‘Too often people are afraid to talk about their experiences’
A new play aims to show people that not feeling okay is okay
IT is okay to not be okay. That’s the message of this award-winning comedy musical. After throwing a liberal sprinkling of glitter at depression, this show tackles mental health issues head on and its already wowed crowds and critics at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Silent Uproar is bringing A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) to Derby, Nottingham, Mansfield, Burton and Leicester.
Backed by the NHS and mental health charities Mind and the Mental Health Foundation, the show has been written by Olivier Award winner Jon Brittain (Rotterdam, Margaret Thatcher Queen Of Soho) with music by Matthew Floyd Jones (Frisky and Mannish).
It is a joyful, buoyant, gleeful, slightly silly, sugar coated, unrelenting and completely super happy show. Except for all the bits about depression.
Alex Mitchell, artistic director of Silent Uproar, said: “We wanted to create something that challenged the notion that depression is just being a bit sad. We wanted to create a fun show for people who are living with it, but also for their mate that doesn’t really believe that depression is a thing.”
The show, which was shortlisted for the Mental Health Foundation’s first Mental Health Fringe Award at Edinburgh Fringe last year, is influenced by the company’s personal experiences and has been
informed by people living with mental health problems and medical professionals.
The team spent a year researching for the show, interviewing 50 people living with depression, speaking to psychiatrists, the NHS, mental health nurses, Mind charity and psychologists.
The cast and crew have also had mental health awareness training from Hull and East Yorkshire Mind, organised by NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group.
In addition to the cast and crew being able to talk to people affected by any of the issues in the show, the company is also arranging for mental healthcare volunteers to be on hand after performances to signpost them to help available.
Dan Roper, chairman of NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Approximately one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year, yet too often people are afraid to talk about their experiences because they fear it will affect their jobs or relationships.
“The arts can be an incredibly powerful way to understand what mental illness is, how it can affect people and, most importantly, that it can affect anyone.
“Simply talking about mental illness can help break down stereotypes and take the taboo out of something that can affect all of us.”
Andrew Eaton-Lewis, arts lead for the Mental Health Foundation, agreed, adding: “The arts are an incredibly powerful way to talk about mental health – to share experiences, tell stories, reduce stigma, and change minds.
“If you can turn a set of challenging and often distressing symptoms into a relatable human story, you can have a huge impact, personally, culturally and sometimes politically.”
The comedic and production style of the show, which won the Fringe First Award and Best Musical Award at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, draws from sources as diverse as Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Pixar’s Inside Out, Juno, and musicals like Cabaret and Chicago.
Silent Uproar is a Hull-based new writing company, commissioning writers to create playful and provocative work.
Co-produced by Hull UK City of Culture 2017, the tour has been made possible with the support of Arts Council England, house touring network, Hull City Council, New Diorama Theatre, Hull NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and Hull Truck Theatre.
Tickets for Derby from www.derbytheatre. co.uk, for Burton-on-Trent at http:// brewhouse.co.uk for Mansfield are available at www.inspireculture.org.uk/whats-on, tickets for Nottingham from https:// wearenonsuch.com, and for Leicester from www2.le.ac.uk/hosted/attenborougharts.