When You Cure Me

by Jack Thorne

Rachel and Peter are seventeen. They have been going out for six months. It’s love’s young dream. Then Rachel gets ill—seriously ill. When You Cure Me is a bittersweet and poignant tale of love and misunderstanding, and discovering that what you say and do can be very different from what you think and feel.

Genres: Plays

96 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2005

About the author

Jack Thorne (born 6 December 1978) is an English screenwriter and playwright.

Born in Bristol, England, he has written for radio, theatre and film, most notably on the TV shows Skins, Cast-offs, This Is England '86, This Is England '88, This Is England '90, The Fades, The Last Panthers and the feature film The Scouting Book for Boys. He currently lives in London.

Reviews

[Emilia Robson · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are some plays I read that I just absolutely adore and this is one of them. Jack Thorne never disappoints me but this play in particular has a certain warmth, real-ness and atmosphere to it which I genuinely loved. The characters feel so believable and just really very normal - I loved the way they interacted with each other (Angela as well as the kids) and the obvious power dynamics and awkward relationships of teenage life which I thought were presented in an impressively accurate and interesting way. The only thing I’d say is that Rachel was quite a bleak character who was confusing to get along with but considering her situation and the fact that she was recovering from a serious sexual assault, that’s expected and understandable and was written brilliantly. I overall really enjoyed this play and found a great comfort in it.

[Rebekah Parsons · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Doug · Rating 2 out of 5]

Granted a play about the recovery of a 17 year old girl from a horrifying rape/facial disfigurement (written to benefit UK rape crisis centers) is not going to be a happy experience. But Thorne's play is so terribly bleak and main character Rachel such a pill, that I found it hard to even finish reading... I did so hoping for some ray of light, but nope... ends even more hopeless than it began.