Joanne (NHB Modern Plays)

Five characters share a common thread: Joanne. But it’s not about her. It’s about Stella, whose tomorrow is as far away as winter from summer. It’s the way Grace finds her song on the footpath between two cars. It’s about Alice’s MBA wasted on plugging holes, Kath’s patients crawling alongside her after the night shift and it’s Becky caught in the crosshairs of what’s best and what’s right for her students.

But what about her? What about Joanne?

In Joanne, five of the most exciting voices in theatre explore the pressures on our public services as one young woman buckles under pressures of her own.

The play comprises five interconnected short plays for a solo performer, written by Deborah Bruce, Theresa Ikoko, Laura Lomas, Chino Odimba and Ursula Rani Sarma.

Commissioned by Clean Break, Joanne premiered at Latitude Festival in 2015, before transferring to Soho Theatre, London.