list.co.uk/festival Mental Health | FESTIVAL THEATRE
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With the issue of mental health being given ever-increasing exposure throughout the arts, Lorna Irvine talks to some of the theatre companies tackling the subject to fi nd out how they plan to look after their own wellbeing during the Fringe
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O ne in four people in Britain are currently affected by mental problems, according to the charity Mind. It’s a troubling statistic. With the mayhem of the Fringe a potential hotspot for excess, anxiety and stress, many of the companies exploring mental health have now designed strategies for self- care during August in Edinburgh. Here they offer up a selection of tips and sage advice,
demonstrating that mental health is more than just a fashionable theme for a show. Gulliver Returns focuses on a life-changing trauma faced by a couple, and a man caught up in a fantasy world. Writer and director Dan Coleman explains: ‘It uses the idea of a person becoming lost in a book to explore the dislocating effect that grief has on your sense of self, the world, relationships with others’. As for the Fringe, he says: ‘I think having your own space is really important. Keeping in contact
with the outside world is really important. Getting some sleep is really important. The occasional fried Mars bar helps as well.’
Writer Lucy Danser’s new show Lost In Thought aims to dispel some myths around OCD, focusing on Felicity, a young woman with the condition. ‘It’s naturally difi cult to stay healthy at the Fringe, but we are even more serious about it this year because of the topic of the play and our writer and actor both having OCD,’ she says. ‘A core part of that has been >>
1–8 Aug 2018 THE LIST FESTIVAL 105