Prognosis 1

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HOUSE AND AMONGST THE REEDS / Clean Break

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HOUSE AND AMONGST THE REEDS / Clean Break

House is a play about a reunion in a British Nigerian family. Two sisters and their mother gather to mark a birthday – but it quickly becomes apparent that problems from the past, including mental health issues, mean any celebrations are premature. 

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BIT OF SUNSHINE / Bloody Deeds Productions in Association with Kilter Theatre

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BIT OF SUNSHINE / Bloody Deeds Productions in Association with Kilter Theatre

How do you write anxiety? How do you act it? Two questions that present wildly unsatisfactory answers. There are the obvious ways, the tics, the coiled up physical tensions, the wild, unkempt hair, the wildly roving eyes. There’s the breathy, machine guy delivery of dialogue, or the visible signs of ‘nervous breakdown’. 

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EVERY BRILLIANT THING / Paines Plough

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EVERY BRILLIANT THING / Paines Plough

Every Brilliant Thing is a list made by a child attempting to make their mother feel better after an attempted suicide. As the child grows, so does the list. Jonny Donahoe performs Duncan Macmillan’s monologue which engages with the audience in hopes of spreading understanding about depression.

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SACRE BLUE / Zoe Murtagh & Tory Copeland

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SACRE BLUE / Zoe Murtagh & Tory Copeland

According to the Journal of Psychopharmacology there were 8.2 million cases of anxiety in the UK in 2013. Zoe Murtagh is one of those and with Sacre Blue , her first full length solo show, she shares her experience - of trying to make anxiety a friend, of trying to conquer it, of trying to acknowledge its presence.

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I'M DOING THIS FOR YOU / Haley McGee

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I'M DOING THIS FOR YOU / Haley McGee

We get a balloon to blow up as we walk down into the theatre. We are offered vodka, laughing juice - the merriest of spirits, we are informed - by a woman in open-toed kitten heels, red dress and suicide-blonde hair with an overdose of makeup. We’re at a surprise party and she’s the host.

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THIS IS YOUR FUTURE / Lynn Ruth Miller

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THIS IS YOUR FUTURE / Lynn Ruth Miller

Lynn Ruth Miller is 82, and she's been doing stand-up for 12 years. The focus of This is Your Future is ageing, and it features faulty hearing aids, fractured limbs, replacement hips, mammograms and colonoscopies. It also discusses the joys and perils of geriatric dating – google it and you'll find a range of websites aimed at 'senior singles', although Miller suggests the obituaries are a good place to find out who's newly available.