Anna Jordan's Bruntwood Prize-winning play, Yen explores a childhood lived without boundaries and the consequences of being forced to grow up on your own.

Hench is sixteen, Bobbie is thirteen. They're home alone in Feltham with their dog Taliban; playing PlayStation, streaming porn, watching the world go by.

Sometimes their mum Maggie visits, usually with empty pockets and empty promises. Then Jenny shows up.

Anna Jordan's play Yen won the 2013 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, before transferring to the Royal Court Theatre, London, in 2016.

This edition of Yen was published alongside the Royal Court Theatre production in January 2016.

About the Author

Anna Jordan's play Yen won the 2013 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting. Her other plays include Chicken Shop (Park Theatre, 2014), Freak (Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, 2014), Closer To God (Best Play and Audience Award at the Offcut Festival, 2009) and Just For Fun - Totally Random (Best New Writing at the Lost One Act Festival, 2009).

As a director her work has included Crystal Springs (Eureka, San Francisco, 2014) and Tomorrow I'll Be Happy by Jonathan Harvey at the National Theatre Shed as part of the 2013 Connections Festival.

She is Artistic Director of Without a Paddle Theatre, and teaches acting and playwriting.

Reviews

'To say that Yen is absorbing would be an understatement... what's most remarkable about Anna Jordan's writing is the taut mixture of incipient violence and utter, heart-wrenching tenderness'

* Exeunt Magazine *

'[A] terrifying, witty, and compassionate study of the awful penalties of growing up alone and without boundaries'

* Independent *

'A savage study of two teenage boys abandoned by society... leaves a lump in the throat that won't go down'

* Time Out *

'[A] brutal but tender study of brotherhood... the dynamic range of Jordan's writing is extraordinary... achieves the uncommon feat of being difficult to watch yet easy to love'

* Guardian *

'Very impressive... [Jordan] has a great ear for dialogue'

* British Theatre Guide *


Awards
Winner of Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2013.



Book Information
ISBN 9781848425514
Author Anna Jordan
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Nick Hern Books
Publisher Nick Hern Books