FILM THEATRE MUSIC COMEDY LITERATURE VISUAL ARTS WORKSHOPS AND MORE REALITY 1–26 OCTOBER, 2013 MHFESTIVAL.COM 2 / Partners The Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival is hosted by the Mental Health Foundation in association with national partners If you would like to know more about the designers behind this year’s brochure, visit ostreet.co.uk Contents / 3 WELCOME TO THE 2013 FESTIVAL This October is all about reality. What does reality mean to you? Does anyone else see the world exactly as you do? Why do so many artists find mental health to be such a fertile ground for creativity? Launching in the Highlands, this year’s Festival will explore all these questions and more. Our line-up is our biggest and best yet, encompassing nearly 300 events stretching the length and breadth of Scotland. Our exhilarating film programme will challenge you to see life through a different lens; while theatre invites you to enter new worlds through live performance. We have a brand new collaboration in the shape of a weekend literature festival with Aye Write! And, as always, our festival is rooted in the creativity of communities throughout Scotland, with a backbone of workshops, exhibitions and celebrations from those working to promote positive mental health and challenge stigma all year round. Thanks to our fantastic network of artists, activists and organisers, we are now one of the largest social justice festivals in the world. Join us and be moved, amused, provoked and inspired. And help us create new realities and possibilities. Lee Knifton – Festival Director Contents 04 INTRODUCTION 10 GLASGOW 15 EAST RENFREWSHIRE 16 EDINBURGH AND LOTHIAN 26 LANARKSHIRE 31 RENFREWSHIRE 36 EAST DUNBARTONSHIRE 37 INVERCLYDE 41 FORTH VALLEY 42 PERTH AND KINROSS 45 FIFE 48 DUNDEE 49 ABERDEEN 51 MORAY 55 HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS 57 ARGYLL AND BUTE 58 AYRSHIRE AND ARRAN 59 DAILY DIARY 4 / A Focus on Film With ‘reality’ at the heart of this year’s Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, it’s no surprise that documentary is a key element in the core film programme.Running From Crazy (p13/18/48) features Oscar-winner Barbara Kopple detailing Mariel Hemingway’s fight against the stigma of her family’s mental illness. Alan Berliner’s First Cousin Once Removed (p12/18) is a heartfelt and sincere portrait of poet, friend and mentor Edwin Honig. And festival favourite Jack Bond presents The Blue Black Hussar (p18/48) a dynamic story of recovery featuring Adam Ant. Our programme also covers new subjects and experiences: the debilitating effect of post-traumatic stress disorder in Richard Jobson’s Wayland’s Song (p12); or Frank Langella growing old disgracefully in Robot and Frank (p13). There’s also a special screening of I Am Breathing (p12), which touchingly WAYLAND’S SONG depicts how one couple cope with motor-neurone disease. Diversity is a key element of the programme. On the surface there appears to be little connecting the realities experienced by Canadian actress Sarah Polley as she tracks down her birth father in Stories We Tell (p46), the passionate accounts of urban Scottish life in Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share (p32) and Peter Mullan’s Neds (p32), the mother’s angst expressed in Lynn Ramsay’s We Need To Talk About Kevin (p55), or John Travolta dancing his way out of the ghetto in Saturday Night Fever (p12). The common ground is that they all vividly express one person’s experience of reality. Whether looking at urban gardening in Glasgow 2 Detroit (p13), a rapper’s recovery from a psychological disorder in The Mars Project (p19), or one man struggling with a breakdown in Jeff Nichols’ Take Shelter (p18), film is an accessible FIRST COUSIN ONCE REMOVED way for us communicate and appreciate what life is all about. Our core film programme will be supported by Q&A’s with filmmakers where possible, and each event is intended to provide a forum for challenging work, and a platform for discussion. STORIES WE TELL Film / 5 RUNNING FROM CRAZY 6 / A Spotlight on Theatre This year, we’re presenting our most exciting and ambitious the- atre season yet, with works that seek not only to entertain, but to challenge pre-conceptions and open up conversations around mental health. Using drama, comedy and dance, we explore the realities of ageing, demen- tia, eating disorders, depression and relationships. The packed programme spans Scotland, with many high-profile theatre companies touring their shows across the country. China Plate’s award-winning Mess (p6) offers a whimsical insight into living with anorexia; Barrowland Ballet’s Tiger and Tiger Tale (p8) explore the re-awakening of family relationships; and Strange Theatre/Plutôt La Vie’s Couldn’t Care Less (p7) is a MESS tender exploration of the strug- gles and triumphs of caring for a loved one. This is also the Festival’s first ever online theatre MESS event – the whole show is streamed live from Edinburgh’s Traverse on CHINA PLATE Fri 18 Oct (p23). Josephine is putting on a play - Boris and Sistal help. It’s about anorexia. We also bring you The Incredible Adventures of See Thru Sam (p11/38) But don’t let that put you off. Un- by Random Accomplice, introducing us to a teenage superhero flinchingly they confront big issues who finds his invisible existence threatened by first love; Theatre (and extremely tiny ones). Today they will tackle a particularly thin elephant Ad Infinitum’s Translunar Paradise (p40) – a wonderful, inspiring in the room. Obsession, addiction and uplifting show from last year’s Edinburgh Fringe; and the Life In and not wanting to get out of bed: Progress Theatre Group with Reality Bites (p23), a ground-breaking a play with songs from 2013 Olivier devised performance which expands into discussions with experts Award nominated Caroline Horton and policy-makers, allowing us to affect real changes in the mental (You’re Not Like Other Girls Chrissy). (Age 13 +) health sector. Touring in association with Beat (the Glasgow’s Tramway showcases the return of Down the Rabbit Hole UK’s leading charity supporting people with Mirror Mirror (p10). This performance, devised especially for the affected by eating disorders). festival, is an autobiographical exploration of the reality of being a This performance was developed with young person living with an eating disorder. Also at the Tramway is the help of experts from King’s Col- lege London’s Institute of Psychiatry Mental (p10) by the vacuum cleaner, a powerful portrayal of creativity Triggered@Warwick. Funded by a and depression. Wellcome Trust Arts Award, commis- sioned by Battersea Arts Centre and Join us as we invite you to enter new worlds and explore realities. Parabola Arts Centre and supported by Ovalhouse, London. Thu 24 Oct Paisley Arts Centre (p35) Fri 25 Oct Motherwell Concert Hall (p30) Theatre / 7 TOURING THEATRE COULDN’T CARE LESS STRANGE THEATRE AND PLUTÔT LA VIE Elspeth comes and goes through windows into another world. Her school of dance lies empty. The doctors say it’s Alzheimer’s. Elspeth and her daughter Lilly embark on a journey of frustration, humour and ultimately love as Lilly learns to dance with the person who is, not the mother who was. Inspired by the experiences of carers, Couldn’t Care Less is a dark, surreal, funny and moving story of two women whose lives are disappearing. Created by Liz Strange, Tim Licata, Hilde McKenna and Morna Pearson with Alice Wilson, Malcolm Shields and Danny Krass. Developed with the support of Creative Scotland, the Scottish Mental Health Arts & Film Festival, Luminate: Scotland’s creative ageing festival, North Edinburgh Arts and Age Scotland. (Age 12+) Fri 11 and Sat 12 Oct North Edinburgh Arts Centre (p22) Tue 15 and Wed 16 Oct East Kilbride Arts Centre (p29) Thu 17 – Sat 19 Oct Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh (p23) Mon 21 Oct Buckie Community High School Auditorium (p54) Tue 22 Oct Elgin Town Hall (p54) COULDN’T CARE LESS Wed 23 Oct Spectrum Centre, Inverness (p57) Couldn’t Care Less can also be seen live on the internet from the Traverse Theatre at 8pm, Fri 18 Oct. To watch online, visit: Thu 24 Oct http://couldntcarelesstheplay.wordpress.com/watch-online/ Corran Halls, Oban (p57) Sat 26 Oct Lochgelly Centre, Fife (p47) Mon 28 Oct Platform, Glasgow (p15) Tue 29 Oct Ardishaig Public Hall, Argyll (p57) Wed 30 Oct Dunoon Grammar School (p57) Tue 31 Oct Eastwood Park Theatre, Giffnock (p15) Sat 2 Nov Hermitage Academy, Helensburgh (p57) 8 / Theatre TIGER ANGUS – WEAVER OF BARROWLAND BALLET GRASS Tiger is the story of a family who have HORSE AND BAMBOO THEATRE TIGER TALE ceased to function; a girl who longs A powerful tale of illness, lost tra- for someone to play with, a mother ditions and magical hats of grass, who has forgotten what it’s like to go stunning like sunbursts. Raised outside and a father obsessed with on South Uist, and traumatised success. A family whose everyday by WWII, Angus spent 50 years in world is turned upside down when psychiatric hospitals. He did not a tiger comes to stay. Chaotic, dan- speak; instead he wove remarkable gerous and an awful lot of fun, their costumes from grass. guest slowly makes them remember what it is they love about one another. The show tells Angus’s story, and it Sometimes everyone needs a tiger does this using masks, puppets and in their lives. (Age 14 +) film. There is almost no dialogue, and the non-verbal nature of the production mirrors Angus’s own lack of words. The story unfolds using TIGER TALE Gaelic narrative and song, with BARROWLAND BALLET singer Melissa Deans.