We sat down for an exclusive interview with Selorm Adonu, actor in Please Do Not Touch. The show asks important questions about colonial legacy, contested heritage and how stories are told, whilst shining a light on the Criminal Justice System.
Watch the show trailer here.
Please Do Not Touch centres on a young Black man wrongly imprisoned for stealing a Somali afro comb from a historic house. How did you approach building this character — particularly balancing his vulnerability with his sense of dignity and resistance?
For me the starting point was humanity. Before his politics of being a young black man and the symbolism of the comb, I wanted to recognise that Mason is actually just a young boy who is scared, confused and trying to hold on to himself in a system that is trying to define him. I didn’t want to play him as a victim, (even though he is victimised) but I didn’t want to play him as this arrogant angry black kid. So I felt like a core approach for me was just allowing myself to sit in his vulnerability. When he is angry I ask myself “where does that come from?” When he is joking and dancing, where does that come from, when he is sad, having a panic attack, all of it comes from his humanity and vulnerability and sitting in that allowed me to tap into real truthful emotional states that I felt allowed me to play with the rollercoaster of emotions that he goes through.
The play interrogates colonial legacy and contested heritage while also shining a light on the Criminal Justice System. As the sole actor carrying this story, how do you navigate the political weight of those themes without losing the emotional intimacy of the piece?
Honestly the truth is that Casey’s writing makes it easy for me. His writing does something so precise and detailed that actually embeds the politics within the personal. I am an actor playing a young kid who literally finds personal joy in making videos about colonial legacy and heritage, so his personal feelings and joy towards it already helps me naturally balance his emotional intimacy because it is directly connected to the political weight of all the things he is talking about. So there is no need for me as the sole actor to “play the message” because then it becomes heavy and boring. And also because I’m the only actor onstage, the audience is in direct conversation with me the whole time, and that also creates a kind of intimacy that cuts through the politics. They ain’t just watching a debate about the criminal justice system, they’re watching a young boy try to make sense of why a comb that represents his culture and identity is treated as a priceless artefact in a glass case whilst he is treated as disposable. The balance is in the writing and I just get to have fun with that, by being truthful and specific to the text.
Casey Bailey has spoken about moving beyond the poetry collection that inspired the play, allowing the story to stand on its own. As a performer, how do you embody language that carries poetic roots while ensuring it feels grounded and immediate on stage?
I’ll be REAL! I did struggle at first. Poetic language can sometimes feel over stylised or elevated especially in a narrative that feels so grounded but for me the key is intention. “Why does Mason feel the need to go into poetry at this point?”, are questions I had to ask myself each time. But again Mason is also discovering poetry in the moment, so that helps a lot too because it feels like the poetic roots is actually coming from Mason discovering the poetry, and the words, and the flow of it in the moment, and that is what allows it to feel grounded. Not because he is trying to ‘break into poetry’ like some sort of musical, but because the discovery of writing and speaking poetry in a prison is what is actually grounding him whilst he is locked up. So holding onto that is just as human and grounded as anything else someone would do if they were in a prison with nothing else to do.
The production was developed alongside heritage workers, prison inmates and young people. Did that research and community engagement process influence your understanding of the character or the stakes of the story?
100%! Coming into the rehearsal process and hearing the different stories about how prisoners reacted to the show and how they were touched by Mason’s journey was so powerful because it actually reminds me that even though the writing is fiction, this IS someone’s life! There is a young black boy in the system right now who is experiencing the criminal justice system in an unfair way and is just trying his best to find his way through it. That for me made me realise it’s not enough to just get onstage and say some words and leave. The comb is not just some invisible prop. The stage is not just some made up prison cell. The stakes are high because the stakes are someone’s reality and recognising that, I feel, heavily elevated the work and detail I wanted to bring to this show.
The show has been described as thoughtfully written and sensitively performed. What conversations do you hope audiences are having as they leave the theatre — particularly in cities with their own complex histories of empire and justice?
I hope people are asking questions about value. What we protect, what we preserve, and who we protect with the same urgency. I wanted to avoid audiences feeling that they have been preached at, but instead for them to feel somewhat unsettled in a productive way. To consider how easily someone’s humanity can be reduced to a headline or a charge sheet, for a misunderstanding. And also for people to leave with some empathy. I always say that sometimes you can feel the fear and instant judgement that comes from people when they see a young black boy. But those young black boys in the system now in jail, were once innocent kids filled with joy and hopes and dreams. That kid is still in all of us, we just hide it in order to survive. That’s why that sensitivity and vulnerability is so important to bring to this because it exists in all of us. So if people are able to leave with a sense of empathy, whilst also still talking more about heritage and justice and LEGACY, then myself, and the piece, have done our job.
Tour details here:
21st February 2026 | Derby Theatre
15 Theatre Walk, St Peter’s Quarter, Derby, DE1 2NF
28th February 2026| Mercury Theatre
Balkerne Gate, Colchester CO1 1PT
5th March 2026| Attenborough Arts Centre
Lancaster Road, Leicester LE1 7HA
7th March 2026| Brighton Dome
New Rd, Brighton, BN1 1UG
12th – 13th March 2026| Leeds Playhouse
Playhouse Square Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7UP