Shelter

Originally  written for National Theatre Connections, this one act play explores  homelessness and its effects on a group of young people. Shelter is a  political play but it is not the agitprop of the seventies. The anger is  understated. A fragment of society is portrayed without comment and the  audience is left to make up its mind about how our society causes  homelessness and deals with it. The play is structured as scenes  interspersed with monologues when characters reveal themselves.

The author the play, Simon Bent, said: "I  found Shelter a very upsetting play to write because I kept on being  drawn into situations where things were intolerable. Young people leave  home because they are being beaten or sexually abused or there is not  enough room for them at home. And all the time legislation is making it  more difficult for them to survive. The problems for the homeless  include the cold, sickness, their vulnerability, the loss of dignity.  But I think the worst thing must be the sheer terror inside, the fact  that anybody could come up and give them a severe beating and no one  would care."