tackroom theatre today announces the world première production, Why is the sky blue? (Or How to Make Slime), devised by the company around a collection of interviews with children from around the UK, it opens in The Little at Southwark Playhouse on 1 May, with previews from 26 April and runs until 19 May.
An extraordinary new show exploring love, connection and the impact of pornography on children.
Searching, fearless, intimate, and with a frank honesty only the young can bring, Why is the sky blue? is drawn from interviews with thousands of children across the UK. The young company perform verbatim songs – from the profound to the very silly – and share the experiences today’s younger generation face in their own words.
With a live score the show will be different every night.
Everyday in the UK, hundreds of children come into contact with pornography via the internet, with children as young as 5 years being exposed to content whilst browsing. Why is the sky blue? is a vital and urgent multi-tiered project that involved meeting over 10,000 children and young people aged between 5 and 22 across the UK to hear their ideas about pornography, love and connection.
Working with hundreds of theatres and schools across the UK and with Barnardo’s this is the largest piece of research ever done on this subject. In addition to creating a production tackroom theatre will launch a digital platform to display their research, as well as a nationwide education project for parents, teachers and children in collaboration with Barnardo’s to change the national conversation.
The company have also launched a Kickstarter project to help fund the production – which has already garnered support from Emma Thompson, Gemma Arterton, Sue Perkins, Dawn French, Harriet Walter, Louise Brealey, Lucy Porter, Lindsay Duncan, Hattie Morahan and Pippa Nixon.
Emma Thompson said today, “I am so excited about this project. It is brilliantly vitally timely. Who isn’t worried about the effects of such easily accessed porn on this generation of kids? Attaching it to discussions about love and connection is a masterstroke. I urge everyone to get behind it. It will help with so many mental health issues, and could actually save lives. Bravo.”
