Big Brum Project Learning Resources

The Monuments Trilogy

Exploring who, how and why we remember

‘Socially Distant’ is a monodrama from Big Brum and written by Chris Cooper that explores what happens when humans are deprived of real connection. It explores the story of a teacher in isolation working through the death of his son.

‘Socially Distant’ is part two of three of our ‘Monuments Trilogy’. The concept links two new plays to Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’. (The third play in this series is ‘Over the Balcony’). Through each play in the trilogy, we explore the themes found in Shakespeare’s classic text: repression, disconnection, isolation and civil dissonance.

The intention of the adults at the end of the trilogy to build a monument to remember the two pivotal young people with whom we’re so familiar. This is especially relevant in an era where we are questioning who, how and why we remember, for example the Black Lives Matter movement’s crumbling of statues and monuments in efforts to end the continued social and racial injustice across the world.

‘Socially Distant’ has also served as a stimulus to the ‘To Be Project’ and for a research project involving Birmingham City University, Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Worcester and Big Brum. ‘Socially Distant - Stories from Beyond the Screen’ explores the impact of a hybrid theatre in education approach on Initial Teacher Education, with a specific focus on the education of new/early career drama teachers during the 2020-22 global pandemic. See blog and film for further details.