AS I left the Glass Box Theatre at Harlow College following a performance of ‘Innocence Undressed’, I was overwhelmed with a sense of guilt that I had enjoyed a piece that delved into and exposed the horror of cyber bullying and sexting, the scourge of the digital age.

‘Enjoyed’ feels like an inappropriate emotion but I was certainly glad I’d witnessed this powerful piece of theatre, a piece that juxtaposed the joy and exuberance of dance against the story of a young girl tortured, harassed and humiliated by the cruelty of her peers.

A girl aged 16 believes she’s found love but as she succumbs to his demands for ever more sexual pictures of her, her world collapses.

The shared pictures flood social media and she quickly becomes an object of ridicule and abuse by those she thought were her friends, leaving her isolated and vulnerable.

The beautiful storytelling of the dance is punctuated by an unseen narrator delivering a perfectly crafted script which enhances, but does not distract from, the dancers.

“They all thought it was just a bit of a laugh 
Social apps are not built for hate 
They didn’t realise the hurt they can create 
Apps exist to help celebrate 

To bring together and communicate
But what happens when banters too far 
When tears are cried
And the words leave scars?”

The roar of support and applause as the piece concluded was not just an appreciation of an extraordinaryly forceful piece of theatre but also a cry for kindness and tolerance in our digital world.

Choreographer Cassie Dyer-Mason and Writer Robert Dyer-Mason plan to tour this piece to schools and colleges, I hope they manage to make it happen.

 This ‘story for our times’ is a 45 minute masterpiece that deserves to be compulsory viewing for teenagers and adults alike.