Three Birds

A startling and darkly comic drama about childhood, family and fantasy. Winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting, and adapted into a six-part BBC television drama, Just Act Normal.

Siblings Tiana, Tionne and Tanika have found themselves home alone. Tiana's keeping it all together by taking charge of housework and homework.

But Tionne's experiments are getting stranger and Tanika's starting to act up. As the outside world begins to press in, the three will do anything to keep their secret safe from the adults who come to call.

Janice Okoh's play Three Birds won the 2011 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting and was first performed at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in 2013 before transferring to the Bush Theatre, London.

It was adapted into an acclaimed six-part television drama for BBC3, Just Act Normal, first broadcast in 2025.

'A play that is as humane as it is savage... as funny as it is alarming. It is written with as much warmth as it is with truth. It's funny and theatrical and alert and alive. It's terrific.' Simon Stephens, playwright and Chair of the Judges for the 2011 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting

Blog entry: Janice Okoh on how Three Birds evolved in rehearsal. 'I met Suzanne Bell, my dramaturg, and Sarah Frankcom, the director, several times over the year and each time we discussed how we should go about improving the play...' Read on >>