Inside Out
Inside Out, a theatrical production staged in Arran Community Theatre last week, was devised and performed by Ayrshire College HNC and HND Performing Arts Students. An earlier performance had been given to the 4th, 5th and 6th year Arran High School students, and the final one was for the general public.
Five nine-minute dramas explored everyday occurrences of mental ill health and its associated stigma. The experience for the audience was poignant and thought provoking. In Faded Lines, we watched two girls suffering from depression, one in denial and the other wanting to get help. Beauty and the Beast showed another girl struggling to cope with her parents’ separation as well as starting a new school and trying to fit in. She felt overwhelmed and things got on top of her. How was she going to cope and who would help her?
In Listen to me, a girl with depression and having constant ups and downs felt her friends did not understand her and made fun of her. She felt that nobody was listening to her, and she had nowhere to turn. Inbox showed Anna and Dan finding comfort in each other through the use of a chatroom. They were both dealing with difficult circumstances in their lives, but found solace through their laptops. However, things took a turn for the worse and they found themselves in a serious and deadly situation. The final drama, Together through Highs and Lows, showed how hard it is for a young person to live a full life when caring for an ill parent.
These dramas were challenging but at the same time heartening, as they showed that with the right support, people can and do recover to enjoy a good quality of life once more. The discussion afterwards was lively, with some of the young performers talking of their personal experience of depression, and how they had been helped.
This was a very worthwhile result of collaboration between NHS Ayrshire and Arran, Ayrshire College and two projects, See Me and Choose Life. It is being performed in other schools and also at the Gaiety Theatre and Arts Centre in Ayr.
