It's still so cold! It's summer soon right?!
I recently visited the theatre to see a show called 'A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad)' at The Point in Eastleigh. I had been invited along as a local Mental Health Blogger to see the show (so #Collab). I had agreed to share a few social media posts leading up to the show, but having seen it I wanted to write a bit more about the show than I could fit into a tweet, (because it was so good!) so...
As someone that still struggles with depression I was really interested in seeing a show where depression and mental health was the focus of the story. Not something going on in the background, or something you could guess or should be interpreting about a character. No, it was the focus, and that had me interested.
Heres the official introduction:
A hilarious cabaret musical about depression, that explains, sings, and throws glitter about how it’s OK not to be OK. Sally’s a happy person. She doesn’t let little things get her down and almost never cries. But she’s got an illness. It makes her feel like she isn’t the person she wants to be, but she doesn’t want anyone to know about it. Written by Olivier award winner Jon Brittain (Rotterdam and Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho) with music by Matthew Floyd Jones (Frisky & Mannish). It’s a joyful, buoyant, gleeful, slightly silly, sugar coated, unrelenting and completely super happy show! (Except for the bits about depression).
When I arrived at The Point it was already pretty busy and seemed to have a real range of ages in attendance.
It was great to see so many young people at a local theatre and talking about the upcoming performance. Through my podcast I have really found it quite interesting and notable that younger people do seem to be much more comfortable in talking about mental health, hopefully thats because we are starting to see a shift in public acceptance of mental health as a talking point.
There were a pile of envelopes left in the foyer on a bench for people to take home. Mine included (not sure if they were all the same) 3 cards with information about self kindness, connecting with friends and being active, with suggestions very much along the 5 ways to wellbeing line. A real show of thought about the topic and the audience, and not just the show.
The performance by Madeleine, Sophie and Ed from Silent Uproar was great. They held the difficult/ hard moments, long enough that you felt it. But also didn’t dwell on or glorify them. A very very well done to everyone involved.
The scenes that dealt with heavy depression and suicide were poignant and important and you felt them. But then a positive thing would happen to lift the moment and the mood. The show and those involved have done so well with this, a very difficult story.
After the performance there was a Q&A session which was very interesting.
It was great to hear staff from The Point talking about making the theatre more accessible to the local community and their desire to approach difficult and important topics like mental health.
There was a really interesting discussion about how theatre is more immersive that film and how you can connect with the audience/ performers in a theatre setting. It was also mentioned how that felt particularly noticeable in this show.
There was also reflection on one point from the character Tash, who said "Don't keep it a secret". This was in regards to sharing your experience (when you feel able to) to support other people who may be struggling in silence.
The show was great, and is still touring around the UK until June. Fingers crossed it's back again in 2020, because I would so watch it again. If you would like to check the tour or find out more about Silent Uproar visit - silentuproarproductions.co.uk
The Point in Eastleigh was a great venue and I was pleased to see and hear their proactive and positive approach to mental health. If you would like to find out more about them visit - thepointeastleigh.co.uk
You can also see the trailer / video below.