Written by Mags Delaney-Moffatt

Happy Mental Health Awareness Week! If you’re searching for ways to improve your mental health – and enjoy yourself while doing so – engaging with theatre or other performing arts experiences is a great way to go.

Theatre Creates a Community
One of the most obvious of perks of theatre is the community feeling it fosters for everyone involved. This includes:

• Creating bonds between actors, crew members, and theatre leadership, from the first audition to the close of the final curtain
• Creating bonds between audience members, who enter into a shared emotional experience as they watch a show
• Creating bonds between enthusiasts across the globe who are all enjoying the same performance. This was really brought home for me during lockdown by being able to access theatre digitally through National Theatre at Home and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s ‘The Show Must Go On’ initiative.

Theatre Offers Representation
Seeing yourself in a beloved character on the stage means a great deal to those who feel invisible or pushed aside in their day-to-day lives. Theatre offers a positive representation of:

• Those with the struggles of mental health
• Those dealing with chronic or invisible illnesses
• The neurodiverse
• Marginalized communities, from minorities to those in poverty to those in the LGBTQ+ community

Theatre Teaches Empathy
By providing emotional connections with others, theatre helps its audiences to better understand their fellow man. Within the theatre, empathy can be learned about:

• Your fellow cast members – if you’re in the show itself, teamwork and compassion will combine to further your emotional intelligence and capacity for empathy
• Plights of people outside your own circle – through characters in a show or other real-life people in their day-to-day lives
• Those in history – making you a more well-rounded, educated citizen of the world that can empathize with those in the past, present, and future (Think about what you learned through watching performances such as Hamilton, Rent, Hatupatu | Kurungaituku: A Forbidden Love, Awhi Tapu, Les Misérables, and Shakespeare)
Theatre has the unique ability to introduce students to different cultures and perspectives, which leads to developing a better understanding of the world resulting in greater empathy.

Theatre Inspires Hope
It’s no secret that the world can be a dark place. Theatre can often act as a safe haven, where people escape for a few hours to feel inspired. If someone’s mental health is low, stories of triumph, resilience, and perseverance can bleed over into day-to-day inspiration. The only thing more powerful than fear, after all, is hope!

Theatre Increases Confidence
Theatre provides a safe, supportive space for people of all ages and skill levels to explore their emotions and develop self-confidence. Taking social risks, expressing oneself freely, and connecting with others will build self-esteem. Theatre programs, then, are crucial for promoting personal growth and preparing people for success in the future.

For more information this Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 here are a few links you can follow:

mhaw.nz
https://shop.mentalhealth.org.nz/ – lots of free resources
https://mentalhealth.org.nz/workplaces
https://www.cph.co.nz/mental-health-awareness-week/
https://mhaw.nz/whats-on/