Whenever Birmingham writer Casey Bailey visited historic houses, he would see signs saying, ‘Please do not touch’. But these signs were often on artefacts which had been plundered from other nations over the centuries. Which set him to thinking - when is it okay to touch, when is it forbidden, and what happens when you break the rules?

It was these strange juxtapositions which sparked his latest play, Please Do Not Touch, which premieres at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre this month. 

“My wife and I would go to National Trust houses or English Heritage houses, and I started to become conscious of the fact that I would walk into these houses, these spaces, these galleries, and would see things that would have signs saying ‘Please do not touch’. But at the same time, they were things which should never have been touched in the first place.

“It was seeing these signs on plates from China, furniture from India, artefacts from Africa - that got me to thinking: what are the real stories of these things? How have they ended up here? And why are they still here?”

In having such thoughts, Casey was tapping into the current international debate about the restitution of items taken from across the world by Western explorers, archaeologists and historians in previous centuries. Many such items now feature in the collections of museums, galleries and historic houses.

“As you can imagine, that is a huge thing all over the country and all over the world. It’s the Benin Bronzes, the Koh-i-Noor diamond -  once you start looking, you just see it everywhere.”

Casey, who grew up in Nechells in Birmingham and was Birmingham Poet Laureate from 2020 to 2022, first explored these ideas in his verse collection, Please Do Not Touch, which was published in 2021.

Then, together with Jade Samuels, the associate producer of Birmingham-based theatre-producing studio China Plate, he began developing the ideas within the poetry collection into a drama featuring a central character named Mason, a social justice TikToker who asks these questions

“The play is about a boy who’s in prison because he challenged the system. We then try and look at the parallels and the layers of the criminal justice system, layered on top of colonialism, layered on top of the prison system, with this idea of heritage and legacy filtering through it all. 

“So a boy goes into a house where a man travelled all round the world and took millions and millions of pounds worth of things and became a hero. How then does a boy go in there and touch something and become a criminal? At what point did the rules change, or who are the rules different for?”

A co-production by the Belgrade and China Plate, Please Do Not Touch is directed by award-winning theatre maker Gail Babb. The role of Mason is taken by Tijan Sarr, who most recently played DC Jason Kennedy in two series of UKTV’s The Marlow Murder Club.

Casey researched the work through interviews and workshops with different organisations and people.
“We’ve worked with a variety of heritage organisations, including Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, different heritage houses and the National Trust. That work was done in workshop-based settings where we would present parts of the play, we would tell the story, we would take questions and answer questions, and we would talk about the crux of this issue that the play is getting at. Those conversations were challenging at times but really useful.

“Then I spent some time in Winson Green Prison. I went into Swinfen Hall and did some work with the young men there, and I went to Felton and did some work there.

“Those sessions were perhaps the most inspirational sessions, and they really helped me to focus in on the story of this young man. He’s not the vehicle for the story; he is the story. 

“I grew up around Winson jail. Lots of people I grew up around went to jail, so I was confident I had an idea of what that was like. But going in and talking to some really articulate, really well-measured and thought-out young men who are going through a difficult time gave me an insight that I couldn’t have got elsewhere. That was really important. 

“The final factor, outside the creative team, has been community. We’ve done some work with Free@Last, which is an amazing charity based in Nechells. They just tap into that community where the young people might not normally go to the theatre; they might not engage with these kinds of houses and places. I wanted the perspective of people who sit totally outside of this world that I’m creating and the things I’m writing about.

“So I got the young people to come in and hear some readings, ask questions, interrogate the piece. It was a blessing. It’s always good to work with Free@Last, and their insight has been really useful.”

Alongside being a successful writer, Casey is also a teacher. Having previously worked at Coundon Court School in Coventry, he is currently assistant headteacher at Idsall School in Shifnal, Shropshire. His previous drama, GrimeBoy, played to sell-out houses at Birmingham Rep, and he very much enjoys the process of theatre-making.

“For me, especially being a poet turned playwright, for years I have written things and performed them, or written and published them, and it’s just me doing that. 

“In this theatre world, I write these things, and then I watch Tijan, the actor, bring them to life and I’m like, ‘How does this feel so much better than the thing I wrote down?’ 

“It’s really exciting to see. And with the production, there’s a whole process around how does the lighting work to tell the story, how does the physical aspect of the stage tell the story?”

Casey feels that the Belgrade is the perfect venue in which to premiere Please Do Not Touch. “I have a good relationship with the Belgrade’s creative director, Corey Campbell, and I really love the venue. I love Coventry. I used to teach in Coventry and pass the Belgrade every day, and I’ve been there to perform before.

“I think that where the Belgrade is - in terms of their genuine openness to explore beyond the surface, and to ask difficult questions, and to put on new and inspiring work - means that it is absolutely the theatre where I see a play like Please Do Not Touch - which is challenging and asks lots of questions - being performed.”

After the premiere, Casey hopes the play will find additional audiences.

“I would love to see it tour or have a run at another venue. I think it’s a story for Birmingham, for Manchester, for London, for Liverpool or for Bristol. I would love to see it in some of these places and see what people make of it. 

“But at the moment, I’m working with an amazing team, and the key thing for us is that we make this the best play we can for the audiences at the Belgrade.”

Feature by Diane Parkes

Please Do Not Touch shows at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry, from Wednesday 11 to Saturday 21 September