by Leah Maxwell
September 8, 2022
Reading held online via videoconfercing software
The Watcher is a family drama centered around George, a reluctant caregiver who watches as her two sisters, Jackie and Hen, play out their complicated lives, and as their mother declines, a casualty of early-onset dementia. Beginning with a celebration of the mother's 65th birthday, the action quickly escalates into a sweeping history of strained relationships and unrealized dreams, begging the question: can the family unite or are they destined to rip apart at the seams? Along the way, The Watcher examines fundamentalism, body autonomy, motherhood, what it means to be a man and/or a woman, abuse, death, the myriad uses of ripe apples, and the mystical qualities of trees.