HOAX Our Right to Hope tells the true story of Rob, a young man from Manchester, and his poetry, life and death with schizophrenia.
Ticketholders will experience Rob’s story across three mediums: Firstly with unique access to a narrative ‘Choose Your Own Journey’ app, which can be accessed following ticket purchase. Secondly, by attending the stage musical at the venue of their choice. Thirdly when they take home their copy of multi-award-winning graphic novel HOAX Psychosis Blues.
As part of its national tour, the trilogy is heading to the Brigadier Philip Toosey Barracks, Aigburth Road, Liverpool from 25 to 28 April 2017. The producers of the tour found this unique venue through Alternative Venues North West. www.alternativevenuesnorthwest.com, an initiative of NW RFCA, offers facilities for hire on the ‘Reserve Estate’, comprising properties including the Naval Regional Headquarters, Army Reserve Centres and Cadet training facilities across the region, and Altcar Training Camp on Merseyside.
HOAX Our Right to Hope is an honest, award-winning portrayal of a varying state of mind. The musical stage production, created by multi-award winning writer Ravi Thornton and directed by Benji Reid, gives a haunting account of Rob as a young man and his time with Helen, the woman who loves him.
The graphic novel explores lost love: when Rob’s world becomes a series of struggles and extraordinary insights as he moves between the facts, fictions and altered realities of his condition.
The narrative app tracks his journey from a young man with endless potential, through his living with schizophrenia, to life – real and imagined – after his death.
Audience members are invited to participate and make choices that affect Rob’s journey, and also to take part in a ground-breaking study around mental health stigma.
Writer and creator of HOAX Ravi Thornton said: “Any young man’s life is full of beauty and contradictions. Rob’s was especially so. It was challenging to capture this, and important to immerse the audience fully, through a combination of mediums, so that they can really understand.”
This ground-breaking trilogy, part-funded by Arts Council England’s Strategic Tour Programme, is the first time pre-existing artworks have been used as a conduit for quantitative research into stigma and perception around mental health.
The tour will visit both traditional and alternative venues in a bid to reach new audiences, including The Civic Barnsley; The Poppleton Centre, York; Grimsby Central Hall; and, The Lowry, Salford, as well as Brigadier Philip Toosey Barracks.
Jenni Midgley, Communications Manager Ziggy’s Wish Ltd, said: “By bringing our tour into thriving community spaces in each location we visit, we hope to inspire groups of people who might not consider the theatre as a place that has something to offer them. We are particularly excited to be coming to the Brigadier Philip Toosey Barracks, and to be part of the wider efforts to raise awareness around mental health and Army veterans.”
Shelley Rees, Alternative Venues North West, said: “We’re really pleased to see an innovative project dealing with such an important issue coming to one of our Army Reserve Centres. The Brigadier Philip Toosey Barracks is home to Army Reservists, Sea Cadets and Army Cadets, and part of a thriving local community. The funds raised through hire charges are used to directly support the Reserve Forces and Cadet organisations in the region.”
For tickets and information, visit www.hoaxorth.com
You can also find out more about the project on Instagram @hoax_orth and Twitter @HoaxOrth
