Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival announces new look programme
The annual festival returns for its 11th year with new plays by Julia Taudevin and Mariem Omari, its annual International Film Competition and a series of storytelling events
Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival is kicking off its second decade with a (slightly) new name and new look, but what remains is a typically sensitive and thought-provoking programme exploring mental health through the arts. It’s also been described as the festival’s “biggest and most ambitious programme yet” by festival manager Gail Aldam.
The theme this year is ‘reclaim’. “This year’s programme brings together hundreds of artists, activists and organisations to explore the festival theme of reclaim,” says Aldam, “and in events across Scotland people are reclaiming their experiences, sharing them with others, promoting better understanding and challenging negative perceptions of mental ill health.”
This ‘reclaim’ theme has inspired a wide-ranging line-up of over 300 theatre, film, music, comedy, visual art and literary events spread across 17 areas of Scotland, from 10 to 29 October. Here are some of the highlights.
Theatre
As ever, the theatre on offer at SMHAF looks particularly interesting. A highlight looks to be the world premiere of Julia Taudevin’s Hysteria!, which is said to be exploring the impact of sexism on mental health. There’s also Mariem Omari’s verbatim theatre piece One Mississippi, about men reclaiming their lives following a moment of crisis.
Other eye-catching theatre inclusions are Living With The Lights On, RSC actor Mark Lockyer’s acclaimed show about his recovery from a dramatic breakdown, and It’s Not Over Yet, a very personal show about living with a cancer diagnosis from Emma Jayne Park, which aims to turn people’s homes into intimate performance spaces.
Park also curates scratch night 5 Ways to Begin…. Taking place in both Edinburgh and Glasgow, it gives audiences a first look at in-development performance pieces with mental health themes.
Film at SMHAF
Film may be dropped from its title, but this year's SMHAF still have plenty of moving image work in its line-up. CCA in Glasgow will become a hub for film activity from 12-15 October with screenings, masterclasses, discussions and the annual International Film Competition celebrating high achievement in filmmaking that addresses mental health, which has its awards ceremony on 12 October.
Look out for Summer, 1993, a semi-autobiographical drama about a girl orphaned through AIDS, which won best first feature at the Berlin International Film Festival; The Other Half, a raw and atmospheric Canadian drama; and Becoming Cary Grant, a fresh look at one of Hollywood’s greatest icons. The latter is part of a full day of films and events exploring men’s mental health.
Storytelling and art at SMHAF
Storytelling plays a big part in this year’s festival. There’s event Beyond the Binary, an evening of transgender stories from all over the world featuring members of the Adam World Choir (as seen in National Theatre of Scotland’s recent hit, Adam). Other storytelling highlights are Real Talk, an evening of storytelling, connections and honesty, which returns to the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh; Write to Recovery, a various workshops and events hosted by Scottish Recovery Network; and Tales by the Fireside, which enables people to tell their crafted stories in an outdoor Highland setting.
Two of The Skinny's favourite spoken word nights also get in on the SMHAF action. Neu! Reekie! return to the festival with a night of words, music and film at Dundee Literary Festival, exploring what kind of art we need in an age of anxiety, while Flint & Pitch, Jenny Lindsay’s spoken word and music night, presents Reclaim this Script, two specially programmed shows in Edinburgh and Paisley, with performers including Janice Galloway, Vonny Leclerc and Heir of the Cursed.
If it's visual arts you're after, annual collaborative exhibition Out of Sight Out of Mind returns to Summerhall with over 100 artworks in various media (installations, paintings, films, photography, drawings, sculpture ), created by people who are using the arts to express themselves in relation to their experiences of mental health issues.
The above is just the tip of the iceberg. To explore the huge SMHAF programme head to www.mhfestival.com
Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival runs 10-29 Oct at venues throughout Scotland