Online and on stage: Young voices are wired into new production
Mortal Fools’ Ensemble Young Company promise to bring humour and heart to a timely exploration of life in a digital world
A new youth-led theatre production touring the North East this month is tackling one of the most urgent and complex questions facing young people today: what does it really mean to grow up online?
Devised and performed by 10 young people from across Northumberland, WIRED is the latest production from Mortal Fools Ensemble Young Company – and it promises to be as thoughtful as it is entertaining.
Billed as “a powerful, funny and honest exploration” of young people’s experiences, hopes and fears around technology, the show places real voices centre stage at a time when debates about digital life have never been louder.
Created in collaboration with professional artists from the Ashington-based theatre and creative learning charity Mortal Fools, WIRED is rooted in co-creation. Every element of the production has been shaped by the young company themselves, drawing on their perspectives of a world where the online and offline are increasingly inseparable.
At its heart, the show explores how constant connection is shaping who we are?
The origins of WIRED lie in a striking statistic. As Mortal Fools’ lead artistic practitioner Zoe Lamming explains, the creative team began with a provocation that sparked debate among the group.
“Last summer, we read an article that said that half of young people would prefer to grow up in a world without the internet.
“That caught our attention and so we brought it to the young people and started discussing it - did they agree with it? What were their thoughts? What opinions did they have that landed somewhere in the middle between getting rid of the internet and having it be an ever-present part of our lives?”
From that starting point, the process became exploratory and collaborative. Rather than imposing a narrative, the creative team facilitated a devising process that allowed ideas to emerge organically through discussion, improvisation and experimentation.
“To start with, we responded in loads of creative ways - we did writing tasks, improvised scenes, created locations and characters, and continually kept discussing what we made,” Zoe says.
This open-ended approach is central to Mortal Fools’ ethos. Each year, the Ensemble Young Company creates an entirely new full-length production, shaped by the interests and experiences of the young people involved.
For the young participants, turning such a vast and complex topic into a cohesive performance was both exciting and challenging.
“It’s easy but it’s hard at the same time – easy because there’s so much but hard because there’s so much!” says Ensemble member Emily. “You don’t really know what to do with it all. You can’t put everything in the show because it would be too long!”
Early exercises helped the group begin to shape their ideas into something theatrical.
Participant Charlie recalls one of the first creative sparks: “We started with the internet. The first thing I remember was the scene we created about online safe places and the dark spaces on the internet. We imagined what it was like if you actually lived inside those spaces and created that into a short performance.”
From there, the group began to develop characters that embodied different aspects of online life.
“We got given a prompt and then the staff sat us all in a circle with a gingerbread man which helped us make characters together,” explains Ensemble member Alex.
“We made characters that reflected important things on the internet - for example George reflected misogyny, Seb reflected what happens if you just try and take the internet away from young people completely.”
These characters became anchors for the storytelling, allowing the group to explore big ideas through personal, relatable narratives.
Zoe says what emerges from WIRED is not a simple cautionary tale about screen time or social media, but a more layered exploration of the digital environment young people inhabit.
“There’s a big theme around how entwined our lives are with technology, for all generations. But for young people especially it’s around how they are interacting with others - they are all in constant connection with each other through the internet and this feels really important to them, and is a thing that they often find adults don’t quite understand.”
This tension between generations - and differing perspectives on digital life - runs throughout the piece. The show acknowledges both the positives and the risks of being online.
“Positives are that you can do so much and that it helps fuel connection between people,” Zoe explains. “Negatives are how easy it is for negative content to reach young people and impact them, and who is behind our screens keeping watch over it all.”
For the young performers, capturing that complexity was essential.
As Alex puts it: “It’s pretty deep. It’s two very good and different perspectives on how people use the internet, it shows that not everyone has the same experience, everyone’s experience is unique. It plays with your emotions because you’ve got humour and then you’ve also got some scenes that are really deep.”
Emily agrees: “It’s very diverse and there’s lots of different things going on but that’s just like what the internet is like really, it’s very broad.”
What they hope sets WIRED apart is its authenticity. Rather than presenting an adult interpretation, the show is built directly from the voices of those living these experiences.
“I want them to think about how to use the internet better,” says Emily, when asked what she wants audiences to take away from the production. “Because some people think it’s either use it all the time or cut it off completely but you can have somewhere in the middle where you can use it safely with an adult’s help.”
Fellow ensemble performer Aleysha hopes the piece will challenge assumptions: “A mix of emotions and at the end I want them to second guess their opinions on what their views on the internet were previously.”
That sense of questioning - rather than preaching - is key. The show doesn’t offer easy answers, because the reality it explores is anything but simple.
Even within the group, there was no single consensus on the “right” way to navigate digital life.
Zoe says: “Digital dangers are so broad and complex, we never reached a consensus about what feels like the solution, especially as the world grows increasingly digital and young people’s lives are already so entwined with it.”
While WIRED grapples with complex and sometimes uncomfortable realities of life online, it doesn’t lose sight of the joy and energy of youth-led storytelling, balancing its more serious themes with humour, warmth and moments of genuine connection.
As Zoe puts it: “It’s a really fun show with a lot of heart. There are moments which are really funny and moments that are moving and moments that send a shudder down my spine, even after I’ve seen the show so many times through the development process.”
Beyond the themes of the production itself, WIRED is also a testament to the personal development of the young people involved.
“It’s a fun process and it gets me out the house,” says Aleysha. “I get to meet new people who I might never have met otherwise and work beside them and share ideas and make something creative.”
For Charlie, the experience has been transformative: “I’ve got a lot more confident, especially in my acting. Because when I was in Stage 3 at Mortal Fools I did shows that were 20-minutes, but now I’m doing a show that’s over an hour long and I’m getting to act so many emotions.”
This growth is central to Mortal Fools’ mission. The organisation uses drama and co-creation not only as artistic tools, but to support young people’s wellbeing, confidence and leadership skills.
Zoe says she has been particularly struck by the determination of this year’s ensemble: “As a group of young people aged 13-18, they’ve been really committed to the project and given a lot of ideas and energy to our devising process… everyone’s commitment to making this the best show it can be has shone through.”
WIRED arrives at a moment when conversations about young people’s relationship with technology are intensifying. From debates around AI to discussions of potential social media restrictions for under-16s, questions about online safety, identity and connection are firmly in the public spotlight.
Against that backdrop, the production feels both timely and necessary. It offers audiences - particularly adults - a rare opportunity to hear directly from young people about how these issues are experienced in everyday life.
By blending humour, honesty and raw insight, the production aims to capture the contradictions of growing up online: the connection and isolation, the creativity and risk, the freedom and pressure.
WIRED is touring venues across the North East next week, with performances at Gosforth Civic Theatre on April 12 and 13, followed by a final show at Arts Centre Washington on April 16.
The show will also be filmed in collaboration with Meerkat Films for national release, helping it reach a wider audience - from teenagers navigating digital life to parents, educators and anyone interested in understanding its impact.
To book tickets for WIRED, visit gosforthcivictheatre.co.uk or sunderlandculture.org.uk/arts-centre-washington