THE MIRROR STAGE Comes to Project Arts Centre

Brokentalkers challenge the world of reality and human mindset in their latest compelling production that delves into a lived experience of psychosis. The Mirror Stage is a powerful new theatre show created with, and inspired by people who have lived through the symptoms of psychosis. Making its world premiere at Project Arts Centre, Dublin, for a limited run and a single staging at The Everyman Theatre, Cork, this coming November.

Brokentalkers have an unparalleled track record for creating accessible, socially urgent theatre that fosters empathy and gives voice to those too often unheard. In this theatrical production, The Mirror Stage, they weave images, memories and stories of startling clarity together with movement, music, and arresting visual imagery to create a performance that attempts the impossible - to make the invisible visible, and the unspeakable speak.

The Mirror Stage attempts to understand what happens when the reality you inhabit no longer matches the reality everyone else agrees on, as the show seamlessly blends physical theatre, video and audio to create a beautiful and special understanding about this condition of the mind. The show also asks the fundamental question of the workings of the human mind and how modern living can exacerbate an unhealthy version of our mental health.

This production builds on Brokentalkers' earlier works from The Examination to Have I No Mouth and The Blue Boy continuing their tradition of theatre that amplifies unheard voices and brings the stories of underrepresented people to the stage, and ensures the conversation continues long after you've left the theatre.

How this project came about:

In 2022 Brokentalkers were touring their award-winning work The Examination which was seen by a member of the Department of Psychiatry at the Royal College of Surgeons Ireland. They were interested by the company's ability to platform the stories and testimony of people with a particular experience. As a result, the Department of Psychiatry at RCSI, led by David Cotter & Mary Cannon, invited the company to begin research for a new production centering the experience of people who have lived through psychosis. Throughout the following years Brokentalkers connected with and interviewed a number of these people through a network called PSI-STAR (Psychosis Ireland Structured Training and Research Programme), as well as PHD students and Professors.

Some Stats:

Psychosis is the term for a collection of symptoms that happen when a person who has trouble telling the difference between what's real and what's not. Their perception of reality no longer lines up with the agreed reality of those around them.

PERFORMERS: Diarmuid Armstrong, Kévin Coquelard, Bun Kobayashi, Carolina Wilkinson

CREATIVE TEAM:

Written & Directed by Feidlim Cannon & Gary Keegan

Movement Director: Eddie Kay

Creative Producer: Rachel Bergin

Set Design: Sabine Dargent

Costume Design: Sarah Foley

Video Design: Jose Miguel Jimenez

Lighting Design: Sarah Jane Shiels

Composition & Sound Design: Valgeir Sigurdsson

Co-Sound Design: Fiona Shiel

Associate Video Design: Laura Rainsford

Line Producer: Evie McGuinness

Production Manager: Jack Leitch

Stage Manager: Grace Donnery

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