Playback’s Performance @ A Mad Hatter’s Tea Party – An Eye Witness Account
We [the Playback Team] arrived at the Auburn Community Centre to find a Mad Hatters Morning Tea in progress, a crowd of people in colourful hats, and lots of discussion going on. In each of the Centre’s rooms we saw people – all ages and cultures – chatting, connecting and gesticulating in various ways. We found our rehearsal room, a private room where we do our pre-show warm up – and started making noises (to get our voices ready) moving around (to get our bodies ready) and getting fully present for the show. We then moved into the large room which held the detritus of the Mad Hatters Morning Tea – many tables spilling over with shared food platters – and started rearranging the room to set up our performance space. Once the seating in the room was organised into theatre style seating, we were ready for the show.
Once onstage, our Playback Conductor (emcee) introduced the Ensemble and outlined why we were there. We’d been brought in to do a show and facilitate dialogue about young people and mental health. The event, set up by Auburn Youth Advisory Collective was for October’s Mental Health Awareness month. The Conductor invited the group to share how they’d found the earlier Morning Tea – their expectations, what they’d liked or found challenging and more. The room was upbeat and the mood fun, informative and emotional.
Playback played back their comments or ‘moments’ – reflecting back to them their responses to moments they’d shared from the morning tea – with theatre, movement and music. Initially, as so often happens, there was some nervousness, giggling and shifting about in seats. There’s often a pause at the beginning of a Playback Theatre show when each person stops their internal dialogue and to do lists and becomes aware of the present moment – of being in the room and listening to one another – and one by one, story by story, the energy in the room stills and deepens as our thoughts, emotions and human-ness are shared and played back.
The stories were real and heartfelt. One young woman spoke up about her difficulty in discussing her depression; a young man shared his challenges when trying to manage his impulsive and aggressive responses; and an older man talked about how he finally recognised, after many years, that his good friend was not just a bit ‘weird’ but actually suffering from a mental health issue. A young man told of his deep loyalty towards his autistic brother, so loyal even to the point of losing friendships to his brother. The stories were real and honest and subsequently special to hear. The stories told, the vulnerabilities shown and the care and connection of the group was heart-warming and Playback Theatre Sydney was very proud to be a part of this event.
Postscript: The show was organised by a group young people, in collaboration with Auburn City Council, who wanted to raise discussion and sharing of stories – in an entertaining and innovative way – around Youth and Mental Health – hence the ‘Mad Hatters Morning Tea’. The group invited a range of people of all ages to surface as many perspectives as possible, enabling intergenerational discussion and broader learning. Telling and listening to people’s lived experience is an effective way to look at mental health in its many permutations – showing its frequency, impact and effects – as well as reducing the fear of mental health – in a real and resonating way.
