Leon Fleming, author of Kicked in the Sh*tter

In the wake of TV shows such as Channel 4’s Benefits Street, any work that tackles people’s lives and the welfare state runs the risk of being labelled “poverty porn”. Kicked in the Sh*tter, which opens at the Hope Theatre on March 21, avoids that tag by “being real”, hopes writer Leon Fleming.

“I think authenticity is always the key with this kind of thing, and I hope that, because I’m writing about people I have known and people that I have been, and still am really, that I’m able to bring more to my work than cardboard cut-out characters,” he says “Essentially, I’m writing about people, and people are just people. It’s only circumstances which differ. I don’t write Disney characters smeared in dog dirt to try and push up my street cred, and I hope that’s how my work stays away from being poverty porn.”

It was while he was between drafts of Sid, his West End show with director Scott Le Crass, that he wrote a “sketchy first draft” of what became a story about a brother and sister in Birmingham, mental health difficulties, sanctions, Back to Work schemes, self-harm and substance abuse.

“In a sense the first draft was the inspiration, and it was only then that I knew I wanted to write a play about mental health issues in relation to the welfare state… although it’s actually turned out to be about much more than that,” he says.

Leon says he hopes audiences will leave with hope “as well as a bunch of questions”.

“If the work doesn’t make you question the world around you, I don’t really see the point,” he says. “That doesn’t mean it’s all serious and worthy though – humour is such a large part of all our lives, so it features a lot in my plays. I want people to laugh along with my characters, just as they would with their friends.

“In the end though, I’d like people to walk out of the theatre believing that there is hope for us all whatever our circumstances.”

• More details: 0333 666 3366