Revolving%20Door

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Revolving Door

• A Play about Suicide.
• HEARTH Centre
• Health, Education and the Humanities
• with Art at Heart
• www.thehearthcentre.org.uk

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Background

• Commissioned 2002
• Suicide Prevention conference 2003
• Based on research and real stories

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Martins story
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Martins story 1

• Details
• Nineteen at start of play
• Single parent family
• Close to his Mum
• School refuser at six years old
• Talented musician.
• Abandons music after setback with band
• Wont talk about distressing things

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Martins story 2

• Details
• Unemployed
• Goes to GP. She doesnt pick up his suicidal
  tendencies.
• Isolated and relies on the internet for
  interaction
• Obsessive about the State of the World

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Martins story 3.

• Details
• Gets his own flat
• Suggests suicide pact with his Mum on Xmas Eve
• She sections him
• Put under obs in hospital
• Escapes from hospital
• Found dead 5 days later

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Structure of the play

• Coroners court
• Martin is the coroner of his own hearing.
• Calls witnesses from his life.
• Rewinds scenes.
• Revolving Door is the motif for going back in
  time to his childhood.
• No realistic representation of the suicidal act

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Questions raised by the play

• Is Martin mentally ill?
• Or is he just an intense young man?
• How can society help Martin?
• How can professionals help Martin?
• Could this suicide have been prevented?

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Northern Ireland

• Jan/Feb 2007
• Commissioned by Rethink
• Part of an anti stigma campaign in Northern
  Ireland
• Significant increase in reported deaths by
  suicide in NI in the last 3 years
• Young males Highest group.

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New audience

• We usually target older audiences-Higher
  Education and Professionals
• Northern Ireland audience
• Schools
• Young offenders
• Women prisoners

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Coverage

• Over 2000 people in 10 days
• 14 shows
• 8 schools groups
• Each schools group comprised average of 200
  people
• Evening shows to community and mental health
  groups
• Return tour to Derry and Western Board in April
  07
• Further 1000 school pupils

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Development of the play for N. I. Tour

• Additional character, Alan
• Childhood friend
• Bullying behaviour
• Childhood and adult bullying
• Function of character To address the
  responsibility of friends
• No adaptation to NI situation requested by
  commissioners

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Development of the play for N. I. Tour

• Development of the interactive component
• Martin, as coroner, frames audience as jury
• The mother, friend and GP are hot seated by the
  audience
• How could they have supported Martin more?
• Forum Theatre technique used to
• Replay scene between Alan and Martin

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Evaluation Hearth

• Did the play help you to think about how suicide
  can be prevented?
• Very well 84
• Was the interactive debate effective?
• Very effective 60
• Comments on the methodology
• Boals way of working- fantastic to watch and be
  a part of, good follow up to assist training

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Evaluation Rethink

• Did the play help you to think any differently
  about mental health problems?
• 75 said Yes.
• Key take home message
• Its important to talk to people about your
  problems
• Rethinks executive summary
• The most successful specific activity of the
  campaign was Revolving Door.
• Short listed for a National Media Award.

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Observations on audience reaction

• Blaming of the mother
• You didnt let him breathe.
• Youre trying to make him normal
• Youre not warm enough
• You should have told him why his Dad left
• Caesarian section might have been a factor in
  subsequent suicide.
• No discussion at all of the Post Conflict
  situation in NI.
• Mature discussion with the GP re confidentiality
  and explicit discussion of suicide

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Observations on audience reaction

• Greater interest in religious themes of the play
  in Northern Ireland
• The mother didnt swear on the bible in court
• He should have seen his priest
• You gave the church a bit of a pasting, comment
  by a priest.
• Some Take-home messages of the play
• It is easier for a camel to pass through the Eye
  of a Needle than for a rich man etc. ???
• It was his own fault and no-one elses
• Dont go messing about in Revolving Doors