The Broken Bowl - Edward Bond

“Big Brum reminds me why I first became a dramatist – and shows its audiences why drama matters … Big Brum is magnificent”

- Edward Bond

A City of the future. 

The streets are empty and the wind rattles the windowpane.

Mother and Father struggle to provide because food is short.

Father insists that his daughter must eat, she insists on feeding her imaginary friend.

This moving, unsettling and audacious modern fable explores the impact of hard times on family life. Big Brum’s production invites young people to step into the daughter’s world. It provides an experience which will stay with young people long after the performance has ended.

Following Bond’s death in 2024, Big Brum’s tour of The Broken Bowl celebrates the unique collaboration of over 20 years between the Company and the playwright, which resulted in this and nine other new plays for young people, “a body of work, written mostly for young people, that stand alongside his classic plays, such as Lear and Saved” (Lyn Gardner, The Guardian).

For Gardner and many others, he was the greatest playwright of his generation.  His death was an irreplaceable loss at a time when, more than ever, we need good and meaningful drama.

For all bookers, this is world class theatre of the highest calibre. For schools, The Broken Bowl is supported by a teacher’s pack and TIE programme which offer rich material for developing the story’s questions and themes.

For more information, or to make a booking, click here

To see YouTube recordings from the original 2012 tour of The Broken Bowl, click here

‘Ghost story? Maybe. A fairy tale. Sort of. A horror story? A bit of one. A great story for young people? Yes! About time we started treating children with the respect they deserve.’ -  David Davis, Professor of Drama-in-Education, Birmingham City University