We all know the symptoms. A thumping headache. A sense of tiredness. An unquenchable thirst. And of course, the complete inability to remember what happened less than 24 hours ago.
Yup, it’s a hangover. And our main character in Under the Influence, Dexter, is just another typical young male struggling with one, regrets and all included.
What isn’t typical, however, is the type of pain Dexter’s also experiencing.
While classic movies like The Lost Weekend and Days of Wine and Roses focused on the personal, psychological problems caused by excessive drinking, Dexter’s got a much more…physical issue to contend with.
His body is covered head to toe in huge, red, bruises. He’s vomiting blood. And his memory’s damaged too – completely lacking an explanation for his scars.
Yet as he begins to clean up his wounds, clues start forming in his mind, triggered by everyday objects. The clock on his cooker. 11:36. His phone. No new calls.
Then it all starts coming back to him. The bar. The car. The hedge. The roadside. And finally, the cause of his myriad of injuries.
But something’s not quite right about his “recollection”. There’s another aspect of his mind at work here, distorting the true events into something far, far more sinister and surreal…
What caused Dexter’s body to become so bloodied? What’s the reason for his mind distorting the truth?
If you want answers to those questions, you’ll have to dive into this entertaining and surprisingly moralistic script. Just make sure you haven’t been drinking beforehand – this ain’t a script to read with a muddled mind!