Broke
Broke is made up of testimonies of people living with poverty and homelessness in today’s Britain.
“There are some that give you – why don’t you get a job, why don’t you get a life? You bloody junkie. You bloody tramp – we’re used to all that. If only they knew. If you must look down at someone, do so with the intention of helping them back up.”
-Daniel, 64, London
“I won’t be rich, I will never be rich but I’d love to get to a point where I can say, you know what – I’ve paid my bills last week and this week I can go out for the day or go out with my mates and have a good night. I would love my life to be like that.”
-Laura, 48, London
There is a podcast of a performance of Broke on the London School of Economics website.
The London launch in February 2009, as part of Poverty and Homelessness Action Week, starred Simon Callow and Louise Jameson.
“Theatre regularly has to challenge itself with reality. It seems absolutely right to me that if we are citizens, and not living in some la-la-land separate from our fellow human beings, then we must speak up when we believe in something. This play does that and challenges us to do the same.”
- Simon Callow
Click here to read an article about the London premiere in The Times.
The original script was entitled ‘Voices From the Edge’ and was commissioned by Church Action on Poverty and Housing Justice.Subsequently, we developed a new version of the script called Broke, looking at the experiences of Londoners living in poverty, funded by Trust for London.
Broke, Photo by Julia Burstein
Photos by Ben Kelly
