Yen (NHB Modern Plays)

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.

Yen won the 2013 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in 2015.

This new edition published alongside the Royal Court Theatre production in January 2016.

'[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

'bring[s] to mind Philip Ridley’s Mercury Fur... [asks] lots of necessary and potent questions' - Exeunt Magazine