As well as the art exhibitions, live music, new writing, original choreography and panel discussions that were such a hit last year, the 2017 programme also featured the inaugural UNBROKEN Short Film Prize, a literary event with Charlie Sheppard, Publishing Director at Andersen Press, and a powerful play about adolescent mental health by award-winning playwright Ali Taylor. In addition to this, we ran a small bookshop throughout the festival – and, as before, we asked for feedback and contributions to some of our advice/memory boards!
We were delighted not only to return to Theatre503 but also to expand to include The Frontline Club and we are very grateful to both venues for supporting the festival and making us so welcome. More information about them both is available on the Festival Venues page on this website.
FESTIVAL CREDITS
Festival Director & Producer – Emma King-Farlow
Festival Co-Producer (Showcase) – Tori Gretton
Festival Co-Producer (Short Film Prize) – Amy Floyd
Festival Co-Producer & Volunteer Coordinator –
Giusy Pappalardo
Stage Manager – Kate Paterson
Festival Volunteers – David King-Farlow & Andrea Civera
Festival Artist – Mandy Lee Berger
Festival Musician – Josh Gordon
More information about everyone listed above, together with our main speakers and contributors, is available on our Who We Are page.
SATURDAY 28TH OCTOBER 2017
SESSION A: The Inaugural UNBROKEN Short Film Prize
Summary: The eight Shortlisted entries for the Film Prize were screened at The Frontline Club on Saturday afternoon before the three prizes – First Prize (Tommy), Runner Up (Flex: No Hard Feelings) and Audience’s Choice (The Moment) – were awarded. There was then time for a drink and a chat with the film makers, festival organisers and fellow audience members afterwards!
THE UNBROKEN 2017 SHORT FILM PRIZE – THE SHORTLIST:
🌟️ When You are Old – Directed by Koh Chong Wu
🌟️ COLD – Directed by Sven Niemeyer
🌟️ On the Spectrum – Directed by Gerard McKenzie
🌟️ Tommy – Directed by James Sieradzki
🌟️ This Is What Depression Feels Like – Directed by Charlie Mason
🌟️ Three Days Gone – Directed by John Gutierrez
🌟️ The Moment – Directed by Sonali Bhattacharya
🌟️ Flex: No Hard Feelings – Directed by Ollie Gardner
Venue: The Frontline Club
Time: 2.30-5pm
Tickets: £12
SUNDAY 29TH OCTOBER – FOCUSING ON CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE’S MENTAL HEALTH
Summary: In this session, Charlie Sheppard, Publishing Director at acclaimed children’s publisher Andersen Press, gave us a fascinating overview of the issue of mental health in today’s children’s books, looking at how often the subject is dealt with, what approaches authors tend to take and whether or not the way in which it is spoken about or dealt with had changed over recent years. She also shared some examples from Andersen’s own output – from beautiful picture books to teen and YA volumes that might just make you laugh and cry within the same chapter – many of which were available to buy from the small festival bookstall afterwards!
Venue: Theatre503
Time: 5pm-5.45pm
Tickets: This event was free or ‘pay what you wish’
SESSION 2: Under My Skin
Summary: Award-winning playwright Ali Taylor’s powerful play about adolescent mental health, supported by Pegasus Theatre.
Bella’s life is messy and difficult but at least she has Sean Barnet: Sean Barnet, the fittest, cleverest boy in the whole school. The only problem is, she’s never spoken a word to him. As Bella tries to become part of Sean’s life, she discovers things she never expected and struggles to understand.
Commissioned by Oxfordshire County Council’s Public Health Directorate and produced by Pegasus Theatre, Under My Skin is a fast-paced, funny and hard-hitting play about self-harm, which has toured to schools across Oxfordshire, playing to more than 5,000 students in Years 8 and 9 so far.
In 2016, it was shortlisted as a finalist for a Royal Society of Public Health Mental Wellbeing Award.
For audiences 12+
Creative team:
Bella: Heather Johnson
Sean: Edward Nkom
Writer: Ali Taylor (biography available on the ‘Who We Are‘ page)
Director: Jonathan Lloyd
Venue: Theatre503 – the auditorium
Time: 6.30pm-7.20pm
Tickets: £10/£8.
SESSION 3: Post-show panel discussion panel focusing on ‘Children & Young People’s Mental Health’
Summary: Chaired by Pegasus Theatre’s Artistic Director, Corinne Micallef, with playwright Ali Taylor, director Jon Lloyd, actors Heather Johnson and Edward Nkom & publisher Charlie Sheppard.
Venue: Theatre503 – the auditorium
Time: 7.30-8.00pm
Tickets: Free with tickets to Under My Skin
MONDAY 30TH OCTOBER
SESSION 4: Under My Skin
Summary: Award-winning playwright Ali Taylor’s powerful play about adolescent mental health. See Session 2 above for further details.
Venue: Theatre503 – the auditorium
Time: 5pm-5.50pm
Tickets: £10/£8
SESSION 5: UNBROKEN Showcase 2017
Summary: The UNBROKEN showcase featured a wonderful variety of artistic responses – short pieces of theatre, live music, spoken word and dance – to World Mental Health Day in October 2017. All pieces were concerned in some way with mental health – with a number of artists thinking outside the box!
🌟️ Tattle Bank – a one-woman play by Richard Fitchett
🌟️ Restless – a short play by Lois Zoppi
🌟️ Just Leaving – a one-man play by Roz Blessed
🌟️ ‘While A Car Passes’ & ‘When’ -two original songs written for UNBROKEN by Festival Musician Josh Gordon
🌟️ A Letter to my Teenage Self – a monologue by Iona McTaggart
🌟️ Sophie’s Story – an extract by Marcia Kelson
🌟️ Lollipops, an extract from Ballast – a devised piece by Jill Bradley
🌟️ 2 dance pieces, created specially for the festival by Ughetta Pratesi
Venue: Theatre503 – the auditorium
Time: 7.45pm – 9.25pm
Tickets: £10/£8
SESSION 6: Post-Showcase Panel Discussion focusing on ‘The Connections Between the Arts & Mental Health’
Summary: Chaired by Theatre503’s Artistic Director Lisa Spirling, with Dr Tamara Karni Cohen, writer/researcher and artist Charlie Langham & playwright Ali Taylor.
Venue: Theatre503 – the auditorium
Time: 9.35pm-10.00pm
Tickets: Free with tickets to the Showcase or the earlier showing of Under My Skin.