At the end of 2024 I received public funding from Arts Council England for a 2 week R&D of my first full length, multi-character play 'Virtuous'.
Virtuous explores a kind of dystopian reality where low income and working class young people can pay for their university tuition with their bodies through formalised sex work. We see 5 girls navigate the world of education, growing up, and adulthood, through: relationships, play, sessions, and consent. We see them come to terms with talking about sex in a world where it isn’t acceptable and then we see them in the workplace after they have graduated. Everything has changed but nothing has changed. Work is everything, sex is work. The play explores sex, consent, intimacy, relationships, work, transactions, misogyny, queerness and sexual trauma.
The project involved 5 actors, a dramaturg, a director, access support, photographer and many more creatives.
I facilitated workshops with Chol Theatre and Staying Put in Bradford as part of the development process and now have a brand new finished draft to submit to prizes. The 2 weeks ended in a 30 minute sharing in the Lyceum Rehearsal Room that was extremely well received.
Feedback from sharing:
"I’d definitely want to see the full play, I think it says something really important and opens up necessary discussions which get overlooked and under-explored both culturally and legislatively."
"Massive well done to everyone involved, the acting was absolutely stellar from every person, and I desperately want to see more."
"I would love to see a full length version of the play! I think most people can connect with this piece but I'd defo say people over 20 would be impacted the most 😊"
"Contemporary, Provocative, Brave. Exploring unprincipled sexual behaviour, survival, denial and ownership."
"I loved the energy between the women and the shared histories, I loved the incorporation of movement as in some moments of unison or stillness. The class elements really resonated. "
