This weekend is the final opportunity to enjoy the first production to return to Derry's Playhouse Theatre since lockdown ended.
Colin Bateman's Nutcase is a blackly comic but unstinting journey through mental illness. Running until Sunday, August 29, the new commission by The Playhouse explores the relationship between a father and his teenage son, whose life is veering into chaos.
Directed by BAFTA-winning director Kenny Glenaan, Nutcase will be performed to audiences at the Playhouse, broadcast live and available to stream afterwards. Tickets are available now.
Colin Bateman is the author of 35 novels, including Divorcing Jack, Mystery Man and Papercuts . He wrote the screenplay for The Journey, starring Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney, following the development of an unlikely friendship between Rev Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness as they travel to momentous peace talks.
For television, he created the long-running BBC series Murphy's Law, starring James Nesbitt. In 2010, Bateman was made an Honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Ulster in 2010 for his services to literature.
While Nutcase is a work of fiction, Bateman’s experiences of mental health issues have informed the writing of a play which contains themes that will be familiar to millions of people.
He said: “This is the most personal thing I’ve ever written - but it’s also universal, because mental health issues are everywhere and growing by the day.
"But I didn’t want to write something that was po-faced or judgemental, I wanted to write about how families struggle - about very dark times which can also sometimes be very funny. That’s life.”
Producer Kieran Griffiths added: “We are proud to have commissioned this new work exploring an issue that affects so many. The character of Sean is like any other teenager but his life is spinning out of control - his home becoming a battle ground, school life turning to anarchy, friends dropping him - and all the time he feels like his head is going to explode.
"Sean’s father Michael desperately looks for help for a son who is clearly in pain but finds his efforts blocked at every turn. Where once Sean and Michael were the best of friends, they become sworn enemies in the same house.
"We hope the production will speak to anyone who has suffered similar pain and struggle and encourage them to reach out for help.”
All Playhouse productions are broadcast live, online, across the world.
Nutcase is the latest production in an online broadcasting programme that has already seen the online live premiere of live theatre pieces: Proud to Be/Beyond The Labels of Me by Mel Bradley and Anything Can Happen 1972: Voices from the Heart of The Troubles by Damian Gorman.
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