We are taking bookings for performances throughout 2026 — You can now book you performance online using our booking form.

‘The Day Before’ – Inspired by a true story, The Day Before shines a light on the hidden influence of harmful online content on young people and their families. Told from a mother’s perspective, it explores how easily everyday life can be reshaped by the digital world — and the lasting impact when systems fail to protect.

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‘Invisible’ a play about mental health for secondary schools. Our adapted version is suitable for year 6 and special schools – just ask for details

Please note this gets sold out quickly, so get in touch if you are interested.

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The Day Before — A One-Woman Play by N-Act Theatre Company

Inspired by a true story, The Day Before shines a light on the hidden influence of harmful online content on young people and their families. Told from a mother’s perspective, it explores how easily everyday life can be reshaped by the digital world — and the lasting impact when systems fail to protect.

The performance combines honesty, warmth and humour, opening up vital conversations about wellbeing in the digital age. Developed in consultation with parents, young people and educators, this is a play that lingers long after the final line.

Suitable for ages 15+
Contains references to suicide and harmful online content. Support information provided after the show.

To see the show join us for one of our Spring Tour performances. Search Eventbrite ‘The Day Before’ performances for details or visit our Facebook page for live updates.

Spring Tour 2026 Dates
Saturday 7th February: North Fambridge Village Hall, Chelmsford
Tuesday 24th February: Leigh North Street Primary School, Leigh on Sea
Thursday 26th February: Freight House, Rochford
Saturday 28th February: Bulphan Village Hall, Upminster
Thursday 5th March: Hertfordshire Studios, Hertfordshire
Saturday 7th March: Tollesbury Community Centre, Maldon

If you’d like to book a performance for your sixth form, please click here to get in touch.

Throughout the performance – based on a true story – we share strategies to enable the audience to become empowered to make the right choice.

This is not just a play about how to say ‘no’. It is a play about fear of rejection, of not fitting in, and of survival – of both the perpetrator and the victim.

This production is suitable for year 9 upwards.

Bookings for our other shows are still available using our booking form.

We will be announcing new shows soon.

‘Shadow’ – Shadow is a play about consent, manipulation and the courage to stand up and be counted. Throughout the performance – based on a true story – we share strategies to enable the audience to become empowered to make the right choice. This is not just a play about how to say ‘no’. It is a play about fear of rejection, of not fitting in, and of survival – of both the perpetrator and the victim.

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‘Invisible’ a play about mental health for secondary schools. Our adapted version is suitable for year 6 and special schools – just ask for details

Please note this gets sold out quickly, so get in touch if you are interested.

MORE INFO

The play is a true story, from someone who told us they want their story to be shared with young people. If they had been able to talk when they were younger, they probably would not have self-harmed, nor would they have attempted suicide.

We follow the story of Denny who has written a blog to his 12-year-old self which he shares with the audience. Through a mixture of humour and pathos, we learn from his experiences when growing up. Denny’s story makes us think about perception, stigma, how to recognise if someone is suffering, how we can help, and when to call in the professionals. A touching and moving story which lifts our hearts.

If you would like to book a performance of Invisible, or would like more information please click here.

Upstairs at the Victoria Shopping Centre, Southend on Sea

Special VIP opening at 11am on Saturday 18th.

The event is to celebrate the work of the creative community of Southend.

If you would like to run a stall, or to deliver a workshop at this event, please read our FAQs and complete the application form. Deadline for applications – September 20th 2023

We are looking for art, sculpture and photography stands, particularly if you can add an interactive element for young people!

We are also looking for small group workshops – get in touch if you are interested.

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There is no charge for a stall or to deliver a workshop. We are unable to provide resources or to pay for any of your workshops. We are happy for you to sell your products but unfortunately cannot charge for entry to the workshops.

The event is free to the public.

During lockdown I facilitated a year-long online interactive programme for 40 schools – secondary and primary: Managing the Socially Distanced Classroom – Creative Engagement. Throughout our experiences of individual home learning, blended learning, and the socially distanced classroom, we explored:

• How to reconnect with our pupils
• Joyfulness, spontaneity and wellbeing
• Belonging to, and rebuilding creative communities
• The way forward – the heart of creativity

We built each session around the needs of the schools represented and discovered a united realisation that without being able to collaborate, talk, share and interactively respond to learning activities, there was a large proportion of that learning that just didn’t happen.

N-Act was founded in 2017, and our interactive theatre projects have had enormous impact on the learners we encounter. It was only when lockdown hit, that we fully appreciated how much of this was due to live theatre, and genuine creative interaction. During lockdown we adapted, like so many others, to support our schools through our digital offer and programmes such as Creative Engagement. But we missed the live theatre input.

Coming back this last year, we have noticed so many things. We are excited once again to see the immediate impact our work has on young people and those who support them. We are moved by the reactions when we know we have helped just one young person to move forward to address their mental health, from our performance of ‘Invisible’, or to make a different choice through our online safety performance, ‘Linked’ or our exploration of gangs and knife crime in ‘Friend’.

We now find ourselves busier than ever returning to our live performances in schools, but there are so many differences from when we first started touring. Since lockdown

• pupils have either forgotten, or have never experienced, live theatre. They are unsure how to respond.
• pupils struggle with social norms, with communication, with oracy.
• the lack of balance usually provided by schools and other positive external influences means that social media has, for many, become the role-model.
• the potential for the negative impact of social media and online connections has increased. Manipulation, power and control is in the hands of those we cannot see; cannot affect.
• wellbeing is at a global low – for adults as well as young people. Support – certainly in the UK – is there, but heavily stretched.

So – we use our interactive productions to explore these issues; to gently draw out feelings and thoughts that might be hidden, that might be uncomfortable but that can do more damage by being tucked away. And we provide strategies and techniques to manage those experiences. We offer parents and staff the chance to examine how they are supporting the young people in their care and provoke discussion where this needs greater training or policy changes to support the new wave of issues surrounding our pupils.

Our plays take audiences through a variety of emotions – humour, pathos, and some feelings which might be uncomfortable and challenging. Unlike TV and social media, in theatre there is no escape;
there are no distractions; there is no hiding. We see this reflected either in total wide-eyed engagement, or for a few, a shuffling discomfort. Either way – it is learning.

Important to us, however, is the follow-on from our performance. We don’t just leave the audiences trying to manage what they have just seen – we provide follow-up work for schools to continue to discuss and respond to the content; we provide additional materials, schemes of work, and access to digital packages where the actors ask and answer questions and discuss elements of the plays.

If you are able, please come along to our workshop at the COBIS conference and join in our discussion. Keep an eye on our work by following us on social media or by visiting our website.

This will be held in Southend on Sea, at 7pm. Details of the venue can be found on the Eventbrite link below.

This gritty and moving short film is about a young boy caught up in a county lines gang and the impact this has on his family and friends.

There will be a welcome drink on arrival, and afterwards we would love you to stay for a while and meet the cast. The event is free to attend but entry is by ticket only. Please book early to avoid disappointment. Click here for tickets

“If you’d have told me that the whole of KS4 would watch an hour-long drama production, make contributions and listen so well, I would not have believed you. The performance was mesmerising, and I could feel the tension as it came to the culmination of the plot.”