Inside every adolescent brain, 86 billion neurons connect and collide to produce the most frustrating, chaotic and exhilarating changes that will ever happen to us.
Brainstorm is a unique theatrical investigation into how teenagers’ brains work, and why they’re designed by evolution to be the way they are.
Created by Ned Glasier and Emily Lim with Company Three (formerly Islington Community Theatre), in collaboration with neuroscientists Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore and Dr Kate Mills, the play is designed to be created and performed by a company of teenagers, drawing directly on their personal experiences.
This edition contains a series of exercises, resources and activities to help schools, youth-theatre groups and young companies create and perform their own Brainstorm. It also features the complete script of the original production which played at Park Theatre and the National Theatre, London, in 2015.
‘Sharply contemporary… gives a voice to a portion of society all too often overlooked’
— WhatsOnStage
‘This is everything youth theatre could hope to be… deep honesty matched by artistry’
— The Times
‘A fantastic piece of community theatre… Brainstorm has the ability to transcend generational barriers. Whilst truly celebrating what it means to be young in today’s social climate, it asks the audience to see individuals, regardless of their age’
— A Younger Theatre
‘A theatrical MRI scan, which offers as much of the why as the what… witty, considered and vital… this is fresh work, important work, built with honesty and, above all, a willingness to listen’
— The Stage
‘This is a very cunningly put-together piece, drawing with unflinching honesty on material excavated from the young people’s own lives… and capturing the hormonal rush and wild mood swings of teenage existence… The real beauty of this memorable show is that it’s not just all about them – it’s definitely about us too’
— Guardian
