My
Mental Breakdown: A Musical
North Shields – The Exchange
Friday 8th - Saturday 9th March 2019
In a society that
has, at long last, got mental health within the group consciousness, it is still
often misrepresented. My Mental Breakdown has been created by a small group
based in Newcastle upon Tyne. They have used their talents and personal
experiences to bring together the most underrepresented parts and the cold
reality of living with mental illness.
The show aims to
help express the inner most and darkest thoughts that many people struggle to
put into words. It hopes it can reach those who have loved ones
struggling and try as they might, can’t understand what it’s like.
It is also for sufferers themselves who could benefit from seeing other
perspectives and to validate their experiences.
The narrative
follows a young man, struggling with the various thoughts and feelings that
leave him isolated, and alone. It is written semi-autobiographically by Max
Kingdom: the founder of the now annual Canny Fringe Festival. Many men feel
that can’t talk about the struggles they go through; many feel that needing
help is a form of weakness.
This production
shows that it takes real strength to tell people you are not coping. Much of
media, such as the popular 13 reasons why, run a narrative where suicide is
presented as an understandable conclusion to being sexually assaulted and
bullied at school. It glamorises the pain that leads people to take their own
lives in a romantically tragic way. My Mental Breakdown does not do this.
Suicide is ugly. Awful. It leaves loves ones left behind, broken, full of
thousands of questions which will never been answered.
In Kingdom’s real
life he lost a friend to suicide: a flatmate that he lives with but never even
knew that they were struggling. One day you wake up and realise that person
isn’t there anymore and all that potential has suddenly been wiped out. It was
this that catalysed the passion that has lead to the creation of this musical.
Kingdom has been able to channel his own struggles with poor mental health into
a heartbreakingly honest and real production with beautifully bittersweet
songs.
Sadly, through lack
of resources and lack of understanding, many ‘professionals’ are not actually
equipped to help those in need. This is why we need to build a sense of
community. Sometimes doctors can help, sometimes they can’t. Telling
people that doctors are the only people who can help only serves to make people
feel alone and hopeless. We can help. We need to be there for friends, family
and neighbours. Maybe we can’t fix the problem, but a lot of the time just
being around is enough; it helps more than you can imagine.
‘Not a dry eye in the house’ - an audience member from a preview
CONTENT WARNING:
Themes of mental illness, suicide and self harm.
My Mental Breakdown: A Musical has been fully
sponsored by London North Eastern Railway.
All Proceeds are
going to Campaign against Living Miserably (CALM) who work tirelessly to help
men who are feeling suicidal. More information on this amazing charity
can be found here: https://www.thecalmzone.net
On The Web:
Age:16+
Length:1.5 hours
Length:1.5 hours
Tickets: £10.00
(£8.00 Con) from the Exchange box office or www.ticketsource.co.uk/theexchange.
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