Impending Storm Productions to Present THE CONSEQUENCE OF KINDNESS in November

Impending Storm Productions returns one last time with The Consequence of Kindness from playwright Kieran Gould-Dowen and director Alistair Ward, a gut-punching, emotional and powerful story on connection, compassion, mental health and suicide, that somehow finds the time to make you laugh along the way.

The story takes audiences to a world where suicide has been made illegal once again. Except, in a pursuit of creating positive change, they also ensured everyone must have five emergency contacts who agree to take responsibility for them and face prison time if they decide to take their life. Moderated by The Neighbourhood Watch, a government department who monitors everyone's well being closely and flags anything of concern to authorities, it's a law change that after twenty years, people have forgotten why it was ever created.

On the day of Heath's birthday, his friends and family gather for a surprise birthday party, only to find the real surprise is Heath has taken his life. What unfolds is a desperate journey of discovery, self-reflection, heartache, grief, necessary laughter, and amusing mishaps as the group come up with a crazy plan to give Heath the send off he deserves and somehow escape anybody ever knowing. But is it worth it? And how much did they really know their dear friend and brother in the first place?

Kieran started writing this show at the start of 2020 after another celebrity suicide hit the media and he reflected on his own complex history and ongoing journey with mental health and suicide. What grew over two and a half years was a story not so much about suicide or mental health, but instead about connection, community and compassion, and just how much we need each other to survive in a world that is so hard sometimes. Now more than ever, this story is crucial for Melbourne, and will have audiences hooked from the first moment as they cry and laugh with strangers in the dark: a great metaphor for life itself.

"If you have ever found yourself sitting in complete darkness in some random corner of your home or some street nearby, sobbing and feeling like everything is just too hard, then this is my love letter to you. You're not alone and I see you. And if you've ever sat with someone in the dark in silence and taken their hand, without judgement, just love in your heart, then from both me and them, thank you." - Gould-Dowen - Writer & Producer.