{{Short description|2015 play by Alice Birch}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2022}} {{Use British English|date=November 2022}} {{Infobox play|name=We Want You to Watch|image=|alt=|caption=|writer=[[Alice Birch]] and [[RashDash]]|based_on=<!-- {{based on|title of the original work|creator of the original work}} -->|director=|music=|lyrics=|choreography=|chorus=|characters=|mute=|setting=|premiere={{Start year|2015}}|place=Temporary Theatre ([[Royal National Theatre]]), [[London]]|orig_lang=|series=|subject=[[Pornography]]|genre=|web=}}
'''''We Want You to Watch''''' is a 2015 play by [[Alice Birch]] developed with the theatre company, [[RashDash]]. The play is a feminist critique of pornography. ''We Want You to Watch'' premiered at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]]'s Temporary Theatre under the direction of Caroline Steinbeis.
== Development == RashDash, a feminist theatre company composed of Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thompson |first=Jessie |date=2016-09-09 |title=RashDash: Dismantling the patriarchy with thought and feeling |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/rashdash-meet-the-feminist-theatre-company-using-thought-and-feeling-to-dismantle-the-patriarchy-a3341296.html |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}</ref> received funding from the [[West Yorkshire Playhouse]] to work with a playwright in developing a new work. They brought in Alice Birch to collaborate.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hutchinson |first=Charles |date=2015-10-13 |title=RashDash take on the rise in violent and degrading pornography in new play We Want To Watch You |url=https://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/13843064.rashdash-take-on-the-rise-in-violent-and-degrading-pornography-in-new-play-we-want-to-watch-you/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=York Press |language=en}}</ref> ''We Want You to Watch'' was commissioned by [[Royal National Theatre|The National Theatre]] and supported using public funding from the [[Arts Council England]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Peek |first=Ian |date=2015-10-25 |title=Review - We Want You To Watch |url=https://aah-magazine.co.uk/2015/we-want-you-to-watch/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=aAh! Magazine |language=en-GB}}</ref>
== Plot summary == Over the course of the play, two women named Pig and Sissy try to eradicate internet pornography.<ref name=guardian>{{Cite web |last=Billington |first=Michael |date=2015-06-16 |title=We Want You to Watch review – fantasies of a porn-free world |url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jun/16/we-want-you-to-watch-review-national-theatre-porn |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref> Pig and Sissy use extreme means to ban pornography and mitigate its harmful effects including kidnapping the Queen to get her to ban pornography and attempting to make an American hacker turn off the internet.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-06-15 |title=We Want You To Watch |url=https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/we-want-you-to-watch |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Time Out London |language=en-GB}}</ref> Though the play critiques pornography, its characters maintain that it is "pro-sex."<ref>{{Cite web |last=Mountford |first=Fiona |date=2015-07-03 |title=We Want You To Watch theatre review: no real characters or narrative |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/theatre/we-want-you-to-watch-theatre-review-no-real-characters-or-narrative-momentum-10323015.html |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Evening Standard |language=en}}</ref>
== Production history == ''We Want You to Watch'' premiered in 2015 at the [[Royal National Theatre|National Theatre]]'s Temporary Theatre in [[London]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-06-18 |title=Porn on stage and screen – too hot to handle? |url=https://www.theweek.co.uk/64043/porn-on-stage-and-screen-too-hot-to-handle |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=The Week UK |language=en}}</ref> The production was directed by Caroline Steinbeis<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2015-06-11 |title=Would sex be better in a world without pornography? |url=http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2015/jun/11/would-sex-be-better-in-a-world-without-pornography |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=The Guardian |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Perez |first=Caroline Criado |author-link=Caroline Criado Perez |date=2015-06-03 |title=The new National Theatre show tackling internet pornography |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/features/we-want-you-to-watch-at-the-national-theatre-caroline-criadoperez-on-tackling-internet-pornography-10292811.html |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref> and starred Goalen and Greenland as Pig and Sissy.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Love |first=Catherine |date=2015-06-16 |title=We Want You to Watch, National Theatre |url=https://catherinelove.co.uk/2015/06/16/we-want-you-to-watch-national-theatre/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Catherine Love |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Trueman |first=Matt |date=2015-06-15 |title=We Want You To Watch (NT, Temporary Theatre) |url=https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-theatre/reviews/we-want-you-to-watch-national-theatre_38054.html |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=WhatsOnStage |language=en-GB}}</ref> The production also featured Bettrys Jones, Helena Lymbery, Lloyd Everitt, and Adam Charteris.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Swain |first=Marianka |date=2015-06-16 |title=We Want You To Watch, National Theatre |url=https://theartsdesk.com/theatre/we-want-you-watch-national-theatre |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=theartsdesk.com |language=en}}</ref>
In 2019, the play was revived by the [[Bristol Old Vic Theatre School]] under the direction of Claire O’Reilly.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Davidson |first=Roanna |date=2019-05-07 |title=Review: We Want You to Watch, Wardrobe Theatre |url=https://www.bristol247.com/culture/theatre/review-we-want-you-to-watch-wardrobe-theatre-bristol-old-vic-theatre-school/ |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=Bristol24/7 |language=en}}</ref> That same year, the [[University of Greenwich]]'s Bathway Theatre Company performed ''We Want You to Watch'' at the [[Edinburgh Fringe Festival]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-08-07 |title=Greenwich students 'want you to watch' in Edinburgh |url=https://www.gre.ac.uk/articles/public-relations/greenwich-students-want-you-to-watch-in-edinburgh |access-date=2022-11-15 |website=University of Greenwich |language=en-gb}}</ref>
==Critical reception== Reviewing the 2015 National Theatre's production, ''[[The Guardian]]''{{'s}} [[Michael Billington (critic)|Michael Billington]] and ''[[The Independent]]''{{'s}} Paul Taylor both sympathised with the play's intentions, but felt that its uncompromising approach did not allow for a more nuanced critique of pornography.<ref name=guardian/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/reviews/we-want-you-to-watch-national-theatre-review-extreme-look-at-porn-eradication-10324141.html|title=We Want You To Watch, National Theatre, review: Extreme look at porn eradication|work=[[The Independent]]|first=Paul|last=Taylor|date=16 June 2015|access-date=16 November 2022}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Anti-pornography feminism]] [[Category:2015 plays]] [[Category:Works about pornography]] [[Category:English plays]] [[Category:Feminist plays]]