Clean Break uses theatre to keep the subject of women in prison on the cultural radar, helping to reveal the damage caused by the failures of the criminal justice system. Through our unique work, we raise difficult questions, inspire debate, and help to effect profound and positive change in the lives of women with experience of the criminal justice system.
A women’s theatre company changing lives and changing minds – on stage, in prison and in the community.
Through theatre workshops and projects in prisons, the community and our specialist centre in London, we transform the lives of women who have experienced the criminal justice system or who are at risk of entering it. The Programme offers a range of workshops and performance opportunities led by esteemed female theatre artists, underpinned by comprehensive support.
In 2019 Clean Break produced the critically acclaimed Inside Bitch at the Royal Court Theatre and [BLANK] by Alice Birch at the Donmar Warehouse alongside a national tour of Sweatbox by Chloë Moss. In the same year Clean Break published Rebel Voices: Monologues for Women by Women, celebrating 40 years of the company.
In 2020 Clean Break produced the tours of Not Pretty Like the Rainbow by Daisy King and Sweatbox by Chloë Moss, to criminal justice conference, universities and theatre and our Young Artists Development Programme production of Inside This Box by Yasmin Joseph.
In 2021 we produced the film adaptation of Sweatbox by Chloë Moss and the audio drama Blis-ta by Sonya Hale along with an exhibition celebrating 40 years of ground-breaking theatre: I am a theatre. Our return to live performance began with a small sharing of Members work at our building in Kentish Town, Through This Mist, and came to full fruition with the production of Typical Girls by Morgan Lloyd Malcolm at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield.
