A particular theme being explored in this year’s festival is men’s mental health. Four powerful, creative events aim to encourage men to open up about their mental health and how they are feeling.
According to the Mental Health Foundation, societal expectations and traditional gender roles can prevent some men from seeking help for their mental health problems. Rather than opening up to family or friends, they may also be more likely to use potentially harmful coping methods such as drugs or alcohol deal with these problems.
However, research suggests that men will get help if it’s provided in an accessible and engaging way, as part of other activities. Men’s Sheds is an excellent example of this, as it provides communal spaces for men to come together and connect, often while undertaking practical activities.
Written following cups of tea, cake and spirited conversations with real ‘shedders’, Clare Prenton’s new play Men Don’t Talk welcomes audiences into a friendly fictional shed, inspired by real men’s stories. Presented as part of the festival, and in conjunction with the Scottish Men’s Sheds Association and Luminate, the play goes on a 14-date tour across Scotland this October and November, starting in Tobermory on Friday 18 October.
This poignant, hilarious and thought-provoking play, which celebrates companionship and camaraderie, has been praised in the Scottish Parliament for promoting the benefits of the growing mental health and wellbeing movement. Starring stalwarts of Scottish theatre, actor Billy Mack is joined alongside Dougal Lee and Greg Powrie in a production that promises to be both a funny and moving night out.
If theatre can play a part in helping one man cross a threshold into a shed, then the play has played its small part in putting men’s health, wellbeing and suicide prevention in the cultural conversation.
Clare Prenton
BAFTA-winning filmmaker Duncan Cowles takes a different approach to the topic with Silent Men. In his debut feature documentary, he embarks on a journey to ask men about their experiences of mental health, in an effort understand his own struggles of sharing his feelings with loved ones. Told in his trademark deadpan style, this is a revelatory exploration of masculinity in the modern age and the stigma and taboo that still surrounds men’s mental health in the UK.
We’re delighted to host the Scottish Premiere of Silent Men as the closing night film of our Focus on Film programme in Glasgow. This crowd-pleasing film, a hit with audiences at its World Premiere at Sheffield Doc/Fest, will then go on a SMHAF tour to Aberfeldy, Dundee, Inverness and Dumfries. Each screening will be accompanied by a Q&A with Duncan or a panel discussion on men’s mental health.
Three times as many men as women die by suicide in the UK. This statistic was partly the impetuous behind photographer Graham Williams’ impactful project TALK. Portraits. It aims to encourage men to talk openly and honestly about their mental health, by displaying portraits of individuals who have done exactly that. Find out more information at www.talkportraits.co.uk.
Three times as many men as women die by suicide in the UK. This statistic was partly the impetuous behind photographer Graham Williams’ impactful project TALK. Portraits. It aims to encourage men to talk openly and honestly about their mental health, by displaying portraits of individuals who have done exactly that. Audiences will be able to see a selection of portraits, and the stories of their sitters, in Edinburgh’s city centre throughout the festival, until 24 October.
Male suicide is also the subject of My Dad’s Tapes, one of our feature film screenings in Glasgow. Canadian director Kurtis Watson will be in attendance to discuss how a remarkable trove of home movies gave him a route to explore the circumstances that led to his father taking his own life. Rooted in care, this is a poignant and cathartic journey of familial healing and reconnection.
Explore the full Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival programme and book tickets.
