We are incredibly proud of what we have achieved at Clean Break this year, as a theatre company and a community, despite the continuously precarious landscape we exist in. The ongoing challenges faced locally and globally, makes the community we have built at Clean Break all the more important.
We started off the year with a new audio play, A Proposal for Resisting Darkness written by Yasmin Joseph in collaboration with HMP Downview Theatre Company. The play was the outcome of Clean Break’s participation in the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance Inspiring Futures research project. Originally performed inside the prison in 2022, A Proposal for Resisting Darkness was adapted into an audio drama, first broadcast on National Prison Radio and now available online.
In March, Lakesha Arie-Angelo joined Clean Break as our Associate Artistic Director, making an incredible addition to our team. As a writer, dramaturg and director, Lakesha is already enriching our artistic life and has brought new relationships with playwrights, venues and creatives, putting Clean Break in a strong position artistically for the coming years.
Also in March, Clean Break joined The National Women’s Justice Coalition (NWJC), an alliance of women’s organisations that share a mission to drive change for women and girls in contact with the criminal justice system and improve outcomes for them. It is a privilege to be part of this group, and to bring Clean Break's unique perspective to this collective voice.
Our anti-racism work remained a priority this year, and included a company-wide session in May, led by our Anti-Racism Working Group of Members, staff and Trustees. The session was an important moment to come together to continue to learn, build community and champion our anti-racism work, and included presentations, discussion, and in true Clean Break fashion, time to share a meal together.
In June we opened The Trials and Passions of Unfamous Women at Brixton House, a co-commission as part of London’s International Festival of Theatre (LIFT). We are incredibly proud of this production, which was a new approach for Clean Break. Member artists Athena Maria, Yvonne Wickham, Sarah-Jane Dent, Dominique Lavine Wood-Whyte and Kim Teresa (KT) Marsh devised the work led by Janaina Leite, Lara Duarte and Rachel Valentine Smith, and explored stories of women who have faced judgement across time.
Clean Break held its second ever Members Festival in July. Titled Beyond, the festival was co-created by our Festival Committee and showcased our Members’ personal creative projects. Over three days we saw short plays, participated in workshops and enjoyed a dance performance in association with The Place. It was a delight to host Clean Break’s founders at the festival, amongst many guests.
Over summer, our Capital Project works came to their apex with our Welcome Area and Green Room receiving a full makeover. Our Operations Team engaged in a trauma-informed design process, bringing in Members and staff to help inform the design. The result has been a much improved, open, welcoming and more accessible space.
After saying farewell to co-Chairs Alison Frater and Tanya Tracey, we welcomed Josette Bushell-Mingo OBE and Clean Break Member artist Sarah-Jane Dent as new co-Chairs of our Board of Trustees, as well as new Trustee Joni Emery. We are excited to enter a new year with such a broad range of passionate, experienced and skilled women governing our company.
This October we said goodbye to Erin Gavaghan, Clean Break’s Executive Director since 2018. Erin stepped down to move home to Canada and take up the position of Managing Director at Canadian College of Performing Arts. We are so grateful for Erin’s six years at Clean Break, during which time she has spearheaded significant work on company culture, wellbeing, governance and impact measurement. Natasha Bucknor MBE has joined us as Interim Executive Director, and is a brilliant addition to the team while we recruit for the permanent position.
Following the launch of our digital Knowledge Hub last year, this autumn we hosted our first online Film Festival on the platform. The festival showcased films which tell authentic stories of struggle, survival and healing from a range of unique perspectives, from a group of incredible filmmakers. We were glad to be able to include Wings in the festival, a very special short film written by the late Sonya Hale.
Towards the end of October, Radio 4 audiences across the country heard Clean Break’s charity appeal message, beautifully read by our Patron Harriet Walter DBE. Harriet shared some of Member artist Jennifer Joseph’s story, and encouraged listeners to donate to Clean Break, achieving over £10,000 in funds to support our life changing work.
This year marked 25 years in Clean Break’s Kentish Town building. We celebrated this milestone with an event, Women’s Spaces: Landmarks on the Journey, part of the Being Human festival of humanities. Hosted by academic Shona Minson, the event celebrated our work with an exhibition of Laura Dean’s art, a film screening, monologue performances from Clean Break’s canon and a panel discussion.
This November, we announced our new production, Scenes from Lost Mothers, written by acclaimed playwright Gurpreet Kaur Bhatti. The play brings to life the findings of the Lost Mothers research project, and examines how decisions are made about separating imprisoned mothers from their babies and young children. Scenes from Lost Mothers is designed to be performed in educational and professional settings and will be touring in February and March 2024.
Earlier this month, we hosted our biggest fundraiser event yet, Clean Break’s Big Night Out, at The Other Palace. A line-up of talented comedians, singers and performers donated their skills and their time, and helped us put on a fabulously joyful and energetic show, hosted by our new co-Chair Josette Bushell-Mingo and Patron Zawe Ashton.
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2024 saw another successful year of Clean Break’s Members programme. This season, we had the addition of a series of comedy workshops from The Comedy School, and audiences were treated to a hilarious sharing of stand-up routines at the end of the course.
Clean Break’s training offer continued to grow, as we took our popular Leading with Kindness trauma informed training to arts organisations across the country, as well as to Scotland and Ireland.
Our work in prisons and women’s centres continued this year, and we are grateful to have been able to connect with and explore creativity with more participants. A highlight being a series of creative workshops with Young Adults in HMP/YOI Styal, delivered by Artistic Director Anna Herrmann and Associate Artistic Director Lakesha Arie-Angelo, in partnership with Gilly Sharpe at the University of Sheffield, as part of her research on how to improve safety in prison for young women.
Our most heartfelt thanks to all Clean Break Members, Member artists, staff, artists, volunteers, Trustees, Patrons, partners, funders and supporters for another wonderful year of collaboration, courage and change-making through theatre. We wish everyone a restful break and look forward to connecting again in the new year.
