To mark Big Brum's 25th birthday we have been inviting individuals and organisations to share in our celebration and reflect on our work with young people over the last twenty-five years.

Speeches and contributions:

Edward Bond, Playwright, Big Brum Associate Artist-'Young Civilization' Download file

Shami Chakrabarti, Director of Liberty, Big Brum Patron Download file.

Letters and messages of support:

Elisabeth Bond, The Child and the Toad-The need for Drama Download file

Prof. Tim Brighouse, Former Chief Education Officer of Birmingham City Council Download file

Martyn Collin, Principal Adviser, Directorate of Children, Young People and Families, Birmingham City Council Download file

David Davis, Professor of Drama in Education, University of Central England Download file

Mandy Finney, Teacher at a Pupil Referral Unit and ex-Big Brum member Download file

Dorothy Heathcote Download file

Charlotte Jones, Chief Executive, Independent Theatre Council Download file

Sally Luton, Regional Executive Director, Arts Council England, West MidlandsDownload file

Sorrel Oates, Head of Drama, Hasland Hall Community School Download file

Kate Organ, Creative Consultant; Arts Adviser to The Baring Foundation Download file

Simon Richey, Education Director, Gulbenkian Foundation Download file

Bill Roper, Social Psychologist, UCE Birmingham Download file

Prisca Schmidt, Institut Universitaire de Formation des Maitres, Lille, France Download file

Alan Swapp, Big Brum Stage Manager, The Balancing Act, 2006 Download file

Steve Williams, Editor, Teaching Thinking and Creativity Magazine Download file

Download our latest newsletter from here.

Click here to read the review of The Under Room in the Guardian.

We got some reviews in Bergen, Norway on our participation at the first Mini-Midi-Maxi Festival. Click here and check them out for yourselves.

Click here to read the article about Chris Cooper's workshop at the Festival.

'Edward Bond and the Dramatic Child' is a new book edited by Professor David Davis. It is the first book in English to fully explain Edward Bond's new form of theatre. Bond argues that drama helps children "to know themselves and their world and their relation to it". The book discusses all his important plays for young people and offers case studies of particular productions. The plays that Edward Bond has written for Big Brum are at the heart of this important book.

The contributors to the book are: Edward Bond, David Allen, Chris Cooper (Big Brum's Artistic Director), Tony Coult, David Davis, John Doona, Kate Katafiasz, and Bill Roper.

To order a copy of the book, contact Trentham Books

The Geoff Gillham Memorial International Fellowship Award aims to develop Big Brum's work internationally by creating works with fellow artists from other countries.

This is a living memorial to Geoff Gillham, our colleague and friend who died in 2001.

Adam Bethlenfalvy, who joined us from Round Table TIE in Hungary to become the second recipient of the Geoff Gillham Memorial International Fellowship Award, has recently returned to his home town of Budapest after an extended two-year stay with the Company. He rejoins Round Table as joint Artistic Director. We would like to thank him for his contribution to the work and wish him the best of luck in his new post.

Big Brum will be planning the third of these fellowships in the near future.

The first recipient of this award Ghandi Saber joined us from The Noor Al Hussein Performing Arts Center, Amman, Jordan in August and worked for the Company until December 2002 for our 'Of Birth and Death' TIE Programme. Ghandi’s performance as Semmelweis in the programme was truly remarkable, given that when he got off the plane he could hardly make himself understood in English. Ghandi’s presence in many of our schools where there is a very high proportion of Asian and Arabic speaking pupils was a particular boon to the work, stirring real interest from, and instilling greater confidence in, many of the boys we worked with. All of us associated with Big Brum would like to thank Ghandi for his contribution to our work and share the sincere hope that his time with us will prove to be a source of development for TIE in Jordan.