Thursday, 19 Mar
19:45
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7:45pm
Running Time 0 hours
Venue Studio, York Theatre Royal
Cloud Busting by Helen Blakeman (based on the novel by Malorie Blackman)
When Sam wakes up, he fully believes that today will just be another ordinary day – but that’s before Mr Mackie tells Class 8M to write a poem about someone they care about. Unexpectedly, Sam volunteers to write about Davey… Davey was Sam’s friend – not that Sam wanted anyone to know that. While the cool girls in the class thought Davey was ‘well cute in a sad dog sort of way’, the tough boys – Morgan and his crew – just saw Davey as different. Davey liked to dance. Davey liked to look at the clouds and see the shapes they made. Davey liked looking at the world in a different way to everybody else. But no matter how much Sam liked being with Davey, he always denied their friendship. Then one day, the bullying goes a step too far… but will Sam step in to help his friend? It’s not the ordinary day Sam thought it was going to be.
Helen Blakeman is an award-winning writer for stage and screen, winning the George Devine Award for her debut play Caravan and a BAFTA award for her BBC adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s Dustbin Baby, which also won an International Emmy Award.
Helen has written for long-running TV series such as Hollyoaks and Call the Midwife but is best known for her original and controversial Channel 4 film Pleasureland, and the children’s series Hetty Feather.
For film, Helen is the screenwriter of Lucy Lost, an adaptation of the Michael Morpurgo novel Listen to the Moon, for Xilam Animation, Paris and Maria, an adaptation of a Ukrainian novel for E.D. Films Canada and Animagrad Animation, Kyiv.
Helen is also the former Chair of the BAFTA Children’s Committee and trustee of the Everyman & Playhouse Theatres, Liverpool.
Malorie Blackman has written over 70 books for children and young adults, including the highly acclaimed Noughts & Crosses, which was was voted as one of The 100 Greatest Children’s Books of All Time in a 2023 BBC Culture Poll (one of only fourteen books published in the 21st Century to make the list).
Malorie has written for the eleventh series of Doctor Who co-writing the episode Rosa with Chris Chibnall. This episode won TV Show of the Year for ‘making a positive social impact’ at the inaugural Visionary Honours at BAFTA. Her work has also been adapted for TV, including with the BAFTA winning 6 part adaptation of Pig-Heart Boy, and Noughts + Crosses for BBC One. Noughts & Crosses has also been adapted for stage by the RSC, Pilot Theatre (Winner of Excellence in Touring, UK Theatre Awards 2019), and Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. A stage adaptation of Pig-Heart Boy premiered at the Unicorn Theatre in 2025 in co-production with Sheffield Theatres and Children’s Touring Partnership.
