Reasons to Stay Alive is an exciting new production that exhibits the difficulties in living with depression. Written by Matt Haig, this one-hour drama showcases his own life experiences as a young man struggling with crippling mental-health issues, and of how, at the age of twenty-four he reached his breaking point. Ultimately, this play is an all-together uplifting story about a vulnerable person finding help when he most needed it, rich and explicit in all its humorous detail this play is certain to stay with you long after you have seen it.
The director behind it all is Jonathan Watkins, who previously lent his talented eye to ballet interpretations of Orwell’s 1984 and Barry Hine’s seminal novel KES. Watkins, a native of Barnsley has been working steadily in the theatre world for the last decade; though his interests lie primarily with ballet he has also produced a number of short films which have had their premiere in New York, as well as an assortment of others such as movement direction, music, theatrical design and puppetry. Watkins is particularly adept at utilizing movement to enhance his audience’s viewing experience, viewing it as a language all its own. Haig, by comparison is far removed from Watkin’s bright and vibrant world of dance, a novelist whose work has extended into many different genres; from children’s literature with The Boy Called Christmas (2015), to modern gothic horror with The Radley’s (2010), the play is adapted from the novel of the same title and is an auto-biographical work derived from Haig’s own experiences with major depressive disorder at a young age. They seem an unusual pairing, but Reasons to Stay Alive is a celebration of life, both at its lowest and strongest points, and one which would lend itself to the dynamic and animated world Watkins evidently wanted to create.
Reasons to Stay Alive premieres at the Studio Theatre on Friday the 13th of September and ends its run on the 28th, so do not miss out!
