Lemon, Nina (2026) Making plays and changing (sex) lives : playbuilding as a model for teen sex education : a practice-led research PhD project. Doctoral thesis, The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama.

Abstract

This thesis deploys a practice-research methodology centred on playwriting and dramaturgy to explore how theatre created with and for young people can contribute to comprehensive relationship and sex education (RSE). The study focuses on two original plays Losin It (2017) and Man Up (2025), presented as both scripts and film production together with their accompanying teachers' resources. I created these plays in collaboration with young people, and they were performed by young actors in training from the Peer Actor Development Programme in schools and colleges in the south-east of England. The research is further informed by my long-standing role as Artistic Director, founder, and playwright-in-residence at Peer Productions (2006-present) and considers the specific creative working conditions this environment provided as a crucible for the development of new work with and for young people. The project contextualises the plays against a backdrop of ne0-liberal values and an increasingly sexualised, pornified society that exposes young people to a plethora of hyper-sexual and misogynistic digital imagery and messages. It explores how live theatre might function as a counterforce to this sexualised digital culture, particularly through its capacity as an embodied practice to awaken empathetic responses in young audiences an empower them to engage more critically when making decisions in their on lives. This thesis makes an original contribution to the field of social engaged theatre. It considers how techniques associated with Bertolt Brecht and Edward Bond can be repurposed and reclaimed for a contemporary feminist agenda and offers insights into practical strategies - specifically, writerly and dramaturgical tactics - which playwrights can use when making plays collaboratively with young people.