A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here – ThisEgg / Shoreditch Town Hall, London

A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here asks important questions about the role and freedom of the arts while also bringing a personal catharsis (I hope) for its creator.

Content warning: contains mentions of violence and harm, real or projected, to children.

A Little Inquest Into…

On the way home from A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here, I was thinking about putting together my dream programme from productions I’ve recently seen.  I think Oh My Pain, My Beautiful Pain! to start proceedings.  It pairs very well with today’s production in the way it draws on unrealised projects and questions the notion of growth through painful experience.  And – here is the dark horse – I would finish with The Rite of Spring by Dewey Dell.  Firstly because the two earlier shows deserve a finale bursting with freedom and unrestrained energy.  And secondly because the motif of a worm wending its way across the stage seems to be very in vogue this season. So it would tie in nicely.

But we’re talking about the meat in that imagined theatrical sandwich today. A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here.  It’s first hand experience for Josie Dale-Jones (written by Abbi Greenland), who we first meet wriggling her way across the stage in what looks like a bright pink garment bag. Or make that a body bag? Dale-Jones was the creator of another show in 2022.  Only nobody ever saw that one.  The inquest we’re now attending looks at what happened, and the practical and emotional fallout.

Because, you see, that earlier show was The Family Sex Show.  A show for a family audience that reimagined how to talk about relationships and bodies with young people.  Taken out of context, you can imagine how quickly the furore got out of hand.  Or can you?  Dale-Jones’s inquest format has us sit through verbatim quotes and clips from podcasts, letters and emails.  We listen to suggestions of how she should kill herself, accusations of paedophilia and child sex trafficking, and strange forays into nostalgia for the innocence of childhood.  Everyone, seemingly, had an opinion.  It’s shocking to listen to. But, again, nobody saw the play they were so upset about. The front lines of the culture wars are more about manufactured than genuine outrage, it would seem.

…What We Are All Doing Here

The bomb threats and the withdrawal of Arts Council funding spelled the end for The Family Sex Show.  It lives on as a ghost in this new work.  I would love to be able to stream that song about the clitoris on Spotify: very funny.  It’s a shame that, as Dale-Jones notes, adults’ comfort seemed to be more important, in the end, than empowering children with the language and confidence to speak about their experiences, set boundaries, and feel safe.  The trolls accused the company of brainwashing children with a leftist agenda.  The inevitably sad thing is that some children are exposed to harmful relationships and experiences even if they are “protected” from progressive theatre. Only they may not have the words to get the help they need.

Just to go on another short rant while I’m on a roll, the role of the inquest in British society is one of my bug bears as a relative outsider.  It’s the ultimate way to delay, distract, and ensure nothing really changes.  I think a lot more would get done in this country if we commissioned Dale-Jones to run our inquests.  They would be more interesting, for a start.  But the way she combines different theatrical techniques from her repertoire perfectly balances the factual and emotional fallout she experienced. It’s very powerful.

At first, it seems remarkable that she came through that trolling and hysteria so well. It’s only when the play diverts from the inquest format into a song and dance number, imagined conversations, and the deep recesses of the psyche, that we get a glimpse of how deeply the reaction to her show impacted Dale-Jones’ sense of self and purpose. Which brings us to consider: what are we all doing here? And what do we do if our view of the world and of what a meaningful contribution to it looks like suddenly seems to be anathema to so many?

As I’ve mentioned, Dale-Jones uses her well-stocked theatrical toolkit to create an interesting and varied format. It is mostly a solo performance, but she is joined towards the end by Laurence Baker who helps bring a different dimension to proceedings. The lighting (James Mackenzie) and costume design are fab, and I liked the simple off-centre set design. It doesn’t feel like Dale-Jones quite has closure, yet, but this Inquiry is part of an important conversation about the limits of creative freedom.

Salterton Arts Review’s rating: 4/5

A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here on until 15 March 2025. More info and tickets here.