BEDLAM, a unique festival celebrating the arts and mental health & wellbeing, returns this month, presenting a diverse programme of entertainment that promises to have something for everyone...

This year’s highly anticipated BEDLAM Showcase at Birmingham Rep features dance, theatre, burlesque and comedy,  presented by professional and non-professional performers across two entertainment-packed evenings.

The showcases bring together performances created during wellbeing workshops with work being shared by professional artists around the themes of mental health and wellbeing.

BEDLAM is a partnership of organisations aiming to use the arts to promote mental health. The showcase celebrates this work with performances that aim not only to entertain but also encourage audiences to explore and discuss mental health and mental ill health.

“The aim of the showcases goes back to the original aims of the BEDLAM festival when it was founded more than 10 years ago, which were around reducing stigma and challenging prejudices and misconceptions,” explains BEDLAM co-producer Sabra Khan. “Although we are talking more about mental health these days than 10 years ago, I don’t think mental health literacy has necessarily been achieved. There are still people who want to learn more about it; we are still challenging the stigma that exists and increasing mental health literacy.”

The benefits are experienced by the participants in the workshops, who have been learning their new skills in a safe environment that encourages discussion around mental health and wellbeing.

“Creating spaces where people can be open about their stories is part of what’s really important for us,” Sabra says. “[It’s also important] just to have those spaces where you can help people develop tools and use the arts as a way of developing their own resilience. 

“They come to the sessions and take part, but being able to take those tools outside of the sessions, should they need them, is an important part as well.

“We at BEDLAM are able to provide community spaces which allow people to have mindful participation. So in a way they can also park at the door any problems or issues that they have, come in and take part in work that helps them to connect to others. 

“We know that the programmes help to reduce isolation and loneliness, they help to connect to artists, they create a sense of community, and they allow people to be mindful in that moment. In that hour, they can concentrate on taking part in artistic activity and enjoying that.”
And the benefits are manifold.

“Loneliness is such a big issue for society now,” says Sabra. “One of the things most people talk about when coming to BEDLAM and taking part in BEDLAM activity is about how it helped them to get out through the door. It has given them something to look forward to, and it’s given them connections with other people. 

“The arts is one of the best ways of bringing people together, whether that’s to take part, to watch, or to perform in one of the showcases.”

The BEDLAM partners include Sampad South Asian Arts & Heritage, Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health NHS Foundation, Midlands Arts Centre (MAC), Birmingham Rep and Red Earth Collective. All these groups will see their work featured in the showcases.

“The two will be very different evenings,” says co-producer Steve Ball. “And we hope people will come to both.
“On the Thursday there’s a musician from Red Earth Collective and an extract from Positive Risk, which is a play in development around mental health. There’s stand-up comedy from LGBTQTeeHee - a community facilitated by Birmingham Rep - and Company Chameleon, a dance company performing a piece called Witness.

“On the Friday there’s Journey LGBT+ Asylum Group - who have worked with the artist Ash Mukherjee - Payal Ramchandi, with an evocative dance performance, more stand-up comedy and the Red Earth Collective musician. A burlesque cabaret finishes off the evening with Crying Shame by Sweet Beef Theatre.”

All the works turn the spotlight on issues around mental health and aim to encourage understanding and discussion.

“I hope that audiences will be entertained and have fun,” says Steve. “but I hope they will also have some of their views around mental health, wellbeing and neurodiversity challenged. I hope they will see and be able to put themselves in the shoes of other people in ways they may not have been able to do before.

“What the showcases are doing, and what BEDLAM has done in the past, is to celebrate this work and to give people a sense of occasion and a sense of achievement. 

“It is quite something for someone who is maybe a shy participant lacking confidence in the LGBTQTeeHee programme, 10 weeks later to be standing on the stage in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre performing stand-up comedy. It is a major achievement - and in terms of their own self-esteem and confidence journey, that’s very important.”

Each performance is part of a bigger picture of activities organised by BEDLAM over the past decade. Steve and Sabra firmly believe that the ongoing initiative has helped people and communities open up and explore often-stigmatised subjects around mental health.

“Since BEDLAM was launched,” continues Steve, “it has really helped to develop and strengthen the partnership between arts organisations in the city and mental health services. 

“I think it has really helped to encourage positive dialogue around neurodiversity, wellbeing and mental health. Most importantly, I think it has really helped participants, whether or not they are inpatients or outpatients of mental health services or not, to develop their confidence, creativity, self-esteem and communication skills. 

“It’s really important that we create synergies and partnerships, so that the participants we are working with can get the very best experience from a venue, from artists and from mental health professionals. All of those things are essential for a positive creative experience. 

“The cultural spaces in the city, be that Birmingham Rep or MAC, belong to the citizens of the city, and it’s really important that, whatever their background, they have access as audiences and performers at those venues.”

Feature by Diane Parkes

The BEDLAM Showcase takes place at The Rep, Birmingham, on Thursday 28 & Friday 29 November. An accompanying exhibition shows at Birmingham Library from Thursday 28 November to Saturday 25 January. Visit bedlamfestival.co.uk for information on the complete programme