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== Clean Break ==

Clean Break is a theatre company with an independent education programme, devoted to both bringing the stories of imprisoned women to a wide audience and also using theatre to enable women offenders and those at risk of offending to develop personal, social, professional and creative skills leading to education and employment.

== Foundation ==

Clean Break was set up in 1979 by two women prisoners who believed that theatre could be used to make the public aware of the hidden stories of women in the criminal justice system, and that ethos continues to be integral to the company's work. Clean Break is still the only women’s theatre company of its kind, working to inspire playwrights around the complex theme of women and crime and to enlighten and entertain audiences. They provide high-quality theatre-based courses, qualifications, training opportunities and specialist support which are critical for the rehabilitation of women offenders in prisons and the community. On the stage, they have a reputation for producing ground-breaking and award-winning plays which dramatise women’s experience of, and relationship to, crime and punishment.

Clean Break work exclusively with and only employ women; and have an exemption under the Equality Act(2010, part 1 schedule 9) to allow them to do so. The company states: "Our women-only identity is crucial to our history and rationale, and provides us with the most effective model for representing, understanding and meeting the complex needs of women who offend."

Productions
Clean Break puts on a variety of productions each year, some created by students on their courses, and some written by the plethora of eminent female British playwrights who work with them. During the company's early years, Clean Break was primarily a touring group taking its varied and extremely successful productions across the country and abroad. The list below also includes an example of the reviews each production achieved.

Devised by the Company "I'd never seen anything like it and I'd love to see them again" - John Arden, New Statesman
 * 1979 - Ephemera

Devised by the Company "Outstanding insight into what leads women to prison by those who should know. Compulsive" - The Scotsman (Critics Choice)
 * 1980 - Killers

By Jackie Holborough and Caroline Needs "The inmate humour of this unique group is a prized asset,,,it is more eloquent than a score of white papers" - The Guardian
 * 1983 - Avenues

By Gilli Mebarek "This powerful piece from Gilli Mebarek is both moving and terrifying" - City Limits
 * 1986 - Treading on My Tail

By Jackie Holborough "Totally convincing...living, riveting drama" - The Times "Vivid and atmospheric...a beautifully acted production" - The Guardian "Stunningly performed, Garden Girls is an affirming heart-warming trailblaizer" - City Limits Magazine
 * 1987 - The Garden Girls garden_girls_image_1.jpg

Devised by the Company "Fast and furious, sharp and sussed, this is relevant theatre and good entertainment as well. Go and see it" - Time Out
 * 1989 - Open Secrets

By Bryony Lavery "an unsentimental celebration of female survival in many forms" - City Limits magazine
 * 1990 - Wicked Wicked_Image.jpg

By Paulette Randall "(Paulette Randall) explores a number of complicated issues and relationships which is untypical of polemical theatre" -The Stage
 * 1991 - 24% 24%_Image.jpg

By Sarah Daniels "Depply disturbing yet bitterly funny...it poses a series of vital questions" - Open Mind
 * 1992 - Head-rot Holiday

By Anna Reynolds "Reynold's writing is eloquent, passionate, poetic. A powerful raw piece...the direction and the performances are first rate" - The Sunday Times
 * 1994 - Red

By Louise Page "An excellent production" - Time Out
 * 1995 - Another Nine Months

By Winsome Pinnock "Winsome Pinnock's pacy and fascinating play opens with all the punch and pizzazz of a Hollywood action movie" - The Independent
 * 1996 - Mules Mules_Image.jpg

By Lavinia Murray "Faultless casting, truly imaginative staging, and killer lines that out-Chandler Chandler, make for a chilling but exuberant and entertaining night" - Ham & High
 * 1997 - Goldmines

By Rebecca Prichard "genuine humour and compassion...invigorating and illuminating dialogue” - The Independent
 * 1998 - Yard Gal

By Kara Miller "an articulate and touching play, aided by three strong and unsentimental performances" - The Times
 * 1999 - Hyacinth Blue

By Lin Coughlan "unsentimental yet beautifully poetic" - The Evening Standard
 * 2000 - Apache Tears Apache_Tears_Image.jpg

By Tanika Gupta "Brutal and honest, Gupta's writing - inspired by her time working with women prisoners at HMP Winchester - is relentless in its determination to make you 'feel' rather than watch passively from a distance" - Whatsonstage.com
 * 2002 - Inside Out

By Annie Caulfield "A truthful, tender performance" - EdinburghGuide.com
 * 2003 - Don't Die

By Jennifer Farmer "It is gripping stuff, with confidence in its structure…the pleasure of this play is not just in the storytelling, but in the delicate way it tackles the same issue from many angles" - The Guardian
 * 2004 - Compact Failure

By Shelley Silas "Shelley Silas - the latest playwright commissioned by Clean Break - addresses the issues from within and with compassion, not condescension" - The Stage
 * 2005 - Mercy Fine Mercy_Fine_Image.jpg

By Linda Brogan "Beautifully staged, with atmospheric light and sound, this production is a pleasure to watch." - The Stage
 * 2007 - Black Crows

By Chloe Moss "beautifully written: comic, colourful, full of pain and tenderness and truth...Lucy Morrison's production has a poignant and powerful lucidity" - The Times
 * 2008 - This Wide Night

By Lucy Kirkwood "Yannas, perky and heartbreaking in almost unwatchable equal measure, gives the sort of performance that, were it happening on a west End stage, would sweep up every award going." - The Evening Standard
 * 2009 - it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now

By E V Crowe, Sam Holcroft, Rebecca Lenkiewicz, Chloë Moss, Winsome Pinnock & Rebecca Prichard "Charged is a blisteringly powerful meditation on female experience not only behind bars but on the streets, in rehab, as mothers and as part of the police force. It's striking how the overall tone is not stridently feminist, but quiet and matter-of-fact. Charged feels more urgent for it." - The Guardian
 * 2010 - Charged (6 Short Plays at Soho Theatre)

By Chloë Moss, Rebecca Lenkiewicz & Sam Holcroft "This is naturally beautiful writing that gets you by the windpipe. Don't miss these a second time around." - Time Out
 * 2011 - Re-Charged at Soho Theatre

By Rebecca Prichard "A devastating directness that leaves you feeling lost for words" - The Independent
 * 2011-12 - Dream Pill dream_pill_image_0.jpg

= Education Programme =

Clean Break’s education programme offers a range of free courses and training opportunities throughout the year at their studios in Kentish Town, a women-only space. The courses are available to women with experience of the criminal justice system and women at risk of offending. Through theatre, students are able to explore their creativity and imagination, and work collaboratively to develop their skills and build their confidence.

At the time of writing, Clean Break offered courses in:


 * 1) Women and Anger
 * 2) Dance
 * 3) Introduction to Backstage
 * 4) Performance Level 1
 * 5) English
 * 6) Self Development
 * 7) Introduction to Set and Costume Design
 * 8) Improving your Mental Health
 * 9) Moving On
 * 10) Introduction to Drama
 * 11) Writing for Theatre: Introduction

= Board of Trustees =

Clean Break (atw) has a board of 12 members - all women.

Kim Evans OBE / Chair of the Board Kim Evans has spent an impressive career in the arts. She has been Executive Director of Arts at Arts Council England, Head of Music & Arts at the BBC and has even won a BAFTA for her film Angela Carter's Curious Room. She was awarded her OBE in 2007 for services to the arts.

Jude Boyles

Jude Boyles has been active in feminist campaigns around male violence against women and women in the criminal justice system for over twenty years and has specialised in working in mental health for the last sixteen years. She has also been active in Women's Aid and Rape Crisis movements, and currently manages the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture in the North West.

Rahila Gupta

Rahila Gupta is a freelance journalist, writer and activist; and a longstanding member of the management committee of Southall Black Sisters and chair of the Nihal Armstrong Trust. With Kiranjit Ahluwalia she wrote 'Provoked', the story of a battered woman who killed her violent husband and co-wrote the screenplay based on the book and released as a film in 2007. Her last book, 'Enslaved', on immigration controls, was published in 2007.

Lucy Kirkwood

Lucy Kirkwood is an East London born playwright and was Resident Playwright at Clean Break for two years, during which time she developed and wrote it felt empty when the heart went at first but it is alright now. This play made her joint winner of the Wolff Whiting award, and she was nominated for the Evening Standard’s Most Promising Playwright Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Award. Previous productions include Tinderbox (Bush Theatre 2008), Hedda (Gate Theatre 2008), Bloody Wimmin (Tricycle Theatre’s ‘Women, Power and Politics’ season 2010), as well as short plays for the Sticking Place’s 'Terror' season and the RSC.

Alice Millest

Alice currently works in the Private Debt Group at Ares Capital Europe analysing investment opportunities in integrated private debt and non-control equity financing solutions to the middle market. Alice previously worked at Investec for three years, having joined their Capital Markets Graduate Programme in September 2008. Alice was involved in a number of Social Responsibility projects with Investec, including tutor work at Morpeth School in Bow.

Sonali Naik

Sonali Naik is a barrister specialising in immigration and asylum law and practises from Garden Court Chambers, a well-known group at the forefront of human rights work. She has worked in this field for almost twenty years. Her work is mainly legal aid and she represents those who are at the margins of society. She was the Chair of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants (JCWI) campaigning for fairer immigration policies and the Chair of Tower Hamlets Law Centre, a local community organisation.

Susan J Royce

Susan Royce is a chartered accountant who specialises in working with clients across the cultural sector to develop and implement ambitious programmes for change. From 1991 to 2000 she specialised in corporate recovery work with PricewaterhouseCoopers. In 2000 she established her own cultural consulting practice. She is Treasurer of the Egypt Exploration Society and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Kate Paradine

Kate Paradine is the Strategy Unit Senior Team Leader for the National Policing Improvement Agency and has specialised in analysing the concepts of democracy, citizenship, human rights and feminist theory in the context of domestic, European and International law. In 2001 she published an article in the Yale Journal of International Law - ‘Vision and Reality: Democracy and Citizenship of Women in the Dayton Peace Accords, and she has a PhD in Law. Her thesis title was ‘Women Survivors’ Experiences of Legal Responses to Domestic Violence: Therapeutic Possibilities’

Doreen Foster

Doreen Foster is currently a facilitator and coach for the Clore Short Course, and has worked for years developing strategy using the arts to support mental health. In her illustrious career she has worked for the Arts Council, The Bernie Grant Arts Centre and the Birmingham Partnership For Change, amongst many other significant arts and health organisations.

Despina Tsatas

Despina Tsatas is the Associate Producer for Mark Rubinstein Ltd. Her current (atw) projects include General Management of the War Horse UK Tour 2013/14 on behalf of The National Theatre; developing suitable West End Play projects for 2013; and consulting for companies such as Punchdrunk and The Royal Opera House. She has been the Main House Producer at the Young Vic and worked as the Creative Associate for the Ambassador Theatre Group. Despina also volunteers for the Samaritans (since 2005) and in the process of training to join the Samaritans outreach team visiting HMP Holloway as part of the support provided to those women acting as prison listeners.

Deborah Coles

Deborah Coles has been the Co-Director INQUEST October since 1990, and also works on the Independent Advisory Panel into Deaths in Custody. She has spent many years studying human rights, inquest law, mental health law, discrimination law and policing and is a regular speaker at conferences as well as a published author. Her most relevant publication to her work for Clean Break is being Dying on the Inside: Examining women’s deaths in prison (INQUEST 2008) and a chapter Deaths of women in prison: the human rights issues arising in Women, Punishment and Social Justice Human Rights and Penal Practices Routledge.

Denise White

Denise White is responsible for the successful delivery of regional government policy to end violence against women, resulting in an increase in sexual violence provisions throughout London for women and girls Greater London Authority ‘Violence Against Women Strategy’. She has a longstanding commitment to and interest in criminal justice and tackling community issues, inequality and inextricably linked socioeconomic concerns. The dissertation for her Masters was on Deaths in Police Custody: Exploring race & vulnerable detainees.