Skip to main content
National Student Drama Festival Logo National Student Drama Festival
Donate
What's On
What We Do
What We Do
What is NSDF all about?
Our Yearly Festival NSDF CREATES The Bigger Room Project
Taking Part in the Festival
Taking Part in the Festival
How do I take part in NSDF?
How to Enter a Show Joining the Festival Team Write for Noises Off
Support Us
Support Us
How can you support NSDF's work?
Our Supporters Make a Donation Leave a Legacy Alumni Supporters Scheme
Our Story
Our Story
Find out more about the 65 year old Festival.
Our Mission Our History Our Principles Our People Our Alumni
The Fourth Wall
The Fourth Wall
Read articles from Noises Off, our Festival Magazine, and catch the latest from Team NSDF at Blogs & News
Blogs & News Noises Off
Noises Off Article

Broken heart

Published on
17th April 2019

Liam Rees processes the deep-sinking pain of Yen

Share this article

Jesus fuck.


Yen is the first show of the festival where I’ve had to take a long walk afterwards to process everything. On that walk I felt a lot of feelings I’ve not felt in a while.

 

My heart is full of anger

That you care more about the fucking dog


 

That the boys can never totally relax

“You look just like him”

and she knows how much that hurts Hench

Is this a piece of poverty porn?

That yet another female protagonist’s character

development revolves around sexual assault

 

My heart is full of sadness.

Because you can’t help everyone

That he’s doing his best and that’ll never enough

Because trauma seems to beget trauma

That Hench’s existence is a potential threat

That Yen can’t seem to help herself

That on the walk home my existence is a potential threat

to any woman walking alone nearby

 

My heart is full of love.

I know that boy that’s struggling to cope.

I know that boy that doesn’t want to turn into his dad.

I want him to learn to love and be loved.

I want him to be held and to grow

but I don’t want her to have to fix him.

She’s already given enough.

 

My heart is full of hope.

I’ve seen broken boys learn to love.

I’ve seen girls shattered by sexual assault

rebuild themselves.

I hope to see this broken society build itself up again.


 

My heart is full of Yen.


 

@noffmag / noff@nsdf.org.uk

Latest from Noises Off

Latest from Noises Off

See all
NSDF 2020

A timely pause

14th April 2020

We don't need to fill the theatre void with recordings – we need to take time to grieve, says Liam Rees.

Find out more
NSDF 2020

Technical Talk

13th April 2020

Marina Johnson finds out about life as a theatre technician.

Find out more
NSDF 2020

Voices heard

11th April 2020

Shanaé Chisholm reflects on Winsome Pinnock's workshop about writing trauma.

Find out more

Sign-up to our newsletter

Sign-up for our newsletter
Follow us
Facebook Twitter Instagram Youtube
Contact Us Coming to the Festival Frequently Asked Questions Festival Awards Young Person Protection Policy Website Accessibility Privacy Policy
© National Student Drama Festival Made by Grandad
Sign-up to our newsletter

Sign up to our newsletter to stay up to date on all our upcoming events, information and news. Read our Privacy Policy to learn more about how we process your data.