Why is the Sky Blue? at the Southwark Playhouse

The result of a year’s worth of research, Abbey Wright’s new play Why is the Sky Blue explores the difficult subject of child pornography. Alberto Tondello considers this piece of work and how a controversial topic has been rendered for the London stage.

To put on stage a show about pornography performed by thirteen youths aged between six and twenty-two might seem like a hazardous, inappropriate idea. Yet this is what Abbey Wright, director and founder of Tackroom Theatre, envisaged with her latest creation ‘Why is the sky Blue?’. The project began in 2017, when Abbey travelled around the UK to ask children and teenagers questions about pornography, love, and relationships. The answers that she collected became the raw material for the show, as they are reported verbatim by the cast performing on stage. While remaining true to the experiences encountered, the report soon becomes performance, combining spoken words, singing, dancing, and even tap dancing.

It is Lewis Elliott, aged fifteen years old, who sets the tone of the piece, storming on stage with incredible energy and introducing the theme of pornography with such simplicity and nonchalance that the audience cannot help but laugh at, taken aback and amused by the clash that will determine the entire show. “I am Lewis, I am 15, and I watch porn” says the boy who presents himself as the producer, calling on stage twelve other boys and girls to help him disclose in musical form the words of about 10,000 children and teenagers. Taking a seat on each of the mismatched chairs on stage—the only stage furniture other than the piano which will accompany the music acts—the thirteen young performers introduce themselves according to the group they will represent: female or male, bisexual or transgender, kid or teenager. They all wear headphone sets around their neck, used to screen the younger kids from the most inappropriate content of the show.

The musical is finally ready to kick off. Each and every song is performed impeccably by extraordinary talented kids, singing in different harmonies, dancing and moving with ease across the stage. Amongst my favourite songs appear “Junk Food”, a hilarious song presenting the perspective of teenage boys, “Anything goes”, showcasing the range of pornography readily available online, and a song pointing out how any kind of porn is quintessentially targeted for the male gaze. The variety of songs attests to the particularly inclusive and well-rounded discussion on pornography offered by the show, taking into account the voices of different ages, genders, and sexual orientations. The performance intelligently tackles the various facets of a complex and delicate theme, touching on porn and mental health, pornography addiction, and the fetishisation of transgender people and minorities. This array of sub-topics produces an emotional rollercoaster, moving from the serious to the hilarious and the thoughtful to the light-hearted. The overall result is to finally leave the audience amused but slightly concerned at the exposure of young people to the world wide web.

While the songs constitute the show’s forte, ‘Why is the Sky Blue?’ is much more than just a musical, alternating between songs, intimate moments mimicking one-to-one interviews, and more direct engagement with the audience. Similarly, the show is more than an amusing and witty commentary on porn. Towards the end, the show slowly transitions to a more broader reflection on human connections, with a particularly touching speech brilliantly delivered by six year old Tiani Hoath, and a song about mother and child relation sung in different harmonies and tempos by the entire cast sat in circle. Every word, be it spoken or sung, strikes forcefully, communicating the honesty of an experience lived and felt, not memorised and acted.

If pornography, as the last song acknowledges, will always be a slightly inappropriate topic of conversation amongst teenagers and adults alike, ‘Why is the Sky Blue?’ offers a great example of how the topic can be addressed in a pertinent, highly entertaining, and informative way. ‚Why is the Sky Blue?’ is at Southwark playhouse until the 16th of May; Go see how the inappropriate is appropriately sung and discussed.

Why is the Sky Blue is playing until the 19th May, 2018.