This module explores the performance of mental health and mental illness as they have been defined across history, and in the contemporary moment. In particular the module asks how the social construction of mental health is reflected in and produced by performance. While the module focuses on the types of subjectivity and selfhood that have emerged in the history of theatre and performance, students are also encouraged to explore ways other creative practices engage these topics. Special attention is given to representations of ‘madness’ and ‘mental illness’ produced in historical performance, as well as to how these representations have since been reinterpreted and adapted to reflect current constructions and concerns. In addition we will consider a variety of contemporary and collaborative performance practices that interrogate attitudes relating to normative concepts of mental health, and even try to intervene into policy and care. Students will be introduced to broad debates on mental health from within the Humanities and informed by the approaches of disability studies.
