Derry

Derry (his full name is Derek, which he hates) is a fourteen-year-old boy whose face has been badly disfigured on one side by an acid burn — he says he will "still only have half a face," and is convinced it "won't ever be any different." At the start of the play he is defensive, embittered and deeply unhappy. Convinced that everyone who sees him is horrified or filled with pity, he has retreated into himself, avoiding people and seeking out lonely, empty places where no one can stare at him. He is prickly and suspicious when Mr Lamb first speaks to him, half-daring the old man to be disgusted, and recalling cruel remarks such as the woman at the bus-stop who called his "a face only a mother could love."

Beneath this hard shell, however, lies a sensitive, intelligent boy who has been hurt by the thoughtlessness of others, including the careless talk of adults at home. Over the course of the play Derry undergoes a marked development. Drawn out by Mr Lamb's warmth and honesty, he begins to lower his defences, to listen, even to laugh, and to consider that his scarred face need not decide the whole of his future. By the end he has defied his mother and resolved to embrace life and friendship rather than hide from the world — "I want the world," he cries. His transformation, from bitterness and self-pity to hope and determination, is the emotional core of the play, and it makes him its true protagonist. The tragedy of the ending falls hard …