Julie Gethen

Julie Caroline Gethen is the eldest daughter of Blake and Susan Gethen and the older sister of Rachel Gethen. During the play she is 12 - 18 months old and not much is known about her.

Her Life
Her name being given from her maternal great-grandmother, Julia Taylor and her patneral grandmother, Caroline Gethen, she isn't mentioned that much throughout the play. However, she is very close to her parents and enjoys her afternoons with Blake before Susan gets home. Even convincing him to dance awkwardly to the can-can which she always laughs at. When Blake and Susan are at work (or at therapy) she is often sent to Susan's parents to be looked after. Despite disapproving of Blake her grandparents dote on Julie as she is their only grandchild.

15 years after the play she is working at her Aunt Lisa's flower shop and has been somewhat manipulated by hearing stories of Blake and how he was and what he did (from Lisa's opinion). She looks after Rachel to aid her mother and along with her family (aside Lisa's efforts) agreed to keep Blake's story quiet from her. Despite being more like Susan, she has a lot of Lisa's characteristics, such as trying to force Rachel to have better mannerisms.

Relationships
With Susan, Blake and Rachel:

Her relationship with Susan and Rachel is close and very strong. She felt she had to grow up quicker than she should have because of her mother's struggle of being a single parent. Her relationship with Rachel is similar to the way her mother's was with Lisa but it's not as competitive, as Susan would never compare her children. When Julie was younger she used to question Blake's wear abouts as she had a few memories with him. At times as a toddler she would cry wanting him there however as the years went on she avoided the subject. 15 years after when he returned she was completely against him being there as she knew of the things he's done and to her he no longer had a dad.

With the Taylors:

Lisa is probably her favourite member of her outside family as she was the only one who was completely honest with her about Blake and has "took her under her wing". Although she doesn't share Lisa's view on homosexuality she's not that close with her uncles due to always being with Lisa. She's used to visit her grandparents a lot when she was younger until Rachel needed babysitting too after Susan's maternity leave, and they refused to look after two. Then it used to be a dinner every other sunday relationship.

With the Gethens:

Julie never really knew her paternal grandparents as after Blake was sent away Susan didn't know how to contact them, feeling it would be awkward. At 6 years old her grandfather, Gary Gethen died of liver failure. Her biological grandmother, Caroline Gethen was still in the assylum and although her step-grandmother, Lucy Gethen was often popping round for visits. Susan tried to make them as short as possible.