NT Connections Festival 2026: Cloud Busting
By Helen Blakeman. Based on the novel by Malorie Blackman.Cloud Busting will be performed by Ash Manor School as part of National Theatre Connections 2026.
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.
Content warnings: Themes of bullying throughout, on-stage violence, references to anxiety and poverty, one sexual reference.