Burying Your Brother in the Pavement

A play about grief and looking at someone that little bit more closely.

Tom's brother Luke is dead. This has upset a lot of people but it hasn't upset Tom. Or, rather, it has upset him, but in ways he can't explain and other people can't understand. You see, Tom and Luke were never friends. In fact, Tom didn't really like Luke at all.

So it's an odd decision - to try and bury Luke in the pavement of the Tunstall Estate where he was killed. But to Tom, it sort of makes sense, in a stupid-weird kind of way. As he sleeps out on the pavement, he comes across planning officials, tramps, undertakers, police officers, sisters, mothers, estate agents, ghosts, pavement elephants, sky dragons and a strange lad called Tight who wants to sell him a Travelcard.

Written specifically for young people, Burying Your Brother in the Pavement was part of the 2008 National Theatre Connections Festival and was premiered by youth theatres across the UK.



Jack Thorne's plays for the stage include 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 Dürrenmatt'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.



'Holds a central place within the canon of challenging plays for young people... full of fantastic, carefully crafted characters... challenges the audience to rethink their relationships with those closest to them'