We’re delighted to be touring Please Do Not Touch, written by Casey Bailey, across the UK over the next few months.
Please Do Not Touch follows the story of Mason, an activist who explores historic houses on TikTok to uncover the true stories behind the objects that lie within. After an incident with a Somali Afro comb, he is wrongly imprisoned in a Young Offender Institution. Can he find a way to survive this ordeal and navigate how to keep speaking up when everything is designed to silence him?
This show asks important questions about colonial legacy, contested heritage and how stories are told, whilst shining a light on the criminal justice system.
Alongside staff and volunteers at the National Trust, young people were involved in the development of Casey’s play right from the beginning – school pupils, youth groups in North Birmingham where Casey grew up, and young black men in prison. We continued to engage young people when we first performed the play at the Belgrade Theatre in 2024 – as audiences, as workshop participants and as creators of their own response to the play and its themes.
"It was beautiful. It’s my first time in the theatre and I feel it’s my next new thing now. I don’t even wanna go to a cinema anymore."
We were so inspired by young people’s responses, that we wanted to offer a set of resources aimed at deepening young people engagement with the play as it tours the country. Aimed at school years 9 and 10 (12-15 year-olds) they can be used by teachers or youth group leaders to prepare young people for seeing the show, offer activities to explore the show’s themes and signpost places where they can find out more information.
If you have any questions, please get in touch with our Producer Jade Samuels at [email protected]
Content Warnings:
Please note Please Do Not Touch contains strong language and a reference to suicide. There are references to racism throughout.
Before the Show
Here you can download a document that you can use to introduce young people to some of the themes of Please Do Not Touch before they see the show.
Poetry With Purpose – digital creative writing workshop
Suitable for Years 9-10
This digital workshop is designed and presented by Casey Bailey, the writer of Please Do Not Touch.
There are a set of teacher workshop notes to accompany the video, which can be downloaded below. There are parts in the workshop where the video should be paused and participants given time to discuss or write. These parts in the video are signified by slides which have “Descriptions” or “Tasks” on them.
There is not a set amount of time that should be allocated to this work, to allow for ultimate flexibility for teachers – please see teacher workshop notes for more information.
‘Whose Views?’ – exploring historic objects
Suitable for ages 11-16
This digital resource has been designed in collaboration with the National Trust and uses historic objects to explore modern-day ideas about representation, power and identity.
The resource includes teacher workshop notes, which can be downloaded below, created for use alongside a set of group discussion prompts around objects in a National Trust historic house collection which link to the themes of the play Please Do Not Touch. The resource aims to support the development of critical thinking and communication skills by facilitating deeper exploration of historic objects and their meanings. Participants are encouraged to develop and share their own perspectives and listen to those of others – please see teacher workshop notes for more information.
Tiger Hunt Wallpaper © National Trust
Want to find out more?
For all audiences who have seen Please Do Not Touch and want to find out more, download our postcard below which provides links to additional reading and resources relating to the themes of the show.
Please Do Not Touch opens at Birmingham Hippodrome on 29th January 2026, before heading out on tour in the UK until 13th March. For more information and the full tour schedule, please visit the show page.
