Britney’s Lock by Alexandra Wood

Age guidance:  14+
Content guidance:  Mild sexual references, strong language and themes of anxiety.

When Ruby acquires a lock of Britney Spears’ hair as a relic to help her stay calm during her GCSE mocks, her friends dismiss it, but one by one they feel its power and want a piece of it, until it is destroyed. This funny play about how we cope in stressful situations, explores the power of belief and friendship.

About the writer
Alexandra Wood is a playwright from London. Her plays include The Tyler Sisters and The Empty Quarter (Hampstead Theatre); Never Vera Blue (Futures Theatre/Edinburgh Fringe); The Initiate and The Human Ear (Paines Plough); Ages (Old Vic New Voices); a translation of Manfred Karge’s Man to Man (Wales Millennium Centre); Merit (Plymouth Drum); Unbroken (Gate); and The Eleventh Capital (Royal Court). Adaptations include: Kate Summerscale’s The Suspicions of Mr Whicher (Watermill Theatre); Kavita Puri’s Silence (co-writer, Donmar/Tara Theatre); and Jung Chang’s Wild Swans (Young Vic). Audio plays include: Descent (Audible Originals) and Twelve Years (BBC Radio 4). She is a past winner of the George Devine Award, and has been playwright-in-residence at Paines Plough. Her plays are published by Nick Hern Books.

Connections is the National Theatre’s annual, nationwide youth theatre festival, celebrating the creativity and talent of young people across the UK. Now in its 31st year, the programme has a proud history of empowering the next generation of theatre-makers.