Junkyard (NHB Modern Plays)

'Who'd want to join in building a fucking playground.' It's 1979, rubbish is on the streets of Bristol, and it's tricky being Fiz. She's thirteen, she's got no money, her sister's pregnant and her mum thinks she's a waste of space... Rick remembers what it's like to be a teenager. So he thinks it won't take much to get a bunch of kids to help him build a playground out of junk. He's wrong. It takes everything he's got. But when it's finished, it's going to be something. It's going to be everything... Jack Thorne's honest and witty Junkyard, with music by Stephen Warbeck, premiered in 2017 in a co-production between Headlong, Bristol Old Vic, Rose Theatre Kingston and Theatr Clwyd, and directed by Jeremy Herrin. 'A touching tale... an engagingly ramshackle musical' - The Times 'A joyful musical for school misfits... left me smiling throughout as it celebrates the right of children and young people to turn their individual lives into an adventure through physical and imaginative play' - Guardian 'A heartfelt new musical... energetic and fun... like Jacqueline Wilson meets Skins' - The Stage

Jack Thorne's plays for the stage include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Palace Theatre, London, 2016); The Solid Life of Sugar Water (Graeae and Theatre Royal Plymouth, 2015); Hope (Royal Court, London, 2015); adaptations of Let the Right One In (National Theatre of Scotland at Dundee Rep, the Royal Court and the Apollo Theatre, London, 2013/14) and Stuart: A Life Backwards (Underbelly, Edinburgh and tour, 2013); Mydidae (Soho, 2012; Trafalgar Studios, 2013); an adaptation of Friedrich Du?rrenmatt's The Physicists (Donmar Warehouse, 2012); Bunny (Underbelly, Edinburgh, 2010; Soho, 2011); 2nd May 1997 (Bush, 2009); When You Cure Me (Bush, 2005; Radio 3's Drama on Three, 2006); Fanny and Faggot (Pleasance, Edinburgh, 2004 and 2007; Finborough, 2007; English Theatre of Bruges, 2007; Trafalgar Studios, 2007); and Stacy (Tron, 2006; Arcola, 2007; Trafalgar Studios, 2007). His radio plays include Left at the Angel (Radio 4, 2007), an adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (2009) and an original play People Snogging in Public Places (Radio 3's Wire slot, 2009). He was a core writer in all three series of Skins (E4, Channel 4, BBC America), writing five episodes. His other TV writing includes The Fades (2012 BAFTA for Best Drama Series), Shameless, Cast-Offs, This is England '86 (2011 Royal Television Society Award for Best Writer - Drama), This is England '88, This is England '90 and the thirty-minute drama The Spastic King. His work for film includes the features A Long Way Down, adapted from Nick Hornby's novel, and The Scouting Book for Boys, which won him the Star of London Best Newcomer Award at the London Film Festival 2009.