Poignant and funny drama Playfight comes to Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre in April. The production follows three teenage friends into adulthood, as they grow in parallel with the sinking roots and climbing branches of an oak tree. The story doesn’t shy away from the serious subjects of normalised sexual violence and the gaps in sex education. Playwright Julia Grogan here offers an insight into how the play balances the dark and the light...

What can audiences expect when they come to see the play, Julia?

Playfight traces the lives of three best friends from the ages of 15 to 24, as they grow up around the base of an oak tree. We watch the evolution of their friendship as they navigate love, desire and ambition. Their journey unfolds against the unsettling rise of violence in mainstream pornography.

Audiences can expect three killer performances from Lucy Mangan, Nina Cassells and Sophie Cox. These three are absolutely breathtaking. They are so, so funny, so heartbreaking and so addictive to watch. They’re also really kind and generous to each other off stage, and you can totally see that in their performances. They look after each other. Emma Callander has done the most beautiful job directing the piece with utter playfulness, nuance and sharpness. Hazel Low has designed the most painfully accurate costumes, which adapt as we watch the girls grow. And the atmospheric set genuinely transports you to an oak tree in a field. It’s beautiful work... Audiences will just have a feast of the senses!

Playfight is the first play you wrote, aged 21. What compelled you to tell this story?

On reflection, I think Playfight really came from a place of wanting to try and make sense of the traumas I’d seen and experienced myself in my teenage years; how, as kids, we’re meant to digest ugly things like lack of consent, young deaths, toxicity of self-image, authority, power, ambition. I think we underestimate how hard those years were. For all the beauty and carefree times, there’s a darkness in the uncertainty of teen years. I particularly felt this around my relationship to sex, which is really how Playfight was born. The characters, who I ended up calling Lucy, Zainab and Keira, really are three opposing corners of my mind wrestling with each other, trying to find some answers.

On a brighter note - with darkness comes extraordinary light, and I also wanted to  explore love, joy and life between mates, around the base of a beautiful oak tree.

Tell us about the three characters...

Someone who always creeps into my work somewhere is my best friend; less her personality, but more her experience of love. Writers are a bit creepy because we’re always absorbing and watching people around us. I watched her experience love with women over the years, witnessing the sheer heartbreak, tenderness and intensity of it. I was always so invested in her love, because I was so close to her. So I think it’s no surprise that three of my plays have love between two women running through the centre of them, because the most colourful, vivid romances I witnessed were hers. They feel the most natural to write about.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge called Playfight “a blinding sucker-punch of a play - honest, hilarious, heartfelt and the wittiest writing out there”. How did you manage to balance the humour with such tough subject matter?

I’ve always liked to find the funny in the sad. Maybe it’s a weird coping mechanism, but I struggle to be sincere, and always laugh when I hear bad news. I’ve done that ever since I was small. So it’s always felt natural to me, when writing, to hunt out the laughs amongst the tears. I think that’s what makes us human as well; when something’s so heightened, when we’re experiencing grief or horror, it leaves larger gaps for other heightened emotions - like giggles! It’s conflicting and confusing, so I always want my characters to wrestle with holding pain, too, like me.

What would you like people to take away from seeing the play?

In terms of take-aways for the audience, I’d like to get people talking to their friends and challenging themselves to avoid being bystanders. We need to be active in our friends’ lives; to live partly in their skin, too, so that if we notice something is wrong, we’re having open conversations. If a young person can come out of my play and feel seen, I have done my job! I guess with all my work, I also like the audience to feel shifted; to inspire a chat over a beer afterwards, or a big laugh. I want as many schoolkids to see this play as possible.

The play navigates friendship, desire and consent. What gaps in sex education and societal conversations were you trying to address?

I’d like there to be conversations in the classroom, as well as at home, about how the violent sex portrayed online shouldn’t be mistaken for what sex ‘should’ be. In my sex education, we never spoke about things like pleasure, safe and satisfying sex, consent, LGBTQIA+ inclusive sex, let alone emotional wellbeing. I felt unprepared for healthy ways to explore desire. The lack of comprehensive discussions on digital safety, pornography and online exploitation means many young people are left to navigate these complex issues alone.

Additionally, stigma and shame around sex persist due to inadequate education, leading to misinformation, anxiety and unsafe behaviours. Without a more inclusive, practical and open approach, sex education continues to leave young people without the knowledge and skills they need to make informed, safe, and empowered choices.

What other projects are you working on? 

At the moment, I’m working on an exciting new musical with my theatre company, Dirty Hare. We made Gunter a few years back, and I am so excited about this new one. I’ve also got a few TV projects in development, and I’m writing a new play about an erotic poetry club... Ooh, and a one-person show about a baby ballet teacher! It’s really exciting.

Playfight shows at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre from Wednesday 2 to Saturday 5 April