Generation FOMO, a verbatim play directed and created by Isabelle Defaut, artistic Director of Portrait Theatre, Graduate Theatre Company at the University of Kent, has been invited to perform in the Houses of Parliament in the first week of January 2026.
Defaut conducted interviews with young people (aged 11 –25) about their relationships to social media and their smart phones, and the resulting play, initially commissioned by the Outreach and Widening Participation team at the University of Kent has been touring secondary schools in Kent this year.
The School of Arts & Architecture Graduate Theatre Company scheme is a longstanding mentorship programme for alumni of Drama at Kent. It offers graduating drama students the opportunity to apply to establish a? theatre company based at the University, supported and mentored by staff in the Drama department.
The University offer space, access to students for casting and mentoring for funding applications, in exchange for running some teaching sessions for current Kent students.
‘Portrait Theatre, one of the GTCs, has evolved into a now well-established theatre company in Kent focused on creating verbatim work which draws on the testimonies of interviewees and their lived experiences,’ Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre, Jayne Thompson explained ‘The School of Arts & Architecture are delighted to have played a part in the development of the work which is about to make its way to the parliamentary offices in London in January. Staff and alumni have contributed by providing testimonies, mentoring and performing at different stages of the work as it has evolved into a platform to represent young people’s voices and their views.’
The event co-organised by Whitstable Unplugged is a community-led initiative working to reduce the negative impact of smartphones and social media on children and young people. The organisation brings together families, schools, educators, and local businesses to encourage real-world connections during the most critical years of child development, supporting communities to delay smartphone use, create smartphone-free environments, and prioritise children’s mental health and wellbeing. The organisation collaborates with Portrait Theatre to use verbatim theatre as a catalyst for conversation and change at both local and national levels.
Defaut, who is taking her cast of 5 to the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday 7 January told us:
‘By bringing Generation FOMO into Parliament, I hope to help bridge the gap between young people’s lived experiences and the spaces where decisions about their futures are made, and contributes to more informed, compassionate and responsive conversations around policy.’
The play will be followed by a panel discussion featuring some of the young people and secondary school Senior Leadership Teams who are on the frontline of the impact of the smart phones in education.