloskey
Kenny Robert Patterson