“I have to fight back. But I can’t fight back. It’s so strong, the feeling is so strong. I can’t breathe and there’s a tapping a light tapping that’s when I wake. I wake up.”

Two sisters struggle to survive in the wake of a toxic childhood. Each must find a way to build a life out of chaos. But what happens when the ties that bind become the thing that holds you back?

Inextricably linked by blood, all they have is each other.

Kathryn O'Reilly's play Poisoned Polluted is a stark, bold, powerful and poetic drama looking at the effects on adult life of childhood trauma and the cycles of drug abuse. It premiered at the Old Red Lion Theatre, London, in November 2019.

Poisoned Polluted (NHB Modern Plays)