Clickbait by Milly Thomas

Clickbait is a darkly comic new play about society’s attitude to porn and the women who make it for themselves. From the exciting all female writer/director team behind A First World Problem (Milly Thomas and Holly Race Roughan) comes this blistering study of how pornography is changing women's relationship to sex in the 21st Century.

The play follows Nicola who, threatened with the release of an amateur sex video, makes a snap decision to post it online herself. What began as a drunken night in a dirty club ends with a unique business opportunity for Nicola and her two sisters as they start a network of amateur porn video 'booths'. But where there is demand there must be supply and, as lines become blurred, public opinion begins to turn against the trio.

Clickbait explores the line between sexual empowerment and sexual exploitation while addressing the muddled logic of what feminism actually means. What is the new normal once you’ve thrown away the rulebook? When does sexual freedom veer out of control?

Thomas’ first full-length play A First World Problem was staged at Theatre503 in July 2014 to sold-out audiences and great acclaim. While A First World Problem explored how young women experience sex for the first time in the modern world, Clickbait looks at what happens when they grow up and want to take control of their sex lives.

Milly Thomas comments, I was fascinated by the disconnect between the world of porn – a world where women don't say 'no' – and the real world, where women who are enjoying sex or sexual empowerment are often viewed as threatening, or unfeminine. On the flip side, we also wanted to show how women themselves can blur the line between empowerment and exploitation in the sex industry. It feels like a very timely production to be making both as young women and as the next generation of theatre makers!

Clickbait is the first of two plays at Theatre503 which explore the sexual dynamics of twenty-somethings in the 21st century. The second show will be Four Play, the first full-length play by the acclaimed musical theatre writer, Jake Brunger (Adrian Mole the Musical - ★★★★ The Times, The Guardian, The Daily Telegraph), which looks at the issues of fidelity surrounding four young gay men.