Navigating our mental health can be difficult. Whether it’s just the daily stresses of a normal day or a more serious mental health problem, our minds can be very draining. That’s where having an outlet comes in. For us, theatre is an outlet. Although A Clown Show About Rain is about mental health, it has actually been a chance for us to take a break from our mental health. Making this show has also been a space for us to play and laugh and shake off the serious stuff. In our rehearsals we spend an huge amount of time improvising and creating weird worlds and stupid games as a warm up for the rest of the days work. When we are playing and creating we aren’t letting ourselves get trapped in mind-mazes, instead we get out of our heads for a bit, which can be the best thing when your head is full of extra faff. Theatre is the thing we use to express ourselves and escape. Now, escape is a problematic word. Escape implies running away, but in this context we mean giving our minds breathing space, rather than running away from them. It is so important to address the things that are clogging up our thoughts, and there are many ways of doing this (talking therapy, medication, CBT etc) but we also know that living with mental health problems can be exhausting. Exhausting and demoralising. So it is also really important that we find an outlet so that we have the ability to take a break from our own heads. Finding an outlet, or many outlets, is a great way of giving yourself that space. And anything can be an outlet. As long as you are using your brain for activity, rather than allowing it to run wild. Playing football, painting, jogging, singing, meditating, sudoku, writing, photography, crosswords, anything that gives you a focus outside your thoughts can help to give you a break from tiring mental roundabouts. It can also be about outcome. Having produced something, whether it’s a new piece of artwork, a finished sudoku puzzle or even just a bit of sweat, is a great way of escaping your mind in a healthy way. Creating can be great way to channel negative stuff going on in minds, or simply a nice way of working out some of the stuff that has got all a bit tangled. Silent Faces return to VAULT Festival from 27 Feb - 3 March with A Clown Show About Rain, a dazzling physical comedy about the complexities of understanding and dealing with mental health
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