Helen

Helen is the story of a 17-year-old teenage girl. Helen has been in care since she was an infant. Helen has had a complex and troubled past. We first encounter her on the threshold of her 18th birthday, which, ominously for Helen, signals the end of her care order. This new beginning is full of anticipation and anxiety. Notwithstanding the support from her care worker, Helen knows that this official entry into adulthood is something she must ultimately undertake alone. Given everything that has happened to her in her life, being left alone is Helen's greatest fear and challenge to overcome. This is a highly volatile moment in Helen's life. At the same time and in the same city there is a missing girl called Joy. A fingertip search led by the police is being carried out in a local woods. Only the day before a jacket and personal effects belonging to Joy were found. This revelation adds a greater urgency to the police search for Joy who has been missing for some time now. The pain this search causes Joy's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Thompson, is palpable. They have been clinging on to the belief, difficult as it was, that Joy's disappearance was nothing more than a teenage girl's cry for help and have lived in hope that one day soon she will return home safely to them. Although not hopeless, now the situation looks somewhat more ominous. A reconstruction of Joy’s last known movements is organised. For the police, a key part of the process is to find the right girl to play Joy in the police reconstruction. Hopefully, airing the reconstruction on national television will alert the general public and jog people's memories providing valuable clues as to what happened to Joy in the 24 hours leading up to her disappearance. The audition for Joy's 'stand-in' takes place in the college that Joy was attending. It is also the college that Helen is attending. Helen, it is agreed by the police and especially Joy's parents, is perfect for the role of Joy. The parents sense that there is something uncanny about her resemblance to Joy. Indeed Mr. and Mrs. Thompson are slightly unnerved by the similarity. Somehow their encounter with Helen makes them even more volatile. It is clear that Joy's parents might actually need Helen to help them get through this very difficult time in their life. What Mr. and Mrs. Thompson do not know is that Helen also needs their help. The role of 'stand-in' represents an important opportunity for Helen. She senses that to inhabit someone else's life, if only temporarily, could help her with her own life. In the days leading up to the lifting of her care order and the enacting of the reconstruction, Helen undertakes the task of preparing for her role in the reconstruction just a bit too seriously. Indeed as each day goes by she realises that Joy, who is the same age as her, had many of the things she never had: a secure home; loving parents; success at school; popularity amongst her peers; and a steady boyfriend. Helen wants to know what these things are, especially the relationship with the parents and the boyfriend. What can they mean? What can they contribute to the development of a human being? Her hunch is that by knowing these answers she can make the successful transition into adulthood. Helen needs to resolve some key personal issues and she hopes that stepping into this missing girl's shoes might just help her to 'find herself'.