After a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe festival last year, Izzy Tennyson’s Brute arrives in London from the 15th to the 19th March. 

Izzy Tennyson’s play is based on the brutal true story of a twisted and horrible schoolgirl 

Izzy Tennyson’s play is based on the true story of a twisted and horrible school girl. It is a fearless and truthful piece of writing that contains a twisted sense of humour.

Being 14 is an awful age you know… You’re not a very nice person at 14.

No one knows this better than new girl Poppy who’s just started at an all-girls state school in a provincial English town. There are rules with no logic, sadistic jokes that aren’t actually funny and the most sinister games played out of boredom. And, you better not be fat or clever or you’re f*cked.

Brute is set in a girls’ school in an English town far away from cultural influences, as it explores the memories of the protagonists intense female friendships which escalate into violence.

Tennyson wrote the piece as a dramatic monologue and is based on girls from Tennyson’s peer group. It looks closely at themes of bullying and female violence as well as the complexity of teenage girls friendships.

The play is being presented at the Soho Theatre as part of the Soho Rising season this spring. It is performed by Izzy Tennyson and directed by Hannah Hauer-King.

The Scotsman said of the production: “Tennyson is a master at making her audience snort with laughter one second only to gasp in horror the next, as the terrible implications of what she’s just said sink in. She’s created a compulsively watchable, strangely relatable, and profoundly disturbed character, who leaves you torn between the desire to give her a stern telling off and to hug her and save her from the world.”

Izzy Tennyson’s work is comprised of play-writing, stand-up comedy, poetry and performing her own autobiographical work and immersive theatre. She has written several plays including On Hold which was well received at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013.

Hannah Hauer-King is a freelance-director and co-founder of Damsel Productions. More recently, she has acted as resident assistant director at the Soho Theatre and artistic associate for Nomadic Theatre in Washington DC.

Brute will appear at the Soho Theatre from the 15th to the 19th March. Tickets cost £15 (12.50 concessions). For more information and to book tickets visit: http://www.sohotheatre.com/whats-on/brute/