Casting · Open
Elena
Supporting · Female, 40s
Eva’s caring, observant mother and a professional social worker carrying an exhaustion she tries to hide.
Elena is Eva’s mother and a social worker. She is caring, observant and professional, but there’s an underlying exhaustion that she tries to hide. While Eva worries about how Elena is coping without her, we discover that Elena is dealing with problems of her own.
Elena · Scene breakdown
Scenes to prepare
Children's home
“The Safeguarding Visit”
Elena sits with seven-year-old Lila during a safeguarding assessment. She gently tries to engage Lila through her dolls, creating a calm and reassuring environment. When Elena notices bruises on Lila’s arm, the atmosphere changes. Lila places the injured doll inside the dolls’ house and closes the door. Elena immediately understands that something isn’t right.
Performance: Warm, calm and professional at first, with a careful shift into focused concern when Elena recognises what Lila is communicating.