Broken entwines three disparate lives as they shatter across a single fateful night in the heart of Australia's desert country.
Midnight. Central desert. A Troop-Carrier rolls through the bush, trapping its sole occupant- Ash- upside-down, inside the car. Ham- a local SES volunteer- comes across the accident. He CBs into Alice Springs for an ambulance and goes into emergency response: cutting Ash loose from the car, stabilising her, administering CPR.
In a house on a rural block outside Alice Springs, Mia is gripped by grinding stomach cramps; enough to bring a woman to her knees. She's alone way out here, trying to hang on to the tiny life growing inside her.
Ash finally gasps her way back to life- broken, but intact. Ham waits for the ambulance to arrive and does what he's trained to do: bandages her bleeding head, splints her broken leg, lights a fire to ward off the night. He keeps her talking, cracks bad jokes, takes her mind off herself. Makes her feel warm, and safe.
Mia hangs on to her baby with everything she's got. If her husband were here, he'd know how to help. He's trained for it. But he's not here. And she has no idea where he is.
As a single fraught night unfolds, time shifts on its axis and three worlds collide: from the past to the present, and back again- scattering broken pieces of empty along the way.
Broken wrestles with matters of chance, choice, hope and fate, posing the question: When you find yourself empty, how do you start again? (australianplays.org)