Germ Free Adolescent (NHB Modern Plays)

Ashley is sixteen. She's lived in Medway for fifteen years and six months. She has 2,354 leaflets on sexual health. She knows exactly how many she has, because she's counted them 1,582 times... At 7.48 p.m. tonight, she will have been going out with Ollie for exactly three months, which he thinks means it's time to take their relationship to the next level; especially given her position as their school's resident expert on sexual health. But what if counting leaflets can't protect Ashley from getting hurt when she decides to take her biggest risk yet? Natalie Mitchell's play Germ Free Adolescent is a fierce, funny and irreverent OCD love story that asks: what exactly is 'normal' anyway? It received its first full production at The Bunker, London, in October 2019, having previously toured Kent where the play was researched and developed with young people, youth workers and mental-health services.

Natalie Mitchell writes for theatre, television and radio. Her theatre work includes Germ Free Adolescent (Bunker Theatre, London, 2019); Can't Stand Me Now (Royal Court Young Writers' Festival); Crawling in the Dark (Almeida Theatre, London); When They Go Low (National Theatre Connections); and This Wounded Island (tour). Her work for TV includes Holby City, Doctors, Ackley Bridge, and two years as a core writer on EastEnders. Her work for radio includes Proud (BBC Radio 3) and The Man Who Sold the World and Hidden Harm (BBC Radio 4).