Cheek By Jowl

by Emily McClain

FULL LENGTH DARK COMEDY- Roger McElroy wrote one incredibly successful novel in the 1970's and has not published anything of merit since that time. He is 76 years old and lives alone in his cabin home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He recently had a heart attack and had to have surgery. He comes home from the hospital where his adult children try to convince him to sell the cabin where he has lived since writing...

FULL LENGTH DARK COMEDY- Roger McElroy wrote one incredibly successful novel in the 1970's and has not published anything of merit since that time. He is 76 years old and lives alone in his cabin home in the Blue Ridge Mountains. He recently had a heart attack and had to have surgery. He comes home from the hospital where his adult children try to convince him to sell the cabin where he has lived since writing his novel. He reveals to his daughter Heidi
that a movie producer has offered him 3 million dollars for the movie production rights to his novel but he is not interested in having the movie made and that she should keep this information from her brothers. She reluctantly agrees.
When the brothers arrive, the frustrations at Roger's refusal to take his health and safety seriously cause an escalating argument which brings out an accusation by the eldest son that he does not believe Roger is the true author of his famous novel but that he stole the idea from his mistress who committed suicide in her late twenties. This accusation causes Roger to suffer a cardiac episode which forces Heidi to choose between supporting her father in continuing to live a lie or facing the truth with her brothers. The conflict between the
siblings comes to a head and Heidi relents, leaving the decision about the movie rights and their father’s living arrangements in the hands of her brothers. Roger reveals that he has been
haunted by his actions towards his mistress and her work and he has never been able to finish the novel they started together. The play ends with his youngest son Phillip stealing the outline and notes of the dead woman’s novel.

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Cheek By Jowl

Recommended by

  • Chelsea Frandsen: Cheek By Jowl by Emily McClain
    “

    Emily McClain sets the stakes high and she sets them quick in this amazing dark comedy. I'm a sucker for this genre anyway so I'm always delighted when I find an amazing one like this. All members of this delightfully dysfunctional family is fantastically written and the drama and conflict was kept at a steady simmer that had me intrigued until the final curtain.

    Emily McClain sets the stakes high and she sets them quick in this amazing dark comedy. I'm a sucker for this genre anyway so I'm always delighted when I find an amazing one like this. All members of this delightfully dysfunctional family is fantastically written and the drama and conflict was kept at a steady simmer that had me intrigued until the final curtain.

    ”
  • Ky Weeks: Cheek By Jowl by Emily McClain
    “

    A tense family drama that's full of intrigue and driven by a string of deeply personal betrayals that reaches farther back than is at first apparent. Details of the full and complex backstory are set up early on, creating a sense of mystery, before the questions are ripped open in painful fashion. The history shared by the family feels full and alive, though we only see the end of it. At the same time, McClain carefully doesn't reveal everything, leaving some questions open for speculation, and some secrets to belong to the characters.

    A tense family drama that's full of intrigue and driven by a string of deeply personal betrayals that reaches farther back than is at first apparent. Details of the full and complex backstory are set up early on, creating a sense of mystery, before the questions are ripped open in painful fashion. The history shared by the family feels full and alive, though we only see the end of it. At the same time, McClain carefully doesn't reveal everything, leaving some questions open for speculation, and some secrets to belong to the characters.

    ”
  • Kim E. Ruyle: Cheek By Jowl by Emily McClain
    “

    Family dysfunction is on full display in McClain’s Cheek by Jowl. High stakes, dark secrets, and betrayal keep the confrontation simmering, then boiling, then spilling over. Roger is a tragic figure, and the harsh criticism and harassment he heaps on Phillip, his writer son, is perhaps what he thinks he deserves. But in the end, Phillip, may have found the key to his own malaise, courtesy of his father.

    Family dysfunction is on full display in McClain’s Cheek by Jowl. High stakes, dark secrets, and betrayal keep the confrontation simmering, then boiling, then spilling over. Roger is a tragic figure, and the harsh criticism and harassment he heaps on Phillip, his writer son, is perhaps what he thinks he deserves. But in the end, Phillip, may have found the key to his own malaise, courtesy of his father.

    ”
View all 5 recommendations
ROGER MCELROY (76) Reclusive writer, recovering from recent heart surgery. He has a contentious relationship with his three adult children, all of whom want him to sell his home in the Blue Ridge mountains and move to be closer to them. He is argumentative and generally cranky.
BRODY MCELROY (42) Oldest son, views himself as the de facto head of the family as Roger has been ill. He is a successful banker and is married with three small children. He is disdainful of his father because of how Roger treated Claire when they were married. He views his siblings as weaker personalities that can be controlled and
manipulated by their father.
HEIDI MCELROY (38) Middle daughter. She is an elementary school teacher and is by nature very caring and nurturing, although her patience with her father is at an end. She tries to be sensitive to her father's desire for independence while recognizing she is taking on the lion's share of the burden caring for him.
PHILLIP MCELROY (30) Youngest son. He is a college drop out and fancies himself a writer, although he is yet unpublished. He feels like he is a failure and a disappointment to his famous writer father, but he hides this fact by being sarcastic and caustic to his father and siblings. He is sincerely fond of his sister Heidi.

Development History

  • Reading, Essential Theatre, 2020
  • Reading, Elephant Ears Reading Room, 2019
  • Reading, Working Title Playwrights, 2018
  • Reading, Merely Writers, 2018