Award-winning musical about depression comes to Hampshire!

Award-winning theatre company Silent Uproar is bringing its critically acclaimed musical cabaret about depression to Hampshire after wowing crowds and critics alike at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

As part of its first ever UK tour, Silent Uproar presents A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) at Bedales Theatre in Petersfield on 2 October; The Spring in Havant on 3 October; West End Centre in Aldershot on 5 October; and Phoenix Theatre in Bordon on 6 October.

Written by Olivier award winner Jon Brittain (Rotterdam, Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho) with music by Matthew Floyd Jones (Frisky and Mannish), prepare to laugh, cry and even get a song or two stuck in your head.

Influenced by the company’s personal experiences and informed by interviews with people living with mental health problems and medical professionals, it’s a joyful, buoyant, gleeful, slightly silly, sugar coated, unrelenting and completely super happy show! Except for all the bits about depression.

The show is supported by NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group, which has not only funded the performances at the University of Hull to raise awareness of mental health issues among students, but also arranged for the cast and crew to have mental health awareness training via Hull and East Yorkshire MIND. Silent Uproar is also hoping to have mental healthcare professionals at each performance. The idea is that if anybody is affected by the issues in the show, they will be able to talk to somebody afterwards.

Alex Mitchell, Artistic Director of Silent Uproar said: "We wanted to make a show that was entertaining, accessible and discussed depression without being a depressing show. From suffering with anxiety and bouts of depression, and seeing friends and loved ones suffer, I wanted something that said ‘do you know what it doesn't matter if you feel sh*t today, it’s okay not to be okay. And most of all it’s okay to talk about it because the talking helps’.”

Silent Uproar is pioneering or Pay What You Decide across this tour. Although commonly used by some venues, this is thought to be the first time a theatre company has used it across a tour. It is hoped the ‘try before you buy’ model adopted by the likes of Netflix, will attract new and more diverse audiences and more venues across the country will use it as a tool to develop audiences who might not currently think theatre is for them.

Dan Roper, Chair of NHS Hull Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “Approximately one in four people in the UK will experience a mental health problem each year and worries about things like money, jobs and benefits can make it harder for people to cope.

“There is a growing body of research evidencing the positive role of the arts on health and wellbeing. We also know there is a strong link between poverty and mental health, yet low income can be a barrier to accessing the arts. By allowing audience members to pay what they can afford, this barrier is being removed, in effect putting them in control of their own social prescription.

“This particular show has the added benefit of being informed by healthcare professionals, and there will be a team of volunteers from Hull and East Yorkshire MIND available after performances to talk to people affected by any of the issues in the show, and to be able to signpost them to help available.”
The comedic and production style of the show draws from sources as diverse as Scott Pilgrim vs The World, Pixar’s Inside Out, Juno, and musicals like Cabaret and Chicago.

Silent Uproar is a Hull-based new writing company, commissioning writers to create playful and provocative work to help make the world a little less shit.

Co-produced by Hull UK City of Culture 2017, the tour has been made possible with the support of Arts Council England, house touring network, Hull City Council, New Diorama Theatre, Hull NHS Clinical Commissioning Group and Hull Truck Theatre.

The show, which won the Fringe First Award and Best Musical Award at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, will open at High Tide Festival in Aldeburgh on 13 September. The tour will take in 38 performances across 27 venues, ending in Derby on 3 November.

Tickets for Petersfield are available from: www.bedales.org.uk/event/super-happy-story-about-feeling-super-sad.

Tickets for Havant are available from: www.thespring.co.uk/whats-on/theatre/a-super-happy-story.

Tickets for Aldershot are available from: www.westendcentre.co.uk/event/super-happy-story-about-feeling-sad.

Tickets from Bordon are available from www.phoenixarts.co.uk/event/a-super-happy-story.

For more information, go to www.silentuproarproductions.co.uk.

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