Last night we paid a trip next door on the sixth floor of Commercial Union House to watch 'G.L.A.M.O.U,R', the debut production of U R ART (directed and produced by Pete Stevens). The performance is part of a campaign to raise awareness of mental health and challenge the stigma that surrounds it. We particularly loved the refreshing representations of four iconic women, Dorothy from Wizard of Oz, Marylin Monroe, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf, and watching them exchange vodka and dark humoured conversations in the setting of a psychiatric's waiting room.
The production was genuinely entertaining and extremely well written (by Holly Dalton), and our own reality is challenged as the dynamics of the story twist and turn. It highlights the complexity of those suffering from mental illness and exposes the irony of 'one solution fits all' procedures and absurd waiting times often experienced by patients.Though the subject matter is a sensitive one and something which will affect up to one in four of us, the cast deliver a humorous, witty and touching performance with a strong message that puts a fresh spin on the usual portrayal of mental health.
You can still catch G.L.A.M.O.U.R. on Floor Six of Commercial Union House (opposite Tyneside Cinema) tonight and tomorrow night at 7.30pm. Tickets are on the door and cost only £4!
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