The Big House Anthology: Diverse Plays for Diverse Casts: Phoenix Rising; Knife Edge; Bullet Tongue (Reloaded); The Ballad of Co

Description

The Big House Anthology is a celebration of the last decade of work and plays by a unique theatre company, featuring five original plays that offer a chance for stories with diverse casts to contribute to the canon of theatre's literature As a UK-based theatre company, The Big House works on the frontline, empowering care leavers and other disadvantaged young people through the power of performance. Their plays are born from the hearts and minds of young people, with this anthology providing five very different plays, concerning: a runner struck down by M.S; a rapper who spits and snarls and tries to find it in herself to forgive; a teenager who fights for wealth, status and respect in the underworld of county lines; a cackling cowboy they call Corona; and a dog: tracked, murdered, and stuck in a stew. Moving and redemptive, this practical anthology offers plays that instill real hope that young lives can be moved from the margins to the centre of our society, and to turn painful histories into lives well lived. With powerful material that is perfect for young people to perform and study in order to appreciate a diverse range of POVs, collection is perfect for students and enthusiasts alike. Framed and introduced by members of the company discussing their practice, this is a book for students, educators, artists, theatre-practitioners, service providers and storytellers to tell stories that are rarely told, let alone with such fierce authenticity.

The Big House is a place where people who may have given up on themselves gain the skills and confidence to turn their lives around. They work with care leavers who are at a high risk of social exclusion and provide a platform for them to participate in the making of theatre and to have their voices heard. They use theatre to inspire their members and to facilitate personal growth. Through the use of theatre, the development of life skills and therapeutic intervention, The Big House nurtures a relationship of trust with their membership to work on behavioural and emotional problems. By tackling these fundamental needs they unleash their members' creative potential and build their core skills to help them manage the stressful complexities of taking up a positive role in the community.