FESTIVAL
3 - 29 MARCH 2014
FUNDERS
MEDIA PARTNERS mintcreative.com
PROGRAMME PARTNERS
DUKE'S @
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INDEX Welcome ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------2 Stories From the Front Line ------------------------------------------------------------------------3 Ruby Wax: Sane New World ------------------------------------------------------------------------8 Introductory essay: The Talking Treatment - Dialogue As The New Wonder Drug ---------- 10 Debate: Good Pharma - Bad Pharma: The Medicalisation Of Mental Health ---------------- 12 Ridiculusmus: The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland ----------------------- 14 Gob Squad: Before Your Very Eyes -------------------------------------------------------------- 16 Split Britches: RUFF ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 18 Conference: Creative Minds - Seeing, Talking and Questioning ------------------------------ 20 Introductory essay: Present Tense - Confronting Mortality ----------------------------------- 22 Debate: Confronting Mortality? ------------------------------------------------------------------ 24 Eva Meyer-Keller: Death is Certain -------------------------------------------------------------- 25 Kim Noble: You’re Not Alone --------------------------------------------------------------------- 26 Hunt & Darton Cafe - Open Surgery ------------------------------------------------------------- 28 Koen De Preter: Journey -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 30 Out of Town Productions: Chatroom ------------------------------------------------------------ 32 Samuel Fuller: Shock Corridor ------------------------------------------------------------------- 34 Sebastian Hofmann: Halley ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 36 Introductory essay: Ageing But Not Dying - Who Wants To Live Forever? ------------------- 38 Debate: Who Wants to Live Forever? ------------------------------------------------------------ 40 Michael Pinchbeck: The Middle ----------------------------------------------------------------- 41 Frank Alva Buecheler & Neil Hannon: In May --------------------------------------------------- 42 Caroline Bowditch: Falling in Love with Frida--------------------------------------------------- 44 Robert Softley: If These Spasms Could Speak ------------------------------------------------- 46 Richard Ayoade: Submarine --------------------------------------------------------------------- 48 Introductory essay: Adolescents - Who wants them? Who’d be one? ------------------------ 50 Debate: What Is Adolescence - And Why Is It So Unfair? ------------------------------------- 52 David Hoyle: Hurt Me ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- 54 Untied Artists: For Their Own Good-------------------------------------------------------------- 56 Weeping Spoon: It’s Dark Outside --------------------------------------------------------------- 58 Venues Map --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 60
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WELCOME SICK! Festival 2014 is here! Taking place in Brighton throughout March, SICK! is a groundbreaking festival exploring the medical, mental and social challenges of life and death and how we survive them (or don’t). We are delighted to present an outstanding international, cross art-form programme featuring theatre, dance, film, public installations and debates in venues across the city. The festival seeks out new ways of talking about and dealing with the bad times that are unflinching, informed, irreverent and humane. It is a reflection on those experiences that are most personal to us, but which somehow connect us all as individuals with bodies, minds and lives that sometimes go wrong. SICK! shines a light on issues that often remain hidden, taboo or misunderstood in daily life. It is also a celebration of survival, of individual resilience, medical knowledge and the social bonds that keep us going. In 2014 the festival will explore a range of issues including adolescence, mental illness, ageing and death. The programme incorporates contributions from over 25 academics and medical practitioners with expertise in these four thematic areas. It was shaped, enriched and contextualised by our co-investigators: Clive Parkinson, Prof. Jaakko Seikkula & Ridiculusmus, Dr. Graham Music, Prof. Bobbie Farsides and Dr. Sue Eckstein. They have also made it a hugely exciting and enjoyable process for us. The programme is delivered in partnership with many arts organisations, medical and academic institutions, charities and community groups and we are extremely grateful for their support. We would like to thank all the fantastic artists who are presenting work in the festival, our generous funders, Wellcome Trust, Arts Council England and Brighton & Hove City Council and the Roddick Foundation, but most importantly we want to thank our audiences who bring their own life experiences, thoughts and questions to every event within the festival. SICK! is a discussion about things that matter to all of us and we thank you for your part in that conversation. We hope you enjoy the festival! Helen Medland & Tim Harrison This festival is dedicated to Sue Eckstein As some of you may know, our co-investigator Sue Eckstein died in November 2013. Sue had been an enthusiastic, generous and thoughtful supporter of SICK! since its inception. She was a truly inspirational individual, and we were incredibly saddened by her loss as were many who had known her and were touched by her wide-ranging work as a writer, an academic and in her work with the VSO. She will be sadly missed and remembered with great affection.
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PUBLIC SPACE INSTALLATION
MON 10.02.2014
STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINE
– FRI 31.03.2014 FREE JUBILEE SQUARE
Four fantastic comic artists present four stories from the Front Line of medical practice in Brighton. Four patients and four doctors share their stories, giving their own accounts of true events that are moving, revealing, honest and challenging. Ian Williams, ILYA, Nicola Streeten and Woodrow Phoenix, illuminate the personal and ethical issues of illness and healthcare through individual’s experiences. The resulting graphic narratives are presented in a large-scale light-box installation in Jubilee Square in the lead-up to, and throughout the festival.
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All 4 artists participating in Stories From The Front Line are published by Myriad Editions
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Room for Love 2013
ILYA
ILYA is a comic book writer and artist. His work has been published internationally by Marvel, DC and Dark Horse in the USA, Kodansha in Japan, and numerous independent companies worldwide. Books include his award-winning graphic novel series The End of the Century Club; his latest, Room For Love; Manga Shakespeare’s King Lear; and It’s Dark In London. His debut prose novel is THE CLAY DREAMING (Myriad, 2010). His medical comics LOVE S.T.I.NGS, TARGITS and others can be found on comiccompany.co.uk. He’s currently collaborating with Joe Kelly, co-creator of Ben10, on a brand new all-ages concept, KID SAVAGE. ILYA will be presenting the stories of Emily Littlejohn and Dr. Tony Kelly, Consultant Obstetrician & Gynaecologist, Honorary Clinical Senior Lecturer & Associate Medical Director for Quality & Innovation, Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals.
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Nicola Streeten
Nicola is an anthropologist-turned-illustrator and comics scholar. Nicola’s graphic memoir, Billy, Me & You, about her bereavement following the death of her two-year old son, was published by Myriad in 2011. It is the first graphic memoir to be published by a British woman and received a British Medical Association Award in 2012. Her second graphic novel, Hymn, a fiction exploring issues around abortion, will be published in 2015. Nicola is currently working on a PhD at the University of Sussex on British women’s comics, for which she was awarded an Arts and Humanities Research Council Scholarship. She is cofounder of Laydeez do comics. Nicola will be presenting the stories of Victoria Hamer and Dr. Ingrid Kane, Consultant Stroke Physician, Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust. streetenillustration.com laydeezdocomics.com
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Woodrow Phoenix
Woodrow Phoenix is very interested in using comics to extend the possibilities for narratives, both factual and fictional. His book Rumble Strip (Myriad Editions) was called “a work of genius” by The Times, so he’s trying a few other experiments including a wordless story presented in a giant book where each page measures one square metre. That’s a lot of ink! He lives and works in London and Cambridge. Find him on twitter: @mrphoenix Woodrow will be presenting the stories of Duncan Harrap and Dr. Khalid Ali, Senior Lecturer in Geriatrics at Brighton and Sussex Medical School, and consultant stroke physician, Princess Royal Hospital, Haywards Heath. woodrowphoenix.co.uk
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Ian Williams
Ian Williams is a comics artist, physician and the founder of the website GraphicMedicine.org. He was short listed in the Myriad/First Fictions first graphic novel prize in 2011 and is currently working on a graphic novel The Bad Doctor for Myriad Editions. His MA dissertation was written on medical narrative in comics and graphic novels and he has co-organized four international conferences on comics and medicine. He is joint Lead Editor for a forthcoming series of books on Graphic Medicine. He is also an Honorary Clinical Lecturer in the Faculty of Medicine and Human Sciences at the University of Manchester, UK. Ian Williams will be presenting the stories of Lucy Rippingale and staff of the Trevor Mann Baby Unit, Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton. graphicmedicine.org
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PERFORMANCE
MON 03.03.2014 DOORS OPENS 18:45 SHOW STARTS 19:30 £17.50 / £15 CONCS BRIGHTON DOME CORN EXCHANGE AGE 14+
Ruby Wax – comedian, writer, mental health campaigner – shows us just how our minds can send us mad as our internal critics play on a permanent loop tape.
SANE NEW Ruby knows this only too well. She has been on a tough but enlightening journey through depression which has taken her from The Priory through to an MA from Oxford University in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy. This show helps us all understand why we sabotage our sanity, how our brains work and how we can rewire our thinking to find calm in a frenetic world. Helping you become the master, not the slave, of your mind, this show is your route to saner living.
‘Wax has an extraordinary mind, and she has brought it to bear with her trademark wit... a ruby beyond price’ Stephen Fry Co-presented with Brighton Dome Sane New World by Ruby Wax was published by Hodder and Stoughton in June 2013 and will be published in paperback in February 2014. rubywax.net @Rubywax
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Image: Steve Ullathorne
WORLD
Ruby Wax
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THE TALKING Since the anti-psychiatry movement of the
recourse to drugs. We went to see if it was true
1970’s the controversy surrounding psychiatry
and at a conference in Aulanko we were invited
has continued to grow, many regarding it as a
to perform an extract from our play. We were
pseudo-science and rejecting the idea of both
also introduced to Dr. Jaakko Seikkula, who had
psychiatric diagnoses and the prescription
been developing this model of care over the
of neuroleptic medication. Although drugs
previous two decades.
are undeniably an appropriate component
He explained how they de-emphasized
of treatment for some patients, research
pharmaceutical intervention and focused
demonstrates that psychotherapy can be just
instead on developing a social network of
as if not more effective in treating mental
family and helpers and involving the patient
illness, carrying less risk of side effects
in all treatment decisions. A family will
and a lower risk of relapse. Given this, why haven’t we seen the emergence of a genuinely therapeutic approach in the UK to care for
member of that family is displaying psychotic symptoms. Instead of focusing on controlling
those suffering from mental distress? Why is it too often drugs first and talk second - when often it’s too late?
contact a team of specialists because a
and removing the symptoms, the focus is on organising meetings where the interest is more in generating dialogues by following what
Ridiculusmus: ‘We’re asking these questions
family members are saying than in planning
because over the last two years we’ve been
interventions aimed at change. The solution
making a play about madness within a family.
comes as part of a self-evident process as
Gradually we learned of various innovative
all the voices are allowed to be heard in the
approaches to treating mental illness.
dialogue.’
One was a dialogue-based approach to the
Jaakko Seikkula: ‘It seems to be a good idea
treatment of psychosis pioneered in Western
to organise the system in a way that makes
Lapland. It had had remarkable results in
possible meeting with the family and the
reducing the escalation of the condition into
person experience symptoms. Whilst in the
schizophrenia, strengthening social networks,
midst of heavy emotions that the new crisis
de-stigmatizing mental health and reducing
may call forth, people have more access to the
hospital bed numbers - without immediate
issues in their lives than they did before.’
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TREATMENT
INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
Dialogue as the New Wonder Drug
‘In the initial meeting with someone suffering
exchange we experienced a group epiphany.
from psychosis’, says Seikkula, ‘it is impossible
We could relax with these people and all that
to understand what is being said. Gradually
was needed for their amazing method of
one realises that the subject is speaking of
working to succeed was time and space.’
something that has happened in her life. This might be the first time that she’s put this experience into words. It is a metaphorical way to speak of things for which previously she had no words. It is therefore vital that the team takes what she says seriously. She may gradually find more and more words with which to articulate her experience. One outcome is that behaviour that is defined as “psychotic” in the beginning starts to become understandable in responding to an extremely stressful situation in one’s life. In this way the one who is defined as the patient becomes a part of a “normal” dialogue instead of being seen as the patient and as such less capable than others in the meeting.’
In the area of Finland where Open Dialogue is practised the results with first onset of psychosis are remarkable. In the UK typically 45% of people presenting psychotic symptoms will remain on medication and be unable to work for the rest of their lives. In Finland only 15% would remain on medication and all would be able to return to work. What is most striking is that fewer people are presenting psychotic symptoms in the first place and psychotic responses are dealt with before they become chronic (down to 2 cases per 100,000 people). These initial findings urge us all to adopt this incredible way of working not just in the health system but in every aspect of life.
Ridiculusmus: ‘Embracing our existence as a switched-on, long-form improvisation is something we’d contemplated in the past on the back of amazing experiences in the rehearsal room. For the practitioners at this conference, however, it was a normal way of being. After we’d performed an extract from our play, our characters took part in a therapy session. Some way into the ninety-minute
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Dr. Jaakko Seikkula, Professor of Psychotherapy, University of Jyväskylä, Finland Jon Haynes, David Woods, Co-Artistic Directors, Ridiculusmus December 2013 Ridiculusmus will be presenting The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland on Wednesday 5th March and Thursday 6th March (see page 15).
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GOOD PHARMA - BAD PHARMA The Medicalisation of Mental Health
With one in four people in the UK experiencing mental health problems each year, and, one might argue, all of us living on a roller-coaster of mental well-being in our daily lives, there can be few topics that affect so many people, so deeply and so often. But few issues are more complex, influenced as it is by everything from the chemical make-up of the brain, to the social conditions in which we live. This debate brings together diverse, sometimes conflicting perspectives on the treatment of mental illness that are employed by doctors and psychologists today. CHAIR: Ian Cummins Ian Cummins is Senior Lecturer in Social Work at the University of Salford. Before taking up an academic post, Ian worked as a probation officer and subsequently an approved social worker in Manchester for over ten years. Ian’s main research revolves around the experiences of people with mental health problems in the Criminal Justice System with a focus on policing and mental illness.
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DEBATE PANEL Dr Chris Salway - Chris Salway is Associate Medical Director for Somerset Partnership, and the community consultant for West Somerset. He worked for 3 years on a psychiatric intensive care unit in Taunton and his particular interests are psychosis and schizophrenia. He is interested in the evolutionary reasons of why psychosis exists, the spiritual aspects of psychosis and the relationship between psychosis and substance misuse. Dr Ben Sessa - Ben Sessa is a Consultant Psychiatrist, Author and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the University of
TUES 04.03.2014 EVENT BEGINS 19:00 FREE (BOOKING RECOMMENDED) COUNCIL CHAMBER – BRIGHTON TOWN HALL
Cardiff. He has specialist training in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and works clinically with children, young people and adults, as well as within the field of specialist Substance Misuse Services. Dr Sessa is involved in the pioneering research area of drug-assisted psychotherapy and is currently coordinating Britain’s first MDMA-Assisted Psychotherapy for PTSD study. Prof. John Shotter - John Shotter is an Emeritus Professor of Communication in the Department of Communication, University of New Hampshire and a Research Associate, Centre for Philosophy of Natural & Social Science, London School of Economics. His long term interest has been, and still is, in the social conditions conducive to people having a voice in determining the conditions of their own lives. David Woods - David Woods is one half of multi award winning independent touring theatre company Ridiculusmus. The company have been working closely with Prof. Jaakko Seikkula, Professor of Psychotherapy, University of Jyväskylä, Finland in the development of The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland which will be presented in SICK! Festival on Wednesday 5th March and Thursday 6th March (see page 15).
This debate is presented in association with Ridiculusmus & Prof. Jaakko Seikkula and in partnership with MIND mindcharity.co.uk Donations can be made to MIND when booking online or on the night of the event.
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THE ERADICATION OF IN WESTERN LAPLAND
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Image: Ridiculusmus
Ridiculusmus
PREMIERE
SCHIZOPHRENIA Mediterranean roasted vegetables. Finnish Folk and Margaret Drabble. Adolf Hitler and the knitted cover for a toilet roll. An audience split in two experiencing auditory hallucinations. This new work from Ridiculusmus is inspired by a treatment
PERFORMANCE
WED 05.03.14 THU 06.03.14 BAR OPENS 19:30 SHOW STARTS 20:00
method for psychosis that has virtually eradicated schizophrenia
£10 / £8 CONCS
from Western Lapland. It conjures up a comic nightmare of
THE BASEMENT
delusion while offering a hopeful world of polyphonic uncertainty, a world where dialogue can transform your life. Multi-award winning company Ridiculusmus has a 20-year strong track record of creating, presenting and touring high quality and innovative new theatre. Driving and leading as author-actors, the company’s co-artistic directors David Woods and Jonathan Haynes have established the company as a flagship UK performance group touring nationally and internationally with works passionately wrought from minimal resources that are both serious and funny. Presentation and discussion with Prof. John Shotter, Prof. Kathryn Abel and Ridiculusmus. WED 5TH MARCH: John Shotter is an Emeritus Professor of Communication in the Department of Communication, University of New Hampshire and a Research Associate, Centre for Philosophy of Natural & Social Science, London School of Economics. THURS 6TH MARCH: Kathryn Abel is Professor of Psychiatry & Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the University of Manchester and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. She is lead researcher for the Centre for Women’s Mental Health Research Manchester and has a
Written and directed by: David Woods and Jon Haynes Cast: Jon Haynes, Patrizia Paolini, Richard Talbot, David Woods Technical Co-ordination: Chris Marsh Hilfiker Script and Performance Collaborators: John Burns, Louise Bush, Meredith Davies, Nicky Harley, Rupert Jones, James King, Ranjit Krishnamma, Brian Lipson, Sally Marie, Dominic McHale, Valentina Muhr, Cindy Oswin, Patrizia Paolini, Minsun Park, Richard Talbot Design Collaborators: Salvador Alejandro Garza Fishburn, George Moustakas, Mischa Twitchin Funded by the Wellcome Trust, with support from Shoreditch Town Hall, Metal and Stephen Joseph Theatre. Ridiculusmus receives funding from Arts Council England. Commissioned by SICK! Festival ridiculusmus.com #SZTour
particular interest in women with schizophrenia.
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PERFORMANCE
FRI 07.03.2014 BAR OPENS 19:15 SHOW STARTS 20:00 £12 / 10 CONCS
This performance is suitable for hearing impaired.
BEFORE YOUR Gob Squad and CAMPO proudly present a live show with real children! A rare and magnificent opportunity to witness seven
THE OLD MARKET
lives lived in fast forward… Before Your Very Eyes!
Concept, Design & Direction: Gob Squad (Johanna Freiburg, Sean Patten, Berit Stumpf, Sarah Thom, Bastian Trost & Simon Will)
For the first time in their 17 year history, Gob Squad do not appear onstage themselves, instead directing a group of 8-14 year olds. As the audience observe them in a “safe-room” made
Developed with: Martha Balthazar, Maurice Belpaire, Spencer Bogaert, Zoë Breda, Faustijn De Ruyck, Ramses De Ruyck, Fons Dhossche, Tasja Doom, Gust Hamerlinck, Robbe Langeraert, Zoë Luca, Jeanne Vandekerckhove, Aiko Vanparys & Ineke Verhaegen
of one-way mirrors like insects in a jam jar, the children onstage
Performers: Maurice Belpaire, Zoë Breda, Ramses De Ruyck, Fons Dhossche, Tasja Doom, Robbe Langeraert & Aiko Vanparys.
recorded material, Gob Squad turn ideas about the wisdom of
Production: Rigley Riley, Pascale Petralia, An Breughelmans, Korneel Coessens, Bart Huybrechts, Philippe Digneffe, Pol Heyvaert, Stephanie Dewachter, Hilde Tuinstra, Merel Van Den Steen
trilogy of theatre works with children, made for an adult
Produced by: Campo, Ghent (BE) & Gob Squad (DE) Coproduced by: Hebbel am Ufer, Berlin; FFT Düsseldorf; Noorderzon/ Grand Theatre Groningen; NEXT Festival, Eurometropole LilleKortrijk- Tournai + Valenciennes, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm, Frankfurt; La Bâtie – Festival de Genève (CH) gobsquad.com
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peer into the future at themselves as adults, and nostalgically back at their recent past. And as we try to stop the process of aging and preserve youth as long as we can, they prepare to leave childhood behind forever. Through the complex interaction of live performance and age and the innocence of youth on their head. Gob Squad’s Before Your Very Eyes is the last part of the CAMPO audience. The first part was Josse De Pauw’s üBUNG, followed by Tim Etchells’ That Night Follows Day. Presentation and discussion with Professor Jonathan Green, Gob Squad and the performers of Before Your Very Eyes. Jonathan Green is Professor of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry in the University of Manchester and Honorary Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychiatrist at Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s Hospitals University NHS Trust and Manchester Biomedical Research Centre.
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VERY EYES
Image: Phile Deprez
Gob Squad
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RUFF
Split Britches
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PERFORMANCE
Peggy Shaw had a stroke in January 2011. The stroke was in her PONS, which rhymes with the Fonz, one of her many role models. Since the stroke she’s realized she has never really performed solo. She has always had a host of lounge singers, movie stars, rock n’ roll bands and eccentric family members living inside her.
SAT 08.03.2014 BAR OPENS 19:30 SHOW STARTS 20:00 £10 / £8 CONCS THE BASEMENT
RUFF is a tribute to those who have kept her company these 68 years, a lament for the absence of those who disappeared into the dark holes left behind by the stroke and a celebration that her brain is able to fill the blank green screens with new insights. RUFF, the latest in a line of Peggy Shaw’s solo performances this time written with Lois Weaver, reveals her humorous and musical perspective on age, gender, and bravadacio. RUFF was commissioned by PS122′s Ethyl Eichelberger Award (NYC) & Out North Contemporary Art House (Alaska). RUFF is supported by a Wellcome Trust People Award.
‘…an impressionistic monologue that’s engaging, admirably unsentimental and often very funny indeed.’ Charles Isherwood, New York Times Presentation and discussion with Dr. Alison Mears, Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver. Dr Mears is Consultant Physician at St. Mary’s Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Co-presented with Pink Fringe
Director: Lois Weaver Split Britches was founded by Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver, together with Deb Margolin (veterans of Hot Peaches and Spiderwoman Theater), in 1981 at NYC’s WOW Cafe. splitbritches.org @Split_Britches
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CONFERENCE
MON 10.03.2014 10:00 – 17:00 £40 (INCLUDES LUNCH
SEEING, TALKING Challenging perceptions and encouraging debate, Creative Minds presents a one day conference to raise the voices of learning disabled artists and support them in being heard by
AND DRINKS)
arts critics, venue programmers, funders and academics.
BRIGHTON CORN EXCHANGE
Chaired by Matthew Hellett of the committee of learning disabled artists behind Creative Minds, the conference is designed to confront perceptions and encourage debate about definitions of quality in learning disabled arts practice. It aims to widen the net of audiences who see this work, valuing it for what it is – work that can be of high quality, integrity and power. The day includes performance, film and visual arts, offering attenders the chance to see and then discuss a variety of art-forms. Anyone interested in finding a critical language for learning disabled art is welcome. You can join the conversation now, on the website, and then follow Creative Minds as it travels around the country.
For further information on Creative Minds, and to take part in the debate, visit: creativemindsproject.org.uk
‘Historically, disability arts have seen a surge of support and a wider acceptance within the arts and cultural sector. This has been a great step forward in terms of equality and promoting the diversity of the artistic community, but learning disabled art has yet to enjoy that same equality.’ Mark Richardson, Artistic Director, Carousel
Book tickets: http://creativeminds2014. eventbrite.com/
Email: info@creativemindsproject.org.uk Twitter: @CMproject2014
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AND QUESTIONING
Image: Restless Dance Company
Creative Minds
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PRESENT TENSE
Confronting Mortality
When the comedian Tommy Cooper collapsed
one-time editor of the British Medical Journal
and died of a heart attack, mid performance
argues that this fear of death and dying is one
on stage at Her Majesty’s Theatre, the
that medicine alone cannot address, and ‘...
audience assumed it was all a part of his
that common values and attitudes towards the
bumbling act and roared with laughter. The
management of death, whilst well known about
internet is awash with platitudes suggesting
in scientific circles, have yet to be acted upon
that it was the way in which he’d have wanted
because of lack of imagination’.
to die - doing the thing that he loved. There
Whilst the modern version of the Hippocratic
may be some truth in this, but you can be
Oath urges clinicians to avoid the ‘twin traps
confident too, that he would have perhaps
of over treatment and therapeutic nihilism’, it
wanted something a little more dignified.
also stresses that ‘there is art to medicine as
To some degree, most of us have the
well as science, and that warmth, sympathy,
opportunity to take control over the manner in
and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s
which we die, but few of us think about this, yet
knife or the chemist’s drug’.
alone exercise the right. Yet the fear of living wills being ignored by well-meaning clinicians has pushed increasing numbers of elderly people to having ‘do not resuscitate’ tattoos emblazoned across their chests. Science offers an increasingly sophisticated array of medical solutions to sickness and disease, yet it can also be a catalyst in the degradation of human life, particularly at the point of death. The general practitioner and former president of the Royal College of General Practitioners, Iona Heath highlights the rise of preventative health technologies, in which we are witnessing what she describes as ‘...a new arena of human greed, which responds to an enduring fear.’ Richard Smith,
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Can artists provide insights into cultural, social and political attitudes towards death and dying? There is no shortage of art that references or reflects upon death, with strategies such as metaphor, as well as more oblique approaches often used as a route into the subject. Artists offer diverse responses to mortality and arguably affect perceptions and attitudes, and whilst death and dying are often kept at a convenient distance, they arguably offer space for challenging conversations. As unresolvable arguments polarize the opposing forces of humanism and religion, the guardians of monotheisms and atheism
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INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
alike, vie for intellectual and moral supremacy,
nice blossom’, looking at it through the window
whilst the silent majority remain relatively
when I’m writing, I see it is the whitest, frothiest,
unconcerned with their mortality, until it creeps
blossomest blossom that there ever could be.
up on them unannounced and forces their
{…} The fact is that if you see the present tense,
hand. In the context of our own mortality, might
boy, do you see it! And boy, can you celebrate it.’
the arts offer us a means to have the most difficult of conversations?
Poignant and succinct, Potter captured something that incessantly flits across the
In a remarkable interview whilst drinking
minds of the worried-well, but that can’t really
champagne, taking morphine and chain-
be understood until it confronts us: we are all
smoking, the terminally ill playwright Dennis
mortal. No clinical intervention can alter the
Potter, (1935 -1994) offers us a counter-blast
fact, we have a finite life, but Potter offers us an
to Cooper’s undignified death. Describing
opportunity to explore something intriguing and
the process of creating new works, knowing
seemingly implausible: in the face of impending
that they would be his final pieces of writing,
death, some kind of wellbeing might be
Potter described the acute experience of being
attainable and through Potter’s own example,
sentient in the present moment, which he
the arts may offer us a way of exploring this.
suggested that you can only really experience, when you are facing your own mortality.
Dignity and choice in the way we live and die should be central to the concerns of a civil
‘We’re the one animal that knows that we’re
society, regardless of our moral and intellectual
going to die, and yet we carry on paying our
standpoint. Culture and the arts might just offer
mortgages, doing our jobs, moving about,
us the resources to have these conversations
behaving as though there’s eternity in a sense.
and perhaps, take action.
And we forget, or tend to forget that life can only be defined in the present tense {…} that nowness becomes so vivid to me that, in a perverse sort of way, I’m almost serene. You
Clive Parkinson, Director of Arts for Health at Manchester Metropolitan University December 2013
know, I can celebrate life. Below my window {…} the blossom is out in full now. It’s a plum tree, it looks like apple blossom, but it’s white, and looking at it, instead of saying, ‘Oh, that’s
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CONFRONTING MORTALITY?
+ Death is Certain - Eva Meyer-Keller
This debate is concerned with notions of mortality and the ways in which death appears (or is obscured) through being in the midst of life. This debate brings together artists, health professionals and free-thinkers to discuss mortality and particularly the ways in which we might exercise control over the manner in which we die. Whilst rational dialogue about assisted dying is still largely a taboo and divisive subject, we aim to bring together people who confront the issues head-on through their work and practice. CHAIR: Clive Parkinson Clive Parkinson is the Director of Arts for Health at Manchester Metropolitan University. He has previously led on mental health promotion for an NHS Trust and managed day services for people affected by schizophrenia. Through facilitated networking, research and development and high level political lobbying, he has succeeded in gaining strategic support and a greater understanding of the potency and social value of art and design.
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PANEL:
DEBATE/ PERFORMANCE
Prof. Raymond Tallis - Professor Raymond Tallis is a philosopher, poet, novelist and cultural critic and was until recently a physician and clinical scientist. In the Economist’s Intelligent Life magazine he was listed as one of the top living polymaths in the world. Dr. Sam Guglani - Dr. Sam Guglani is a consultant clinical
TUES 11.03.2014 EVENT BEGINS 19:00 FREE (BOOKING
oncologist at Cheltenham General Hospital specialising in the
RECOMMENDED)
treatment of patients with breast, lung and brain tumours. He
FABRICA
is Chair of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust Clinical Ethics Committee and Curator of Medicine Unboxed, a project engaging health professionals with the public in a conversation around the ethics, politics and values of medicine and the arts. Steven Eastwood - Steven Eastwood is a filmmaker and artist working with fiction and documentary. His films deal with the collective will of people to construct new paradigms of behaviour, and with narratives of faith and truth. His new work Door, commissioned by Fabrica explores what constitutes a good death. Murray Ballard - Murray Ballard is a Brighton-based photographer. British Journal of Photography recognised him as one of the ‘Emerging Photographers of Note’, following his debut solo show, The Prospect of Immortality - an exploration of cryonics: the process of freezing a human body after death in the hope of one day bringing it back to life. Death is Certain - Performance by Eva Meyer-Keller This debate is preceded by Death is Certain, a performance reflecting on the fragility of flesh and the individuality of the deaths that await us. In the performance Eva Meyer-Keller has installed sweet cherries as her protagonists. They are being individually and relentlesly killed in a way which turns the everyday into something more brutal.
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Production: Eva Meyer-Keller With friendly support by: Vooruit Gent, Stuk Leuven Thanks to: Alexandra Bachzetsis, Juan Dominguez, Mette Edwardsen, Cuqui Jerez, Martin Nachbar, Rico Repotente evamk.de Co-presented with Fabrica In association with Clive Parkinson, artist & Eva Meyer-Keller Donations can be made to Martlets Hospice when booking online or on the night of the event.
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PERFORMANCE
THURS 13.03.2014 BAR OPENS 19:30
YOU’RE NOT Blending performance, comedy and film, Kim Noble tries to get close to other people on this planet. Keith for instance.
SHOW STARTS 20:00
You maybe.
£10 / £8 CONCS
“We’re born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love
THE BASEMENT
and friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we’re
AGE 18+
not alone.” – Orson Welles You’re Not Alone is a provocative, moving and comic production that chronicles one man’s attempts at connection, friendship and employment at B&Q. Kim Noble takes his audience on a journey through tower blocks, supermarkets and Facebook, seeking an escape from the loneliness of modern society. His show is an intimate glimpse into the mind of an eccentric genius. Kim Noble is an award winning international comedian and performer. He also starred in TV Shows like The Mighty Boosh & Noel Fielding’s Luxury Comedy. He currently works at B&Q.
‘Kim Noble is a genius’ Time Out ‘Just how annoying is Kim Noble?’ New York Times
Co-director: Gary Reich Produced and presented by IBT in association with Soho Theatre. mrkimnoble.com @mrkimnoble
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ALONE
Kim Noble
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HUNT & DARTON CAFE
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Image: Christa Holka
Hunt & Darton
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– OPEN SURGERY
INSTALLATION
A fully functioning café that blends art with the everyday, Hunt
WED 05.03.2014
& Darton Cafe – Open Surgery is a social and artistic hub where spontaneity and performance meet great food and drink. Jenny Hunt and Holly Darton expose the inner workings of their business by presenting everything as art – from the food served, the people serving, the décor and public display of their
– SAT 29.03.2014 (NOT MONDAYS OR TUESDAYS) 11:00 – 19:00 BRIGHTON SQUARE
bank balance to the lovingly handpicked charity shop crockery. Hunt & Darton Cafe encourages playful participation and meaningful social encounters through its alternative service from its hosts Hunt & Darton in their iconic fruit or veggie attire, comic interaction through their ‘set menu’ performances, guest waiters and themed days such as You-Do-It or Health & Safety day. As this year’s hub for SICK! Festival the guest waiters, theme days and hosted talks will approach the core themes of the festival collaborating with medical practitioners, academics, artists and local groups. Imagine being served your tea whilst getting that leg looked at! Or perhaps you would like a bowl of Coco Pops served with a frank conversation about death. And no! You are not too old to have Coco Pops! Drop in! At Hunt & Darton Cafe we are proud to satisfy appetites in more ways than one.
‘A pop up establishment of disarming eccentricity’ Lyn Gardner, Guardian
Performers: New Art Club, Brian Lobel, Odd Comic, Scottee, and Figs in Wigs. Commissioned by: SICK! festival Hunt & Darton are Associate Artists of Arts Admin and Cambridge Junction. huntanddartoncafe.com @HuntDarton
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UK PREMIERE
PERFORMANCE
This performance is suitable for hearing impaired
FRI 14.03.2014
A man and woman are on stage. Two dancers, two
BAR OPENS 19:15
generations. Koen is 32 years old, Alphea is 88.
SHOW STARTS 20:00
In Journey they probe the borders, push back boundaries in a
£12 / £10 CONCS THE OLD MARKET
performance about being here – now; about the strength of the human body. Together they bridge the gap between young and old, and 60 years of dance history, in a balancing act between the wishes and limitations of the human body. Journey brings two generations closer. These two people share a dream: to go on dancing to the end of their days. Koen De Preter wanted to work with an older performer for several years. In the realisation that the elderly are
Choreography: Koen De Preter
conspicuously under-represented in our society and on stage,
Dance: Alphea Pouget & Koen De Preter
he set out to question the modern-day obsession with youth.
Dramaturgy: Annette van Zwoll
Presentation and discussion with Prof. Stephen Harridge,
Production: Klaar Vermeulen, Koen De Preter & Tom Herteweg, Elisabeth Kinn Svensson, Jana Debruyne, Vincent Van den Bossche, Koen De Preter & Klein Verzet,
Koen De Preter and Alphea Pouget
Co-production: Kunstencentrum Vooruit Ghent, C-Mine Cultuurcentrum Genk and TAKT Neerpelt. With the support of: the Flemish government, CDC Les Hivernales Avignon, Vélo Théâtre Apt, Kunstenwerkplaats Pianofabriek Brussels, ccBe Berchem and 30CC Leuven.
Stephen Harridge is Professor of Human & Applied Physiology at King’s College London. He has a multidisciplinary research interest in human skeletal muscle function with a particular focus on healthy ageing and has published widely in this area. He is Director of the Centre of Human and Aerospace Physiological Sciences at King’s and Editor in Chief of the Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Science in Sports. Co-presented with South East Dance
koendepreter.com
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JOURNEY
Image: Bart Grietens
Koen De Preter
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CHATROOM
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Image: Restless Dance Company
Out Of Town Productions
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PERFORMANCE A young boy needs help. Strangers are coaxing him to end his life. Whose job is it to save him? The six teenagers in Chatroom never meet, they communicate via the internet. Conversations range from Britney Spears to Willy Wonka … and then to suicide. Jim is depressed and talks of ending it all. Eva and William decide to do their utmost to persuade
SAT 15.03.2014 BAR OPENS 19:30 SHOW STARTS 20:00
him to carry out this threat. From this chilling premise Enda
£10 / £8 CONCS
Walsh has forged a funny, compelling and uplifting play
THE BASEMENT
which tackles many teenage issues head on and with great understanding. Out of Town Productions return from their successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe with this portrayal of young adults living with the ups and downs of the 21st century. Scarily relevant, Chatroom captures the dangers we face in a world where technology can make us nameless and faceless but reminds us that human relationships can triumph in the end. Out of Town Productions is a theatre company founded out of Royal Holloway, University of London. They produce contemporary plays and new writing with a focus on issuebased, cutting edge drama. They also work with young people in schools and workshops to explore the issues and questions arising from their productions. Presentation and discussion with Prof. Kathryn Abel and artists from Out of Town productions. Abel. Kathryn is Professor of Psychiatry & Honorary Consultant Psychiatrist at the University of Manchester and Honorary Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. She is lead researcher for the Centre for Women’s Mental
Director: Liam Blain Performers: Brad St.Ledger, Jack Finnerty, Toby Vaudrey, Lily Penfold, Lauren Houlder, Tanya Reynolds
Health Research Manchester. She has a particular interest
Stage Manager: Sarah Greenwood
in women with schizophrenia; the effects of sex on risk for
Designer: Rebekka Taylor
neurodevelopmental disorder; the effect of prenatal exposures
Producer: Seona McClintock
on fetal, childhood and adult mental health outcomes.
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FILM
SUN 16.03.2014 STARTS 14:00 £9.90 £8.90 STUDENTS & RETIRED £7.90 MEMBERS
Johnny Barrett (Peter Breck) is a ruthless journalist seeking a Pulitzer Prize who has himself committed to a psychiatric hospital to investigate an unsolved murder. But as he closes in on the killer, madness closes in on him. Constance Towers co-stars as Johnny’s cool-headed stripper girlfriend.
SHOCK
DUKE OF YORK’S
Sexual perversion, racism and the nuclear threat are all themes explored by the great American writer-director-producer Sam Fuller, as he masterfully charts the thin line between sanity and madness. With daring photography by the brilliant Stanley Cortez (The Magnificent Ambersons, Night Of The Hunter) this is a rare screening of an influential cult classic.
‘Shock Corridor is not only outright trash, but stands also as one of the most vicious and irresponsible pieces of filmmaking that the screen has given us in years.’ Review from 1963 Co-presented with Cinecity. Director: Samuel Fuller With: Peter Breck, Constance Towers, Gene Evans US 1963 101mins Certificate 15
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CORRIDOR Samuel Fuller
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HALLEY
Sebastian Hofmann
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FILM
Alberto has been dead for years, but he can no longer hide the fact. Perfume and make-up no longer mask his physical decline; just as the seemingly eternal life of Halley’s Comet will also end, Alberto’s days are numbered.
MON 17.03.14 STARTS 18:30 £9.90 £8.90 STUDENTS & RETIRED
Sebastian Hofmann’s imaginative and award-winning debut portrays Alberto (Alberto Trujillo) a security guard in a Mexico
£7.90 MEMBERS DUKE’S @ KOMEDIA
City gym, whose physical state is in stark contrast to the healthy bodies around him. Retreating to his apartment to watch TV, Alberto sews himself up and injects himself with embalming fluid to hold off his physical deterioration. His desire for life is rekindled when his boss, Silvia, asks him out. As compelling and stylish as it is hard to define, this is a surreal tale of the walking dead; urban loneliness with a dash of Cronenberg-esque body horror. In its depiction of total isolation and physical decay, this slice of contemporary gothic conveys a rare and delicate sense of compassion.
‘Hauntingly surreal, and sometimes maddeningly oblique, it never fails to be consistently compelling, and Hofmann’s eerie protagonist manages to resonate long after its final frames.’ Ion Cinema Co-presented with Cinecity. Director: Sebastian Hofmann. With: Alberto Trujillo. Mexico 2012 84mins Spanish with English subtitles Certificate 18
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AGEING BUT NOT DYING Who Wants To Live Forever?
It has become a cliché to say that we are an
of ageing and how we might logically wish
ageing population, and barely a week goes by
to remain young for ever. But this is only one
without a new warning of the consequences
perspective, and one that we should wish
of us living longer and in ever greater
to challenge or even reject. With age comes
numbers. We might think more life can only
wisdom, experience, and in many cases a
be a good thing, after all it is the receptacle
freedom to explore new possibilities unavailable
for all other good things. But on closer
in earlier life. Maybe what we should want is
examination we become concerned.
not to stay young forever, but rather to embrace and work towards the concept of a long and
We might worry about how we can
healthy old age. When asked, it is rare that
accommodate the ever-growing population,
people want to ‘be young again’ in terms of
particularly if we are used to thinking of the elderly as economically unproductive. We might question the value of offering people longer
turning back the clock and reliving their life and past experiences, what they want is to continue to live life supported by the vitality of their
lives when one of the problems at present is
younger years and in the absence of society’s
that more years of life does not necessarily
attitudes and behaviour towards older people.
equate to adding quality to the life we have already lived. Do people even want to be adding extra years to their life if it is increasingly
What we miss above all else perhaps is the invulnerability of youth.
characterised by illness, social isolation and
We are well aware that a lot needs to be done to
cognitive decline? Unsurprisingly perhaps it is
shift attitudes towards ageing and older people
often difficult to engage the young with issues
but should we also be focusing more energy
relating to their older future selves, but more
on ensuring life-long health and well-being in
surprisingly the reluctance to think about the
order to afford people the opportunity to make
issue of ageing can also be present in our
the most of the gift of extra life and the benefits
middle years. We are told that 60 is the new 40
of being older? If so, how far should we go in
but what are we saying if anything about 80, 90
harnessing modern medicine and science –
and even 100?
are we simply talking about attacking the problems of old age more effectively or should
If we are honest there can be a tendency to
we be interested in working to reverse the
emphasise the negative aspects of getting older, what we lose, how we suffer, the burdens
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effects of ageing thereby allowing people to
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INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
become chronologically old unhindered by
are immense. NICE (The National Institute for
physical or cognitive decline? And, in order to
Health and Clinical Excellence), establishes
facilitate any of the investment of time, money
the guidelines for provision of healthcare by
and imagination in this agenda how do we get
the NHS and other agencies in the UK. In a
the young to think seriously about investing in
case indicative of the ethical issues at stake
the fortunes of their older self?
in this area, the institute has stated that it
Let’s not stop there, we can also ask ‘what if it worked’? What if we could get rid of the ravages of old age? If we got to the stage where I could be old without being ill, aged without being confused, long lived without being alone, would I then want to live forever? And if so would this be problematic, do we accept the notion of a natural life span precisely because we absorb the notion of decline, and without it how if at all would we be reconciled to our life ending? These are big questions that we have never been forced to address but a societal commitment to developing regenerative medicine in the interests of stalling or reversing the ageing process would require us to consider them. The limits of the human lifespan are certainly not limits of imagination – people have dreamed of immortality throughout history. As technology, slowly but dramatically, eats away at the grip of death, it seems that resources
considered certain effective drugs, used to treat dementia in old age, to be ‘outside the range of cost-effectiveness that might be considered appropriate for the NHS’ essentially implying that certain people are less worthy of treatment than others. The QUALY (Quality Adjusted Life Year) is the blunt tool with which quality and length of life are judged in order to make hugely important, but ultimately financial decisions. This cuts to the very heart of what it means to be human and how we value life. The black and white of financial decision-making sits uncomfortably alongside complexities of people’s experience of life and, ultimately, death. And of course, as the technology exists and the drugs are there to be purchased, the wealthy need not worry about their QUALYs. Perhaps it is not a question of who wants to live forever, but rather who can afford to live forever? Bobbie Farsides. Professor in Clinical & Biomedical Ethics,
and cold hard money could be the greatest limiting factors to significantly increased
Brighton & Sussex University Hospital January 2014
longevity. The sociological implications of this
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39
DEBATE / PERFORMANCE
TUES 18.03.2014 EVENT BEGINS 19:00 FREE (BOOKING RECOMMENDED) BSMS TEACHING BUILDING BRIGHTON & SUSSEX MEDICAL SCHOOL
WHO WANTS TO As the world’s population ages rapidly, our feelings about growing old become more confusing and more urgent. As the cult of youth becomes ever more dominant in the media, the loss of physical and mental capabilities becomes increasingly unpalatable. We aspire to be active, creative and visible for much longer into old age. Should we employ all medical means available to increase the length of active life, or, with limited financial resources available, should it be society that changes making a better life and a more supportive environment for us as we enter the later years of our lives? CHAIR: Prof. Bobbie Farsides Bobbie Farsides is Professor of Clinical and Biomedical Ethics at Brighton & Sussex Medical School. Her background lies in social science and philosophy and she is has been instrumental in developing the field of empirical bioethics in the UK. She was the founding co-editor of the Royal Society of Medicine Journal Clinical Ethics. Bobbie’s own research focuses on the experience of health care professionals and scientists operating in ethically challenging fields. PANEL: Prof. John Harris - Prof. John Harris is Director of The Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation and of the Wellcome
In association with Prof. Bobbie Farsides & Dr. Sue Eckstein Artist / Michael Pinchbeck Donations can be made to AGE UK, Brighton & Hove when booking online or on the night of the event. www.michaelpinchbeck.co.uk
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Strategic Programme in The Human Body, its Scope Limits and Future, University of Manchester, where he is Lord Alliance Professor of Bioethics. Annie Alexander - Annie Alexander is the Public Health Programme Manager for Brighton & Hove City Council and the city’s lead for WHO’s Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities.
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LIVE FOREVER? Image: Claire Haigh
+ The Middle - Michael Pinchbeck
Prof. Bronwyn Parry - Bronwyn’s primary research interests lie in investigating how humanenvironment relations are being re-cast by technological, economic and regulatory change. She has developed expertise in a number of key areas: the rise and operation of the life sciences industry, the commodification of life forms, posthumanism, applied bioethics and the public understanding and reception of science. Peggy Shaw - Peggy Shaw is an actor, writer and producer. She co-founded The Split Britches Theater Company with Lois Weaver and The WOW Café in New York City. Her latest work, Ruff, exploring her own experience of ageing following a stroke is presented in SICK! on Saturday 8th March (See p.18). Dr. Muna Al-Jawad - Muna Al-Jawad is a Consultant in Elderly Medicine at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton. She works with a multi-disciplinary team on a ward for older people with medical problems; most of her patients are over 80 years old. The Middle – Performance by Michael Pinchbeck Preceding the debate, Michael Pinchbeck’s performance The Middle draws on the text and themes of Hamlet to explore the passage of time, ageing and the relationship between father and son. Placing the artist’s father Tony, as the lone performer, in the role of the youthful Hamlet, The Middle draws the audience into recollections of youth both real and fictitious and considers an older person’s perspective on a world seemingly made for the young.
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IN MAY
Frank Alva Buecheler & Neil Hannon
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PERFORMANCE Featuring haunting music by Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy), stunning and atmospheric lighting design by Imitating the Dog, and a live string ensemble (Ligeti Quartet), In May is a beautiful and sumptuous piece of music theatre charting the end of one man’s life. The performance takes the form of a series of letters from a son to a father, each set to music. The letters cover the final months of a man in the advanced
WED 19.03.2014 BAR OPENS 19:15 SHOW STARTS 20:00 £12/£10 CONCS THE OLD MARKET
stages of cancer and undergoing a period of chemotherapy. Sung from the perspective of Anna, the man’s bereaved lover, the show is a moving and at times funny meditation in song: on life, family, fathers and sons, and the perspective that death might bring to our sense of the beauty of the world. In May brings together a unique group of international artists from across genres. Berlin-based writer and theatre producer Frank Alva Buecheler joins forces with Neil Hannon, renowned as leader of the pop group The Divine Comedy, Simon Wainwright of Imitating The Dog, translator Tim Clarke and theatre director Matt Fenton. The performance includes Swedish pianist Fredrik Holm, London-based Ligeti String Quartet, and Belgian actress and singer Leentje Van de Cruys. Presentation and discussion with Prof. Bobbie Farsides and the creators of In May. Bobbie Farsides is Professor of Clinical and Biomedical Ethics at Brighton & Sussex Medical School. Her background lies in social science and philosophy and she is has been instrumental in developing the field of empirical bioethics in the UK. She was the founding co-editor of the Royal Society of Medicine Journal Clinical Ethics. Bobbie’s own research focuses on the experience of health care professionals and scientists operating in ethically challenging fields.
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Original Text: Frank Alva Buecheler English Translation & Project Facilitation: Tim Clarke Music/Arrangement: Neil Hannon (The Divine Comedy) Direction: Matt Fenton Design/Digital Projections: Simon Wainwright (Imitating The Dog) Ensemble: Fredrik Holm (piano), The Ligeti Quartet(strings), Leentje Van de Cruys (vocals)
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PREVIEW
PERFORMANCE
THURS 20.03.2014 BAR OPENS 19:30 SHOW STARTS 20:00 £10 / £8 CONCS THE BASEMENT
FALLING Exploring the life, loves and legacy of painter Frida Kahlo (1907-1954) Falling in Love with Frida is a love-like obsession; an exploration of how to become an icon, a reclaiming of a disabled artist and an enquiry into how we can shape and how much can we really control the memories that others have of us. Originally from Australia, Caroline is a Glasgow-based independent disabled performance maker and choreographer who has been making work in the UK for 10 years. She is passionate about creating performances that are accessible to audiences using clear ideas or concepts. As a result Caroline produces robust, multi-faceted and engaging work. Having majored in performing arts for her education degree, Caroline retrained at the University of Melbourne and worked as a Genetic Counsellor from 1997 to 2002. She has been dancing for 14 years, arriving in the UK in 2002 and choreographing her own work since 2006. Post-show discussion Falling In Love With Frida will be followed by a post-show talk
Produced by: Dance4.
and discussion reflecting on issues of body, identity and
Performers: Welly O’Brien, Nicole Guarino and Caroline Bowditch
disability explored in Falling in Love With Frida with Caroline
Set and Costume Designer: Katherina Radeva
If These Spasms Could Speak on Friday 21st March (See
Lighting Design: Emma Jones
Bowditch and Robert Softley. Robert Softley will be performing page 47).
Commissioned by: Dance4, SICK! Festival and Fundays. Supported by: Creative Scotland and Arts Council England.
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IN LOVE WITH FRIDA
Image: Anthony Hopwood
Caroline Bowditch
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IF THESE SPASMS Robert Softley
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This performance is BSL interpreted.
PERFORMANCE
COULD SPEAK
FRI 21.03.2014 DOORS OPENS 19:15 SHOW STARTS 20:00 £10 / £8 CONCS
If These Spasms Could Speak is a collection of funny, sad,
BRIGHTON DOME
touching and surprising narratives, gathered through
STUDIO THEATRE
interviews with disabled people: an engaging, highly humorous and interactive live art performance about disabled people that exposes a truth behind bodies that differ from the norm. ‘As disabled people, our bodies are central to how we exist in the world. They are the way others first judge us, the subject of medical diagnosis, and usually seen as the reason that we can’t take part in society. And yet, they also carry with them volumes of stories about
Writer/Performer: Robert Softley
incidents, scrapes and calamities. Let us tell you how we
Director: Sam Rowe
perceive ourselves.’
Lighting Design: Nich Smith
The performance is a new solo theatre work by disabled artist Robert Softley, (co-creator of National Theatre of Scotland’s Girl X) and was described at the Edinburgh Fringe 2013 as:
Musical Directo:r Scott Twynholm Music: Scott Twynholm/Stuart David Electric Guitar: Kjartan Olafsson
‘Thrilling ... compelling ... radical ... complex’ The Guardian Post-show discussion If These Spasms Could Speak will be followed by a post-show talk and discussion reflecting on issues of body, identity and disability explored in If These Spasms Could Speak, with Robert Softley and Caroline Bowditch. Caroline Bowditch will be performing Falling In Love With Frida on Thursday 20th March
Photography: Tommy Ga Ken Wan Audio Description: Christopher McKiddie BSL interpretation: Paul Belmonte Production Manager: Gordon Nimmo Smith Marketing & Press: The Arches Producer: LJ Findlay-Walsh ifthesespasmscouldspeak.com
(See page 44).
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47
FILM
MON 24.03.2014
The pain of being a teenager is brilliantly expressed in
STARTS 18:30
Richard Ayaode’s coming-of-age comedy, his debut feature.
£9.90
Adapted from Joe Dunthorne’s cult 2008 novel about 15-year-
£8.90 STUDENTS & RETIRED
old Swansea schoolboy Oliver Tate (Craig Roberts), Submarine
£7.90 MEMBERS
follows Oliver and his obsession with losing his virginity,
DUKE’S @ KOMEDIA
hopefully to Jordana (Yasmin Page). He is also desperate to save his parents’ (Sally Hawkins and Noah Taylor) faltering marriage. Oliver suspects his mother is having an affair with her old flame, mullet-haired new-age evangelist Graham (Paddy Considine). Submarine is a deliciously funny, clever and insightful look at the trials and tribulations of adolescence.
‘...it is touching, sweet and, most importantly, very funny. Watching it, I got exactly the same exhilarated feeling as with Edgar Wright’s Shaun of the Dead: someone very talented at comedy had been allowed to take the helm of a British feature film and do precisely what he wanted to.’ The Guardian Co-presented with Cinecity. Director: Richard Ayoade With: Craig Roberts, Yasmin Page, Sally Hawkins, Noah Taylor, Paddy Considine UK 2011 97mins Certificate 15
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SUBMARINE Richard Ayoade
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49
ADOLESCENTS
Who wants them? Who’d be one?
The teenage years are a time of massive
Adolescent brains often interpret social cues
change, biologically, socially and
differently. When adults see facial signals
psychologically. The brain is altering rapidly,
such as fear, scans show that their pre-frontal
and the body is undergoing startling physical
cortex normally fires, while with adolescents it
transformations and surging with hormones
is often more primitive brain regions to do with
affecting moods and desires, especially
fight/flight responses. Hence teenagers often
sexual ones. Combine this with increased
over-react and erupt quickly, especially anxious
risk-taking and aggression, and active
or abused adolescents who spot interpersonal
distancing from adults, and we have a brew
threat incredibly fast, reacting to an angry
that can lead parents to despair.
face much quicker than others. Hormonal and chemical changes in adolescence, such
The adolescent brain is still growing, and
as increased oestrogen and testosterone,
adapting to its environment. Un-needed
generally lead to increased aggression ,while
grey matter is pruned away while new white
powerfully developing sex drives can fuel
matter speeds neuronal pathways enabling specialisation, honing skills needed for new life
intense competition and rivalry.
tasks. Adolescence also sees leaps in cognitive
Higher impulsiveness and risk-taking, often
skills, working memory, and managing
bemoaned by parents, opens up important
information.
developmental possibilities for teenagers.
The frontal lobes, central for emotional regulation, do not develop fully until the mid20s while the limbic system, where risk and emotionally driven behaviour is rooted, is most definitely ‘on-line’. Some see this as like having a powerful sports car with poor brakes, a problem perhaps exacerbated in the West where puberty has been starting earlier while
Adolescents need to shake-off parental influence and experiment as they prepare to make their own way. Their dopamine system, central for novelty seeking, can seem in overdrive. Maybe contemporary adolescents cannot win, as parents worry if teenagers show fierce independence, but also if they unadventurously rarely leave the home.
adult life, as parent, wage-earner and citizen,
Psychosocial experiences count for a lot.
has been starting later.
Young people from worrying backgrounds are more likely to take risks, lie, steal, drink,
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INTRODUCTORY ESSAY
experiment sexually and with drugs. With good
Yet despite the travails and turmoil,
parental support adolescents are generally
adolescence offers a second chance and huge
more emotionally secure, and negotiate peer-
developmental opportunities, even for those
groups and studies with more confidence. As
who struggled when younger. Adolescence is
adolescents establish a new identity away
marked by both vulnerability and possibility,
from their families, maybe frequently changing
and teenagers need adult understanding.
hair, gestures and clothing styles, parents
Yet they are too often misunderstood and
can struggle to know how vital they remain.
mistrusted, further fuelling their renowned
However most research shows the importance
sense of unfairness. So many in fact are doing
of parenting.
extraordinary things, for the climate, for society,
Adolescence is a particularly unstable time for those from difficult backgrounds, who are at increased risk of emotional disorders.
for other people, and others could too if they were supported and believed in, not criticised or distrusted.
Most adult mental health problems, such as
Young people often stir up strong feelings
anti-social behaviour and substance misuse,
in others. Adults can feel rejected, ignored,
as well as sometimes psychosis, are first seen
misunderstood and even threatened. Not long
in adolescence. Teenagers from compromised
ago walking down a local street I realised I
backgrounds are most susceptible to addictive
was approaching a group of about 15 young
drugs which work on the altered dopamine
people in hoodies. I felt anxious, my heart
system. About 1 in 5 British adolescents have
began to beat, I felt in danger and I decided to
a mental health disorder. In girls one sees more
cross the road to avoid trouble. As I hastened
‘internalising’ disorders such as depression,
past I realised that the group included my own
anxiety, or eating disorders, often precursors
daughter and some of her friends who I had
of adult mental health issues. In boys one
known all their lives. These in fact were as nice
sees more conduct disorders, ADHD, autism,
a set of kids as I knew but I had succumbed to
tourette’s, and anti-social or criminal activity.
the stereotype, and being stereotyped breeds
Research consistently shows that the riskier
its own reactions.
the setting, and the worse the poverty, then the worse the prognosis.
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Dr. Graham Music. Consultant Child & Adolescent Psychotherapist, Tavistock & Portman Clinic. Nov 2013.
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WHAT IS ADOLESCENCE And Why Is It So Unfair?
With new research revealing the extent to which teenage brains really are different, we ask what is it that’s so uniquely intense about this period of our lives in which new passions and creativity fight for space with explosive traumas and uncertain identities. Is this categorisation a useful relief from critical judgement, or just another alienating way of pigeon-holing young people already demonised in the media as the source of urban apathy and violence? CHAIR: Graham Music Graham Music, PhD, is Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist at the Tavistock and Portman Clinics and an adult psychotherapist in private practice. His publications include Nurturing Natures, Attachment and Children’s Emotional, Sociocultural and Brain Development (2011) and Affect and Emotion (2001), and later this year he publishes The Good Life: Wellbeing and the new Science of Altruism, Selfishness and Immorality. Formerly Associate Clinical Director in the Tavistock Child and Family Department, he has worked theraputically with maltreated children for over two decades.
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DEBATE PANEL: Dr. David Bainbridge - David Bainbridge is a vet, reproductive biologist and the author of Teenagers: A Natural History, as well as Middle Age: A Natural History and the impending Curvology: How female body shape rules our lives. He teaches veterinary anatomy at Cambridge University and is Admissions Tutor in Arts and Humanities at St Catharine’s College. After degrees in zoology and veterinary medicine at Cambridge, he researched into pregnancy biology at the Institute of Zoology, Royal Veterinary College and Cornell, Sydney and Oxford Universities.
TUES 25.03.2014 EVENT BEGINS 19:00 FREE (BOOKING RECOMMENDED) THE BASEMENT
Sarah Brennan - Sarah Brennan has been chief executive of Young Minds since 2008 and has over 25 years experience as a champion of young people’s causes, starting out in youth and community work, teaching and youth counselling. She gained an MSc in Voluntary Sector Organisation at LSE in 1990. From 1994 to 2001, she became director of services at the youth homelessness charity Centrepoint, moving to Motiv8, a charity creating life chances for young people, as Chief Executive. Lauren Ashton - Lauren Ashton is 18 years young. She is part of the Youth Council in Ipswich and Norwich and the Youth Governor of Suffolk. She is currently helping Young Minds produce the new campaign for 2014. Lauren is extremely passionate about getting involved with society and in particular, gaining more experience and deeper understanding of issues relating to mental health Tara O’Reilly - Tara O’Reilly is 19 years old. She has recently finished studying her A-Levels and is taking a gap year before studying Economics at university in September 2014. As a young person who has experienced anxiety and negative stigma towards young people with mental health issues, Tara has a strong interest in social policies on mental health and how they affect young people.
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This debate is presented in partnership with Young Minds: youngminds.org.uk Donations can be made to Young Minds when booking online or on the night of the event.
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PREMIERE
PERFORMANCE
The performance on Thurs 27.03.2014 is BSL interpreted.
WED 26.03.2014 / THURS 27.03.2014
Notorious ‘anti-drag queen’, performance artist, avant-garde cabaret artist, singer, actor and comedian, David Hoyle
SHOW STARTS 20:00
presents a new work on the subject of mental health.
£9 / £7 CONCS
Born in Blackpool, Hoyle came to prominence in the 1990s
MARLBOROUGH THEATRE
as the Divine David whose lacerating social commentary
AGE 18+
– targeting both bourgeois Britain and the materialistichedonistic gay scene, which he called “the biggest suicide cult in history” – was offset by breathtaking instances of selfrecrimination and even self-harm. Following a couple of outré late-night Channel 4 shows Hoyle killed the Divine David off during a spectacular show at the Streatham Ice Arena in 2000 and retreated to Manchester for “a period of reflection”. He returned to TV screens in 2005 in Chris Morris’s Nathan Barley, then began performing live again, under his own name. This time round, the chances of serious injury in any given show seem greatly reduced, but Hoyle’s biting satire, bravura costumes, wicked comic timing and compelling charisma remain intact. Hoyle is back, all right.
‘Hoyle is a live artist, someone who performs a cutting, outrageous, larger-than-life version of himself. So risky is his act, so fully live in every respect, that it makes everyone watching feel more alive, too.’ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian Co-presented with Pink Fringe Written and performed by: David Hoyle @DavidHoylesNest
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HURT ME
Image: Lee Baxter
David Hoyle
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FOR THEIR OWN Untied Artists
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PERFORMANCE The performance is BSL interpreted.
GOOD
FRI 28.03.2014 BAR OPENS 18:45 SHOW STARTS 19:30 £12 / £10 CONCS BRIGHTON DOME
Two knackermen, a horse, a gun and a tiny metropolis full of death. Can the way we kill animals teach us anything
STUDIO THEATRE AGE 14+
about our own demise? With unflinching honesty and an eerily detached workmanship, two knackermen investigate the pitfalls of being high up the evolutionary chain. While dispatching the sick, lame or just plain old their own mortality is suddenly and sharply brought into focus. Combining beautiful puppetry, new writing and documentary material, this show tells a moving and darkly comic tale about the only certainty in life - Death. How it’s become removed from us as a process. How maybe we should reclaim it. There will be a post-show discussion with the artists.
‘On a Fringe full of shows about death and bereavement, and our inadequate ways of dealing with them, you won’t find any more original – in inspiration, in setting, in tone – than Untied Artists’ For Their Own Good.’ **** The Scotsman Fringe First Award Winner 2013 Co-presented with Brighton Dome
A Bitesize commission supported by Warwick Arts Centre, mac Birmingham, Bristol Ferment, China Plate Theatre, The British Council and Arts Council England. Performed by: Jake Oldershaw and Jack Trow Devised and written by: the company with Arzhang Pezhman Directed by: Steve Johnstone Design and bespoke props: Claire Browne, Harry Trow and Anna Siegrot Produced by: Jo Carr
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PERFORMANCE
IT’S DARK
SAT 29.03.2014 BAR OPENS 19:15 SHOW STARTS 20:00 £12 / £10 CONCS THE OLD MARKET
The team behind multi award-winning The Adventures of Alvin Sputnik: Deep Sea Explorer are back with another heartfelt tale about death, redemption and dementia. An old man wanders into the wild. As the sun sets he finds himself in a surreal western, on the run from a mysterious tracker hell-bent on hunting him down. Direct from sold out shows at the Sydney Festival, where It’s Dark Outside received rave reviews.
‘A rare triumph of theatrical ingenuity and human compassion’ The West Australian ‘...moving and uplifting.’ The Australian ‘Beautiful and captivating’ ArtsHub ‘Taking place in a surreal and dark world of shadow and memory, It’s Dark Outside chronicles a man trying to leave his old life behind, only to be haunted by regret and lost time. The talented cast have combined to create a simply beautiful play that is as visually stunning as it is emotionally breathtaking. A poignant piece of new writing that represents some of the very best aspects of Fringe theatre.’ **** The List Supported by House, TheatrMwldan and Perth Theatre Company / Weeping Spoon
WINNER Artshub Critic’s Choice Award. Co-presented with The Old Market
weepingspoon.com @housetheatre
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OUTSIDE
Image:Richard Jefferson
Weeping Spoon
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VENUE MAP 1
The Old Market
11 A Upper Market St, Brighton, BN3 1AS
2
Duke’s @ Komedia
3
The Basement
4
Fabrica
5
Marlborough
6
Council Chambers
7
Duke of York’s
8
Brighton Dome Corn Exchange
Church Street, Brighton, BN1 1UE
9
Brighton Dome Studio Theatre
New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UE
10
Jubilee Square
11
16 Brighton Square
12
BSMS Teaching Building
44-47 Gardner St, Brighton, BN1 1UN 24 Kensington Street, Brighton, BN1 4AJ Duke St, Brighton, BN1 1AG 4 Princes Street, Brighton, BN2 1RD
Jubilee Street, Brighton, BN1 1GE
Brighton & Sussex Medical School, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9PX
LANSDOWNE RD
MONTPELLIER PLACE
UPPER NORTH
WESTERN STREET
1
WATERLOO STREET
UPPER MKT ST
BRUNSWICK ST
BRUNSWICK SQ
LANSDOWNE PL
WESTERN ROAD
HOLLAND RD
ADELAIDE CR PALMIERA SQ
GRAND AVE
THE DROVE
Brighton Square, Brighton BN1 1HD
NORFOLK ROAD
Preston Rd, Brighton, BN1 4NA
MONTPELLIER ROAD
Bartholomew Square, Brighton, BN1 1JA
KINGSWAY West Pier 60
LONDON RD
Brighton Station
7
12
RICHMOND PLACE
GLOUCESTER ST
YORK PLACE
CHURCH STREET
MARLBOROUGH PL
JUBILEE ST
10
VIL ION
PA
RA
DE
PRINCES
PA
6
EAST ST
DUKE ST
SHIP ST
WEST STREET
11
4
EDWARD STREET
8
The Royal 9 Pavilion
NORTH STREET
KINGSWOOD STREET
ST
BOND ST
NORTH ST
2
NEW RD
GARDNER ST
NORTH ROAD ROA
H ST
PRESTON STREET
MORLEY STREET
GRAND PARADE
3
GRAND JUNCTION ROAD
5
ST JAMES STREET
OLD STEINE
QUEENS ROAD ROA
KENSINGTON ST
DYKE ROAD
SYDNEY ST
TRAFALGAR STREET
MARINE PARADE Brighton Pier 61
The Basement 24 Kensington Street Brighton BN1 4AJ 01273 699 733 info@sickfestival.com sickfestival.com
Image: L. Fester
@sickfestivalUK facebook.com/sickfestival Charity No: 1116008 Company No: 4622154