Promenade Court Drama THE INQUEST to Open at The Big House

Uncovering the tragic reality of what happens when a young person in care turns 18 and state support abruptly falls away, The Inquest pulls back the curtain on a UK care system plagued by fragmented mental health services and institutional neglect. Performances will run 25 Nov – 19 Dec.

Staged as a promenade production, audiences move from room to room as the narrative unfolds around them. The play follows David, a foster father fighting for accountability three years after his son, Jordan, took his own life shortly after aging out of care. Plunged into the Coroner's Court to examine how everything spiralled so quickly, David faces a clinical legal process where he discovers a father's love carries no authority against hurdles of judicial procedure.

Created in dialogue with INQUEST, the UK's leading charity specialising in state-related deaths, the drama was conceived after Artistic Director Maggie Norris sat on an inquest jury and witnessed systemic failures firsthand. Co-developed alongside writer James Meteyard through The Big House's Open House Project, The Inquest asks how the failures of fragmented services can be exposed, accountability enforced, and preventable deaths ended.

The Inquest exposes the dangerous cliff-edge care-leavers face; in England, they are four times more likely to die between the ages of 18 and 24 than their peers, with more dying at 18 than at any other age. While local authorities hold a legal duty of care up to age 25, vulnerable young adults are forced to transition overnight from high-touch support to independent living, falling through the cracks between Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) and adult services while in crisis.

The Open House Project (OHP) is The Big House's flagship bi-annual programme. Each OHP provides an intensive 12 weeks of support and training, and culminates in an original, full-scale theatre production charged by the collective lived experience of the participating care-affected young people, whilst safeguarding individual stories.

Director Maggie Norris said, “Serving on an inquest jury unveiled a devastating truth: the shocking, calculated lengths to which institutions will go to shield themselves from failure. Yet, out of that darkness, a light endures. This play was born from the tragic, preventable loss of an inspirational young man whose life should have been saved. While it does not tell his story, his unbroken spirit breathes through every moment, transforming an institutional failure into a living memory and the memories of all of those young people who have been failed by the very hands meant to guide and protect them.”

Writer James Meteyard said, “When researching ahead of writing this show I was shocked at the repeated patterns of systemic failures I kept seeing. It felt like some of the systems designed to protect young people can run like faulty train lines, transporting them from A to B, often arriving late, breaking down, and without anyone on board to ask for help. What young people need is a garden to grow in. Anyone who has tried to get a straight answer out of a public body will recognise the fight at the heart of this piece.”

The Big House is a London-based production company and arts charity creating original, risk-taking work with care-affected young people. With smash-hit productions at the Edinburgh Fringe, national tours in partnership with the UK's leading regional venues, including Bristol Old Vic, The Lowry and the Belgrade Theatre, and site-specific productions, The Big House consistently produces world-class work charged by the lived experience of their membership. Its productions have won six Off West End Awards, including a One-Off Award for Artistic Director Maggie Norris, and Theatre Weekly's Best of the Fest Best Director Award for Blaze FM. The Big House has also received two international LOVIE Awards, the Centre for Social Justice Born to Be Award and the Achates Corporate Philanthropy Prize, and was the Department for Digital, Media, Culture and Sport's 2025 Charity of the Year.