We are delighted to announce that A Gala For Mental Health, our annual show at the Edinburgh Fringe, will return on Thursday 10 August at 11pm in the Pleasance Ace Dome.
Tickets are just £10 and can be booked online here or by calling the Pleasance box office on 0131 556 6550. Proceeds go to the Mental Health Foundation.
This year, Carl Donnelly – who performed at the first Gala for Mental Health in 2015 – will take over from previous compere Felicity Ward (who is taking a year off from the Edinburgh Fringe). Donnelly has talked openly about living with depression in his shows and this year’s Fringe show, The Nutter on the Bus (performed daily on a double decker bus) is about spiritual awakenings and letting go of your past.
Carl will be joined by Hannah Gadsby (fresh from winning Best Show at the 2017 Melbourne International Comedy Festival); Angela Barnes, a former mental health worker turned successful stand-up, well known for her appearances on Mock The Week, Russell Howard’s Good News and Radio 4’s The News Quiz; Seymour Mace, whose new Fringe show Magical Shitcakes from Heaven sets out to ‘blow the lid off the happiness myth’; and musical comedian Robert White, who this year has written an opera(etta), InstruMENTAL about a personal experience that led him to spending time in prison.
Andrew Eaton-Lewis, arts lead for the Mental Health Foundation, said: “What is special about A Gala for Mental Health is that each show consists entirely of performers who talk about mental ill health from their own lived experience – in a way that is inclusive, disarming, unapologetic and very funny. Our gala shows are about solidarity and self-expression as much as raising money for a good cause. They have a unique atmosphere because of that.
“Mental health has been one of the big themes of the Fringe for three years now, and A Gala for Mental Health is here both to celebrate that and encourage it to continue. Mental health is something everyone should feel able to talk about openly without shame or fear of discrimination or other negative consequences.”
A Gala for Mental Health has a track record of showcasing some of the most talked about acts at the Edinburgh Fringe. The line-up for the inaugural gala, in 2015, included a performance by Bryony Kimmings – the only chance for audiences to see her on stage after her entire run at the Traverse sold out within days. Last year’s gala included a storming set by Richard Gadd a week before he won the Edinburgh Comedy Award.