LIZI Patch, writer of ‘Punching The Sky’, spoke to Quays News entertainment reporter Ash Howson recently about the pressures of feeling helpless and having no control in her original theatre production…
“It’s about protecting your kids and the frustration on hearing about this and after searching for help and advice it was sort of like punching the air, not physically but metaphorically, and there’s nothing there,” said Patch.
“It’s led to a lot of conversations about how the adult world is crashing into the children’s. There’s a lot of adult content which has you asking where to draw the line but you can’t stop the internet!
It’s about keeping the lines of conversation between children open and honest.”
Lizi’s production sees a young boy searching pornography on the internet and the lead of events that occur afterwards, inevitably awakening debates and conversation about keeping your children safe from an arcane adult world that the internet keeps hidden, until it is found.
Her production is based on a first-hand experience dealing with the explicit action of her son reluctantly watching pornography.
“My son was 11 and had trouble fitting in secondary school. One of the popular kids suggested to go watch pornography, so he did, which turned out to be hard-core and quite horrific. He dealt with it alone for two weeks as I noticed him change and act differently. That’s where the story begun and I appeared on interviews and television.
“It looks at the role of the internet. We look at how it syncs into your child’s life and how they are constantly connected.
“It’s really different for us now, even at my age I feel it.”
The production comes from a really personal place for Patch but she sees the project as a positive vision to tackle the worries of one’s child accessing adult material online.
“I’ve done some workshops for young people so I’ve talked to a lot of kids about it.
“They feel like they have got to deal with the adult world before they actual need to.”
The show’s theatrical aspect looks at before and after the boy watches the video.
“For me, as the writer, it is important that people care about the character.
“There are a few sequences of animation to see what the kid is like before what happens.”
It also looks at the media’s response to her story, giving us a look at how others react, unsurprisingly evoking the terror of being trolled, which is still ongoing for Patch.
“I’ve become quite hard-skinned about it all. You get a lot of abuse but you also get others wanting to talk about it, seeking advice.”
In the production, Lizi plays herself along with four other cast members she insists have been a creative team who have helped her turn this life experience into an original piece of theatre.
It’s been really tough to put it out there because I’m so passionate about starting conversation it’s been worth it.”
‘Punching The Sky’ soars into The Lowry on Saturday, March 5.
By Ash Howson
@_AshHowson
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