Selina Wallis 23.05.22

On 11th May, the ARC NWC PPIE team, public advisers and researchers from EPHC went on a road-trip to watch an event run jointly by ARC GM and ‘Made by Mortals’

‘Hidden’ is a series of audio experiences that challenge the listener to take a walk in someone else’s shoes using their own homes and lives as a theatrical set.

Hidden LIVE was an immersive performance. It challenged audiences to encounter life as a young person struggling with their mental health
Stop. Read.
Hidden. Adjective. Kept out of sight, concealed.
Breathe. Think.

The show was held at the Royal Northern College of Music in central Manchester. As we entered we were given an eye mask each and seated in an auditorium. The show leaflet said:

“In a few moments you will enter an avatar and become Adam. Adam’s life will become your responsibility. You will have the controls. You have the headset. Help him survive, strive even”.

Adam has just turned 18. Mum is now even more in the dark. Sean, Adam’s key worker, feels like a failure. Adam wants to be referred to adult services, will they take him?

“I was told we didn’t do home visits when I first came to the job, but I stood my ground and did it anyway”.

This multi-media theatre piece used the imaginations and experiences of ‘real people’ and asked the audience to question what they could do to help. We listened to three pieces of audio created by a group of young people facilitated by Made by Mortals to create a composite character from the MH experiences. In between these audio pieces an actor played the part of a CAMHS worker addressing a monologue to the audience. We also heard a piece of original violin music co=created with the young people based on the character piece they had designed.

After the piece the audience were asked to contribute their views to a series of questions. And an illustrator made visual notes of the audiences’ responses. We discussed what a good life would look like for Adam and his family, and how to overcome the barriers and challenges they face. We heard moving lived experience from the audience and ideas that could help people in Adams position. We also heard a comment from our ARC NWC EPHC researcher about the systemic issues that might affect Adam and his families care and experiences, understanding the role of Public health in tackling inequality and recognising that some of the barriers are out of individuals ability to change, and that its not peoples faults that they cannot make those changes.

It was wonderful to have this experience face to face with our public advisers. Some of their comments about the event include:

“Today I had the wonderful and magical experience of “Made by Mortals” Bringing Peoples Living Experiences to life. This was an immersive performance at The Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester of an authentic panel of voices and a solo violinist; all addressing the taboo and stigmatised matter of Mental Illnesses. “Made by Mortals” demonstrated that it is actually possible to openly talk about Mental Illness and The Big S with sensitivity and humanity. The performance drew its audience into the conversation with well-informed observations and commentary. The diverse and inclusive audience were all invited to each wear a black out mask so to better enable their audio concentration.

All this was appropriately taking place during Mental Health Awareness Week and showed the value of alternative approaches and discourse about Mental Health and Well Being. If we are to develop other ways of “Talking” about Mental health then at least we need more paradigm shifts in our collective thinking just like those Hidden Voices of Made by Mortals.”

Dr Robert G MacDonald (DIMHN Recognition Award 2019 Presented by Dr Philip Hammond BBC TV, Roscoe Citizenship Award 2014 Presented by Lord David Alton).

“When I went to the event on 11-05-2022 in Manchester, I have no idea how it will be… at the entrance there is a lady who give me an eye mask and a leaflet about the event ….Still I got no clue why she gave me that ( may be it is complimentary gift ☺️) then I go further there were a boy who show me the hall and outside hall there were 2 ladies and then one lady told me that there were pitch black inside the hall so you will sit at the back … I like the idea about pitch black hall and put your mask on and listen the story and feel the expressions and feelings”

“It was a great opportunity for me to attend the Hidden Live Event. As I belong to a creative field and passionate about mental health and wellbeing I think it was a great piece of coproduction and collaboration. Listening to real people to understand their lived experiences and executing in a creative way and presenting to different audiences made it more understandable and starting a conversation which otherwise would be just in papers or articles.”

“The audience learnt that the family supporting Adam had come from abroad and English was not their first language. Some of our public advisers related to this and felt it sensitively portrayed the difficulties this had on the family and Adam. Everyone’s feelings and relationship was covered. It was especially poignant when the mums point of few was given. Her experience of guilt, was she doing enough or had she done all she could. The parental abyss that was felt. One public adviser felt she came away very emotional, especially the violin portraying Adam and his feelings not in words but in music that had its own language and story to tell.. “ Naheed

Paul Hine the director of Made by Mortals has since published an article on the role of #participatoryarts within co-creation/social innovation: Paul Hine (2022) The role of participatory arts within co-creation/socialinnovation, Public Money & Management, 42:5, 300-301, DOI: 10.1080/09540962.2021.1981640:

Paul says “For effective co-creation to take place there has to be room to build trust. Stakeholders must communicate as human beings in the first instance and only later in the process bring their specialisms into play. All stakeholders must benefit from the investments they make in the design process and all stakeholders must be made explicitly aware of the benefits they have received and be happy with this arrangement. To this end, effective cocreation requires a shared human experience, such as the participatory arts can provide, in order to make it meaningful, accessible and immediately beneficial to everybody involved.”

ARC NWC will be working with Made for Mortals in the coming months/years to see how we can co-create with researchers, our members and communities using participatory arts to enhance applied health research. So watch this space!