THE AGGRAVATIONS OF IZZY (A Light in Dark Places)****

 

By Aashiq

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dASYMwplWC8

Available until: I don’t know and they don’t have to tell us.

Aren’t late people just the most annoying people in the world? Don’t they just make you want to scream and stamp your foot and do all kinds of other things you really should have grown out of by now?

Okay, I’ll be honest. I have no idea if late people are annoying or not. Nobody ever arrives after I do so how could I possibly know? But I’ve been told I’m really annoying when I’m late and it seems only fair to take their word for it.

HAPPY MERRY (A Light in Dark Places)****

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKspi1hvYfw

Available until: Unknown

I think this is a very brave play. The other plays in this series have focused on giving support to people with mental health problems, but in this play, we see a couple of characters with a less than ideal attitude to mental illness. It’s a difficult and painful watch, but I think it’s really important to acknowledge that these attitudes exist and that not everyone is perfect and to look at ways of dealing with people who are less than sympathetic.

JOIE DE VIVRE (A Light in Dark Places)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBX2mxOy4zo

Available until: Unknown

I think these plays are a really good idea. Some of my adopted siblings have had or still have mental health problems and I think it helps them to know people are writing plays about people like them. These plays raise awareness and provide hope and they also show that although mental health problems can have a really big impact on people’s lives, there is more to each person than their mental health. They all have their own personalities, their own likes and dislikes, their own ambitions, their own lives. The characters I have seen in these plays are all complete people- and really nice people. Their mental health is only a part of who they are.

CRYSTAL AND DUSTIN (A Light in Dark Places)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQiIxhaPduc

Available until: ‘Throughout September’

I think Zoom really suits this play well. As the main characters are sitting in their office, it makes sense for them to be sitting down nearly all the time. There is a lot under the surface in this play and because we can see the characters’ faces very well, they can show a lot in their faces which not everyone would be able to see in a big theatre. I’m really glad the director Fira Budiman didn’t make the characters stand up and get things all the time. I think the stillness is really important in this play.

BERNIE (A Light in Dark Places)***

 

By Cal

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwm4iDTCJvs

Available until: Unknown

A Light in Dark Places produces a festival each year to raise awareness of and reduce stigma around suicide. This year, it wasn’t possible to produce the festival as they normally would, so the plays are being presented online.

Bernie was written by Fred Perry and directed on Zoom by Meagan Harris. Stephen Tobolowsky and Bruce Katzman play the roles of two brothers, Bernie and Sid. Sid is a doctor. Bernie is an artist who isn’t having any success at the moment. Bernie calls Sid after breaking his ankles and his brother rushes round to help.