NT Connections Festival: Brain Play / Normalised

Full Description

Darrick Wood School and Angmering Connections perform in Day 3 of our 2025 Connections Festival, the National Theatre’s annual, nationwide celebration of new writing. 2025 is the Festival’s 30th year, and Trinity is proud to host 14 young companies in 2025 as part of its festival programme.

Schools and youth theatres across the country perform a new piece of writing developed for the programme at their home venues before visiting a festival theatre.

Each ticket gives you access to an evening of two one act plays, with a short interval in between. For all of our Connections 2025 performances, we are offering an option to buy tickets at a reduced price, full price or, if you are able to, a slightly higher price that helps subsidise our Creative Engagement work.

 

 

Darrick Wood School presents
Brain Play
by Chloë Lawrence-Taylor and Paul Sirett

When Mia’s dad suffers a traumatic brain injury and struggles to leave the house, she makes it her mission to find the cure for his symptoms. Delving deeper and deeper into the world of neuroscience, Mia is desperate to make him better, but first she must contend with her own brain.

Suggested age suitability: 13+

Content warnings:
• Strong language.
• Discussion of brain injury and the associate affects.
• Discussion of anxiety, PTSD and mental health.
• References to blood.
• Discussion of hearing loss.
• References to agoraphobia.
• At one point a character says “take him out and shoot him”, in jest.

 

 

Angmering Connections presents
Normalised
by Amanda Verlaque

How do you protect a memory against a homophobic bully, when the bully is your own brother?

When an environmental campaign is the catalyst for protecting an LGBTQIA+ shrine, a group of friends must confront what comes first – friends, or family. And as the stakes rise, the battle lines are drawn between being loyal, being an ally, and what does “normal” really mean anyway?

Suggested age suitability: 16+

Content warnings:
• Strong language.
• References to the death of a character (unseen, prior to the play starting) in a car accident, and themes of grief.
• References to and depictions of homophobia.
• Depictions of bullying.
• Depiction of drinking.
• At one point a character holds a knife, but does not use it.
• Suggestion that some characters vape.
• One character gets beaten-up (offstage, unseen) and returns bruised.