Balisong
"...And we watch American men play with knives on the internet
For entertainment...
Flicking, Spinning, Twisting...they say,
That, is a thing of beauty..."
Balisong is a story about Finlay Richards. A name that everyone at school knows. An average 15 year old boy who just wants to be seen. But you won’t see Finn. You won’t ever meet him. Balisong is a play written for schools as part of the No Knives Better Lives Programme promoting positive and active citizenship among young people when they become aware of a pupil carrying a knife.
Recommissioned twice, Balisong has toured schools in every local authority in Scotland. It was nominated for the Partnership Award at the Herald Society Awards and the Collaboration Award at the Creative Edinburgh Awards in 2018.
In the autumn of 2017 it toured 58 schools and was seen by 12,200 people.
From September 2018 to February 2019 the play visited secondary schools in every local authority across Scotland and was be seen by more than 22,000 pupils.
Jennifer is an award-winning playwright (Scottish Short Play Award, Cumbernauld Theatre) whose plays have been performed all across Scotland. She is a writer and founding member of the Tandem Writing Collective which has so far performed 43 short plays since 2016, 17 of which were written by Jennifer. She was mentored by the Playwright's Studio Scotland and is a member of the Tron Theatre (Glasgow) Maker Programme. Jennifer has written for a number of festivals including the Tron 100 Festival, Dundee Rep Stripped, Formation Festival and the Just Festival at Edinburgh Fringe. She has also written a short play for BBC Radio Drama.
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