The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting winner in 2013, YEN will receive its World Premiere in The Studio from  18 February – 7 May 2015.

I’m Bobbie. As in Bobbie Dazzler, my Nan says, although I don’t know who that is. And this is my brother Hench. He’s got a face for radio.

Hench is 16, Bobbie is 13. They live alone with their dog Taliban, playing Playstation, watching porn; surviving. Sometimes their chaotic mum Maggie visits, occasionally she passes out on the front lawn. But when Jenny knocks on the door the boys discover a world far beyond what they know, a world full of love, possibility and danger.

YEN explores a childhood lived without boundaries and the consequences of being forced to grow up on your own. Read the Storify of critics and audience comments here.

The Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2013 winner, Anna Jordan‘s play was commended for its ‘beautiful empathy, and a humanity which stood out to all the judges’ by Chair of the Judges, Dame Jenni Murray.

“I’m fascinated by what would happen to a person if they were never taught how to express themselves. I think it’s where a lot of the world’s pain and violence comes from. Yen explores that.

Winning the Bruntwood Prize was a total game changer. It felt like the end of one journey and the beginning of another; incredible.” Anna Jordan, winner of the 2013 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting for YEN