The Story so far…
This project is an interrogation of masculinity and mental health for Northern working-class men using movement, folk songs, boxing and Cher's 'Believe'. By blending these styles in a dynamic way, and working in pubs, gyms and Working Men's Clubs, we have built a performance and supportive community from a group that do not, historically, engage in cultural activity.
Like all our projects A-M-P is not just one theatre performance, but has inspired the creation of paintings (like the one above), videos, community workshops, poetry and articles all examining the same question: what is it like to be a working class man from the North right now?
The role of men was once very clear but as the world changes and grows, it is fair to say that the borders of what constitutes as masculinity are also adapting. Within this change there are many men that find themselves adrift in a sea of misconceptions and confusing pronouns that in some cases is an associative factor in the mental health reports in men under 50. Whilst many projects like this reference the high suicide rate in men, what they don’t talk about is how that rate gets higher the further North you go.
2023
we wrote another arts council bid in hopes of securing funding for rehearsals and performance of BIG STRONG MAN in June. We await the decision on 27th March.
We are in talks in supporting another Yorkshire based artist with CAST with drama and arts workshos supporting mental health.
We applied for and were successful in receiving support from Unity Theatre Trust for BIG STRONG MAN.
2022
We started the year with theatre company Barrel Organ at their showcase event ‘Live at the Holbeck’. This event platformed new companies/artists with work still in the development giving them a chance to get feedback from a live audience and also guidance from a mentor. Jimmy Fairhurst from Not Too Tame met with us and mentored us through how to create and secure relationships with non working theatre venues and how we can incorporate the environments into the show itself which has continued to evolve the piece since. The Holbeck is the oldest working mens club in the UK which was and still is a dream venue for our work to be show in when it is completed.
Our Arts Council Application is finished and all of our partners have sent us their letters of support.
Our Partners are: CAST Theatre, The Jordan Legacy, Doncaster Brewery & Tap, Barrel Organ & Arnold Clark.
We have secured a Dramaturg for the upcoming research and development stints.
We have secured our Musical Director for the upcoming research and development stints.
Auditions for a northern non cis male Fourth Performer were sent out across the land.
Our fourth performer was hired- Sebastian Emmerson
Call out for a non male identifying Designer was sent out.
Our designer was found! Lena Kennard.
July - We carried out a two week R&D at CAST to hone the structure of the show with new performers, set and costume designer, musical director and dramaturg.
Our initial plan to perform November 2022 was postponed due to an unsuccessful arts council bid. We then pushed back the dates to June 2023.
October- We designed and performed new pieces from BIG STRONG MAN in an interactive clowning corporate performance for wellbeing and mental health for Craven Consultancy in Yorkshire.
We designed and refined our drama workshops for corporate clients focusing on wellbeing and masculinity.
2021
We appeared on ‘SPILL IT’ a live online chat show hosted by Marcus Wright. Peter Pearson Sam Dunstan and Christopher Finnegan were invited on to dicuss ‘A Manhood Project’. We explained a lot about why we care so much about the work we’re making, what we believe to be the link between the mental health crisis in men and masculine identity and also how men can actively pursue positive mental health practices. Christopher Finnegan has returned to further discuss A.M.P and the Mental Health in Men which has to this date the most views on the show.
We went out into the street and recorded our first Vox Pop-style interviews we officially named ‘LETS FIND OUT!’. We ventured out into the streets of Doncaster and Manchester to interview people about masculinity and mental health. Needless to say it was eventful and emotional.
Whilst working at the Art Bomb building in Doncaster we bumped into Ed Miliband. We discussed with him about AMP and disscribed how we have been developing a show about redefining masculinity in society. Ed was very interested in what we are doing and became a supporter of The Growth House. #EdMilibae
We were approached by the Paines Plough, organisers of Roundabout (a live touring theatre event showcasing new theatre companies and their work) to share our work that had recently officially been named ‘BIG STRONG MAN’. We were even more grateful as Roundabout had created an extra slot just for us to perform. Using Roundabout’s intimate and big top to our advantage we decided to really test out the cabaret element of the performance which we were ecstatic to say went even better than we could have hoped.
Sam Dunstan & Christopher Finnegan met with Steve Phillip from The Jordan Legacy, one of the leading suicide awareness and prevention organisations and were ultimately invited to share our work at their suicide awareness conference in December called the Hope For Life Conference. Knowing BIG STRONG MAN is a travelling show and must be be malleable to drastically different venues, we took this as a great challenge to see how we can engage a non theatre audience audience in a non theatre space. Thanks to our performance we have made a strong partner ship with The Jordan Legacy and also made great connections with several mental health charities and organisations across the UK.
2020
In February 2020, we performed the theatre version of A Manhood Project at CAST. The ensemble featured Christopher Finnegan, Levi Payne, Matt-Alexander Kin and Jordie Paul, directed by Sam Dunstan. We rehearsed at the Brewery Tap Pub, the Queen’s Road Design Centre and The Point.
The lockdown meant that we had to suspend our workshops and future performances, but we developed a version of The Crumble using imagery from our walks and the text written by Harry Lidster and Sam Dunstan (see below).
Later this year we will bring our full-day workshop, Interrogating the Masculine, to London, Sheffield and Manchester for performers and creatives that want to engage in some of the exercises and stories that we have over the course of this project.
We also plan to further tour both the theatre and non-theatre space versions of the show across the North of England, with some dates in London booked in as well.
2019
Shiree and Jason Kerry are mental health nurses at Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust. They were able to talk to us about how they work as mental health professionals. We were also able to have a really inspiring conversation with their family about masculinity, fatherhood and young people views on mental health.
In the art pitches at the Doncaster Corn Exchange we met Andy Hollinghurst - an painter and Mental Health First Aid instructor. He told us hilarious and moving stories from his time painting at the pitch right by the boys toilets, allowing men of all backgrounds to talk to him about their experiences.
Paul at Doncaster Plantworks Boxing Club welcomed us into their space and showed us the work his team do to empower young men and teach them self respect, communication and family.
We were given two-weeks of rehearsal space again at CAST. For this we welcomed new collaborators into the room:
Ellie Whittaker
We began working with text based on real men’s stories and expanding on the work we had already done with improvisation, movement and song.
Members of the company went on Mental Health First Aid training to allow us to safeguard our interviewees, collaborators and team better when working on this difficult subject. This course also gave us a language to better talk about masculinity and mental health, which we applied to the final show.
2018
We met with CAST and pitched them a project that would interrogate this question and create a show with two distinct versions: one for theatres and one for non-theatre spaces like pubs and clubs. They gave us one week of rehearsal space in June of that year, and linked us up with actors and mental health professionals from the area.
After this we created a Google form to launch our research and began interviewing men and appearing at the men’s group at Mind: Doncaster.
For the research and development, we assembled an ensemble of actors and creatives from Doncaster, with some from Newcastle and Manchester:
After our first day, Chris and Sam appeared on local radio station Sine FM, where we talked about the project and how we were approaching it. During a break in the show, the station got a message from painter Jackie Whall who was fascinated by what we were doing and ask to get involved. On the Wednesday she joined us for a day to work on her life drawing skills, but gave us a valuable perspective on masculinity as a woman and mother. As a present, she created 9 beautiful images of moments from the day.
On Friday, we performed a mix of everything we had touched on that week. An improvised cacophony of monologues, stories, songs and movement, followed by a discussion with the invited audience which included staff and the Chair of the Board of Trustees at CAST, local people and mental health professionals.
