F E AT U R E Wellbeing th

F E AT U R E Wellbeing through the arts WITH WORLD MENTAL HEALTH DAY ON OCTOBER 10, BIRMINGHAM’S BEDLAM FESTIVAL OFFERS A THOUGHT-PROVOKING PROGRAMME OF PERFORMANCES WHICH LOOK AT MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING THROUGH THE ARTS. AMY NORBURY DISCOVERS MORE It is estimated that one in four people in the UK experience a mental health problem each year, and as many as one in six people in England suffer from a common mental health issue such as anxiety or depression every week. That adds up to a staggering amount of the population who are, or have been, affected by mental ill health. Chances are that you, or someone you know, have suffered - or are suffering right now. THE THING WILL HAVE ITS WORLD PREMIERE AT BEDLAM Yet mental ill health is still so often seen as a taboo subject. Something to be ashamed of. Something we just don’t talk about. Birmingham’s BEDLAM Arts and Mental Health Festival aims to change that perception. Taking place throughout the city from October 1 to 12, BEDLAM will present more than 25 events in a range of venues to raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing through the importance of the arts. Welcoming artists from across the UK to the Second City, as well as plenty of home-grown talent, BEDLAM will showcase an exciting and engaging programme of theatre performances, dance, movement workshops, art installations, wellbeing walks, film screenings, family events, Q&A sessions and a special BEDLAM Symposium. Performances and exhibitions will take place at Birmingham Repertory Theatre, as well as at partner venue the Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and various community centres around the city. Performance partners include Sampad South Asian arts and heritage and, new for 2019, Geese Theatre Company, who use theatre and drama-based techniques within criminal justice and social welfare settings, delivering projects that support the process of positive change. Opening the festival is London-born Koko Brown, who brings her play White to MAC for the first time blending music and spoken word. Further highlights include No Bond So Strong, a new commission by Sampad which is a life-affirming production about motherhood and holding family together, while Geese Theatre Company present Playing the Game, featuring a cast of four who take audiences on a journey through a century of maternal incarceration. BEDLAM launched eight years ago as a partnership between Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, following discussions between the NHS Trust and the REP’s associate director Steve Ball about the ways in which the arts can support mental health and wellbeing. The festival has run biennially since. “This is something which, over the past four years especially, has become much more prominent and the profile of which has been very much raised in 6

SAMPAD’S NO BOND SO STRONG TAKES A LOOK AT MOTHERHOOD the media and by the government, so in many ways we’re more familiar with talking about mental health and wellbeing. But there’s still a stigma attached,” says Steve. “What we’re trying to do by working in partnership with the Mental Health Trust - and also MAC, Sampad and, most recently for this festival, Geese Theatre - is to provide a number of arts experiences, be that theatre, dance or exhibitions, for people to attend as audiences, but also workshops - most of which are free - so that people can explore their own mental health and wellbeing, talk to others about it, understand it better and help to reduce the stigma associated with mental ill health. “It gives people permission to talk about something that previous generations would have swept under the carpet, about something that has previously been stigmatised and seen as a bit embarrassing. “But one in four of the population in any one year will be affected by mental ill health, which is a huge amount. And even if we’re not suffering from chronic mental ill health, many of us will be affected by things like loneliness, depression or anxiety at different times during each month. “What an arts festival like BEDLAM can do, is to bring people together with a sense of community to explore those very issues, to help understand them better, to reflect on our own experiences, and to share that with friends and family.” In creating the BEDLAM programme, Steve works closely with Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust to ensure the topics covered are most relevant to the Midlands audiences. “It’s important that people have the opportunity to talk, discuss, debate and engage in dialogue about positive mental health as well as the diverse range of mental health issues,” says Lakhvir Rellon, head of community engagement at Birmingham and Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and BEDLAM co-producer. “By raising that awareness we hope to reduce the stigma within communities that is associated with mental ill health. Mental health issues are common, and the demand for mental health services is increasing. There is increased awareness about the difficulties associated with mental ill health, and there’s a strong focus on prevention and promoting a positive sense of wellbeing. It’s important that people understand the ways that they can look after their mental health as well as their physical health. “People who use our services, their families, their carers, will often comment on the positive value of connecting with the arts and participating in creative activities, not only for their own wellbeing and supporting their recovery from mental ill health, but also for connecting with other people, trying new things and having the opportunity to express creatively things which they may find difficult to express through just talking.” The festival is scheduled to coincide with World Mental Health Day on October 10 - the theme of which, this year, is suicide prevention. And suicide prevention is a topic which runs through a number of different aspects of the programme. The single biggest killer of men aged between 20 and 49 in the UK is suicide, and Olivier-nominated Les Enfants Terribles investigate this rising epidemic in their captivating theatre show The Thing, which is having its world premiere at The REP on October 4 as part of BEDLAM. WHITE BY KOKO BROWN OPENS THE FESTIVAL 7