Hearing Things
Hearing Things explores the dilemmas of psychiatry from the points of view of patients, relatives and staff. Based on experiences of psychiatrists and patients, the ‘healthy’ and the ‘ill’, the play examines how and if people heal and recover inside institutions. As part of the research process, staff and patients at Homerton University Hospital and the Maudsley Hospital in south London took part in drama programmes creating characters and improvising scenes , with clinicians and those receiving treatment swapping roles. Using a unique collaborative process between patients, psychiatrists and mental health staff, Playing ON Theatre Company drew together the stories of those receiving and providing mental health care culminating in performances at the hospitals and in theatre spaces. At the Maudsley, as a result of taking part, two patient’s progress was so great that doctors allowed their early discharge.
The script of Hearing Things was informed by these workshop programmes and by the participants.
Philip Osment is a playwright, theatre director, dramaturg, teacher and workshop leader. He trained as an actor and performed with leading alternative theatre companies of the 1970s and 80s, including Gay Sweatshop and Shared Experience. He went on to write plays for Mike Alfreds at Method and Madness including his award-winning trilogy of Devon plays. His plays for children and young people include LITTLE VIOLET AND THE ANGEL which won the Peggy Ramsay Award, and which he later adapted for radio; and WHOLE, winner of a Writers Guild award. MAURICE by E M. Forster and THE TIME MACHINE by HG Wells number among his other radio adaptations He has also translated for Graeae Theatre Company, The Royal Court and for the RSC’s Spanish Golden Age season (PEDRO THE GREAT PRETENDER). In 2010 he set up Playing ON with Jim Pope which produced his first play for the company INSIDE.