A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here, Shoreditch Town Hall review
The lights come up on a pseudo-court room scene: a table jostling with microphones, a jug of water and an uncomfortable looking metal fold out chair are exposed by an interrogative spotlight. As the audience waits expectantly, a figure zipped into a clothes bag wriggles out of the wings crawling and squirming its way towards the table.
From the bag emerges Josie Dale Jones, the protagonist of this semi-autobiographical performance about the high-profile cancellation of her 2022 production The Family Sex Show, a sex education show designed for children and their families.
A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here was staged at Shoreditch Town Hall. Image credit: Alex Brenner.
This entrance sets the tone for what is Dale Jones’ first return to the stage following a vitriolic media frenzy which included bomb threats against theatre venues, the withdrawal of funding from Arts Council England and saw her branded a disgusting monster (and much worse) for wanting to share this content with young audiences.
Over the course of the next hour we learn about the furore that the production incited amongst media commentators, religious groups and political activists – much of which was driven by false rumours. We also get an insight into the mental toll this took on Dale Jones, in a clever and comedic sequence which shows her battling with an imaginary boyfriend over her refusal to start writing again and his perception of her self-imposed high standards of ‘woke’ righteousness. It is a provocative, brave and engaging exploration of censorship, creativity and public debate in the UK.
To her credit Dale Jones is equal parts defiant and apologetic. She exposes both the scale of the backlash and how ill-informed many of its critics were, whilst also reflecting on where mistakes were made in the creation of The Family Sex Show and the supporting materials shared online. Extracts from real-life abusive emails and letters received by Dale Jones and her parents (whose address was registered to the production company) make for difficult – but important – listening.
A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here was staged at Shoreditch Town Hall. Image credit: Alex Brenner.
Sex education (or the lack thereof) in the UK is undoubtedly an important topic. However there are missed opportunities to look at the bigger picture. Whilst the production makes clever use of pre-recorded content including broadcast media, extracts from PMQs and snippets of songs originally destined for The Family Sex Show, at times it feels one dimensional. There is a brief discussion of Dale Jones’ own experiences of poor sex education at school and her hopes of empowering children to have healthy and functional relationships, but the performance could have benefited from different perspectives to bring more nuance to the debate.
Overall however, this is indisputably powerful performance. The production taps into live and persistent issues for performers about censorship, debate and funding for the arts. It is a brave comeback for Josie Dale Jones – and hopefully won’t be the last we hear from her.
A Little Inquest Into What We Are All Doing Here was staged at Shoreditch Town Hall from 11–15 March 2025 and will run at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, on 24–25 April 2025. Find out more here.
Review by Ellen Hodgetts
