ALL Cannings mum Annie Cooper has used her experiences as a therapist in Bosnia following the civil war in the former Yugoslavia in a new play she has written, due to be premiered at the Wharf Theatre in Devizes this month.

Mrs Cooper, an award-winning actress and playwright, wrote Broken Wing to draw parallels between children who have suffered trauma in war zones and adopted children who yearn to discover their birth families.

She said: “At first sight you wouldn’t think these two categories would have anything in common. I heard some dreadful stories while I was in Bosnia and I have used some of them in this play.

“But adopted children have their traumas too. Not comparable with those of refugee children, of course, but serious for them and they need help to find a way through.”

Zara, played by local actress Laura Bartle, is a therapist working with traumatised children and she is very successful at it. She is currently counselling Layee, a refugee girl played by Devizes School student Sophie Wilson, who came through unimaginable ordeals in her home country, which is not named in the play.

Unfortunately, Zara is less successful handling the problems of her 16-year-old daughter, Thea, played by Urchfont resident Bea Watts, who wants to return to her birth mum, Lucy. Lucy, however, has problems of her own and the last thing she needs is another problem teenager on her hands.

Director Lewis Cowen said: “It all sounds a bit grim, but Annie Cooper is an excellent writer who leavens the desperate stuff with a wonderful vein of humour.

“There is a wonderful message in this play, which says that, no matter what horrors you endure in life, where there’s life, there’s hope.”

Broken Wing runs at the Wharf Theatre from Tuesday, June 19 to Saturday, June 23 at 7.30pm. Tickets are available online at wharftheatre.co.uk or by ringing 03336 663 366.