Joy Unspeakable - 2024 production

***UPDATE***

We originally launched this crowd-funder in Spring 2023 and raised £2090. This enabled us to create the songs and script described in the video. We have not yet raised the full production budget, although with additional grant funding we are now 1/3 of the way there!

In order to present the full production to the creative and ethical standard it deserves; we will now present the show in Autumn 2024. We continue to raise funds towards that by keeping this crowd-funding campaign live. 

Our target is £8000 which we hope to achieve by March 2024.

ABOUT THE SHOW

Ordinary Glory is a Greater Manchester based theatre company that makes theatre for social change. Joy Unspeakable is our debut show - a brand new piece of verbatim theatre for women, girls and their allies. It explores disordered eating - why it is all about food, and nothing to do with food. 

Joy Unspeakable presents the testimonies of four women, each with a different eating disorder, and each at a different stage in the process of recovery. The show weaves together verbatim text, movement and live music on stage, combining moments of great tenderness and vulnerability, with moments of intense emotion and wildness.

WHY DONATE?

We are now raising funds for a full-scale production and tour of Joy Unspeakable to take place across Salford, Bolton and Wigan in October/November this year.

Joy Unspeakable is a vital piece of theatre to be making in 2023. According to The Priory Group Between one and a half and three and a half million people in the UK have eating disorders, of which 75% are women or girls. This piece of theatre will both educate and inspire hope, ultimately opening up pathways to recovery and support.

Making theatre in 2023 is more challenging than ever before. With the cost of living crisis and inflation at a record high, production budgets are through the roof. With audience numbers unpredictable post-COVID, we are heavily relying on fundraising through Arts Council England, local authority and public funding opportunities and grants to make this project happen, as we can’t rely on ticket income alone. 

We are raising £5,000 via this Crowdfunder. These funds will go directly to paying our writer and composer to develop the full script and musical score for the project, so these elements can be omitted from our wider project budget. We will be submitting for a larger pool of funding in March and April of this year, via Arts Council England and other targeted public funding bodies. Having a portion of the budget already raised, as well as the script and score developed, will have a massive impact on showcasing the project and its potential to funders.

We know times are really tough for people at the moment, but if you can, please support us by donating, and join a growing community of artists and mental health activists who are working together to create positive change in this area. If you can’t afford to donate, please support us by sharing our Crowdfunder on your socials. 

DEVELOPMENT SO FAR

In autumn 2021 a seven-day R & D took place at the Octagon Theatre Bolton, working with actors and creative team to explore and develop the language of the show. This was followed by six months of work to develop the wraparound activities that will accompany the show, including co-designing a self-care pack for audience members, with Bolton residents who have experience of mental ill health. This work was funded by both Arts Council England and the Cameron Grants Trust for Innovation in Mental Health.

The show is being developed in collaboration with relevant individual experts and organisations in order to maximise the sustainable change impact of the work. These partners include: Dr. Samantha Hartley (Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust Young People's Mental Health Research Unit), Emily Troscianko (Health Coach and Research Associate, Oxford Research Centre), Professor Janet Treasure (Director of the Eating Disorders Unit & Professor of Psychiatry, King's College and Dr. Ulrike Schmidt (Professor of Eating Disorders, Kings College). BAND, MhIST,1Point, Bolton at Home and Bolton Social Prescribing Network.

Watch a short promo film from our 2021 R & D below.