Cracking Up

Sometimes researching a new film project can be fun. So a trip to The Hob pub in Forest Hill to see John Ryan, a London/Irish comedian, do a show seemed an inviting prospect. Then it turned out the show was all about mental health. Depression. Suicide. Light-hearted stuff really.

A mix of comedy, sketches and poetry founded on research and contributions from people who have experienced mental health difficulties, Cracking Up aims to 'lift the lid on mental health', encourage people to be more 'open to talking about and seeking help if they experience symptoms' and 'help reduce stigma by normalising mental health problems'.

Actually, to the credit of John, fellow performers and the show's producer Maya Twardzicki, a psychologist working with mental health services in Surrey, Cracking Up turned out to be very funny. Aimed predominantly at men, who find it harder to talk about mental health and to seek help for mental health problems, Twardzicki decided that comedy was going to be the perfect way of engaging audiences with issues, and recruited Ryan, who's already done one successful show on men's health called Hurt Till It Laughs.

In preparation for Cracking Up, discussion sessions were run with different demographic groups of men around Surrey to inform the development of the comedy and sketch scripts. Sixty men took part from around the county including firemen, construction students, long term unemployed and users of mental health services. So far the show has been shown to over 600 people across Surrey and London, and now has two dates for shows in April at the Soho Theatre.

This imaginative approach to raising awareness of mental health issues caught the eye of an organisation called the Southside Partnership, who work with offenders. They asked whether IJP would be interested in helping them, Maya and John to deliver a similar kind of project involving offenders. That's how I ended up in Forest Hill, listening to comedian Gareth Berliner describe his suicide attempt in great detail. And laughing.

Do go to the show if you're interested. And we'll keep you posted on our project with the Southside Partnership.

Naomi Delap, Managing Director, Inside Job Productions

Through the brothel keyhole...

This week a group of us from IJP paid a visit to the Himalaya Film & Cultural Festival to watch a short film called "From Brothel to Bridehood". The documentary, set in Mumbai, follows the work of the Rescue Foundation, an NGO that works for the rescue, rehabilitation and repatriation of victims of human trafficking from India, Nepal and Bangladesh who have been sold for forced prostitution.

Established in the year 2000, the Rescue Foundation rescues women from the brothels of Mumbai and cares for them in one of their three homes providing them with health care, counselling, training, confidence building activities, and where appropriate facilitating arranged marriages to provide them with security and a traditional family way of life.

The film was followed by a short presentation and Q&A from Triveni Acharya, the inspiration and founder of the Rescue Foundation.  The largest organisation of its kind, the NGO rescues more than 300 girls annually, providing them with an escape from a life of exploitation.

Seeing the film drew interesting parallels to the issues IJP works with across many of our films because, as shocking as it may seem, these sorts of problems also exist in the UK.

Many of our past and previous projects have involved communicating the work of organisations which mirror the achievements of the Rescue Foundation in Mumbai. We’re in the middle of filming an IJP commission for NOMS Women’s Team addressing issues faced by women on the cusp of offending. Over the past few weeks I’ve heard interviewees in Birmingham talking about similar problems where from an early age women are drawn into a life of prostitution, drug addiction and domestic violence.

'From Brothel to Bridehood' clearly communicated the impact of the Rescue Foundation's work to deal with the above issues, from the girls' withdrawn young faces when they were rescued to their playful smiles and laughter when dancing.  As a film production company working extensively with social issues, it reinforced the power of film to capture, in a very short space of time, something which couldn't be achieved by words alone.

Ann Summerhayes, Production Co-ordinator, Inside Job Productions