Consanguinity

Description

A generation after the UK has been devastated by a plague epidemic, the few survivors have been driven to the most rural outskirts.

Two sisters have lived successfully on a farm for years. But then, the younger shares a secret with the elder. She’s late. The elder supports the younger despite her crippling jealousy.

They make the dangerous journey to a nearby farmhouse stocked with pharmaceuticals. They make their selection and pay the proprietor richly, swearing her to silence. When the old woman sees that they have chosen a pregnancy test, she struggles to fight back tears.

Back at home they descend into a locked basement. A man is chained to a bed. When they tell him the news, he begs them to let him go. No, they tell him. Not until babies are born to both of them.

The final sting comes when we realise that this isn’t just any man. This is their father.

Consanguinity is a psychological drama inspired by the story of Lot and his daughters.

Biblical Connection

Easily one of the most shocking episodes in the book of Genesis, if not the Old Testament, the story of Lot and his two daughters takes place in Chapter 19 after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. Living in a cave with their father and cut off from the world, Lot’s daughters decide to inebriate their father and sleep with him in order to continue the family line by him. I was immediately drawn to the darkness of the story. In our modern world, older predatory men are often seen as the perpetrators of such horrifying yet fascinating crimes. I wanted to turn that on its head and find out what happens when women are the ones driven to such actions and whether, in this case, it is by desperation or desire.