Real Talk

A male mental health project that encourages men to speak up and own their mental health struggles. As an organisation, we use drama as the medium to tackle issues and help others to express themselves. For this project we have collected real accounts from men who have suffered with their mental health who have worked with us previously and continue to do so. We collate these recorded interviews together and portray them on stage. We have found that the verbatim theatre (word for word theatre) helps those feel more confident about speaking up and asking for help, and hopefully makes other men realise they are not alone and it's okay to feel this way. We have found that is the most raw, authentic way to engage an audience and send a message.

Behind the scenes of the creation of our visual performance, we have worked with men using drama workshops to help them gain more confidence, learn a new skill and introduce that drama can be used as an outlet.  These workshops have been facilitated and prescribed through Sean's Place and Care Merseyside. 

For this project, we are creating a behind the scenes documentary of how this project and how drama has directly helped improve men's mental health. The documentary will explore the making of the verbatim performance, snippets of the performance and the workshops for men. We plan to interview people involved  throughout for the audience to understand the project fully and the benefits that theatre and the arts can have on mental health. This documentary will weave in and out of the visual piece so we can dissect each scene, individual and the reason for decisions and directions. 

Each story is used as a representation of how going forward we can address mental health concerns in society. 

• Directors, Facilitators and Creators of Project: Anna Griffith and Megan Peet
• Stage Manager: Laura Silk
• Audio Editor: Anna Griffith
• Technicians: Laura Silk and Christian Cheevers
• Videographer: Joe Williams
• Visual Editor: Joe Williams
• Cast: Stanley Burfield, Ross Almond, David Loy, Isaac Nixon and Daryl Holden
• Voices: Paul Kincade, Colin Dolan, Jay Wheeler, Harvey Fitzpatrick and Declan Edgar
• Beneficiaries involved: Sue Cowley, Frank Pybis, Robbie Phillips and Michael Goodwin
 
• Partnerships and special thanks to: Care Merseyside, Sean's Place, Mersey Play Action Council and Hope Street Theatre
• Funded by: NHS England, Public Health and LCVS for the Male Suicide Prevention Fund

• Many thanks to Nick and Susan Woodrow for their generous donation
• Dedicated in memory of Paul Kincade and a special thanks to the Kincade Family,Hayli, Shireen and Denia