Though This Be Madness

Award-winning writer and performer Skye Loneragan brings her fragmented, semi-autobiographical portrayal of motherhood, sisterhood and experience of loved ones debilitating mental illness.

Not all stories wrap themselves around a beginning, a middle and an end. New motherhood doesn’t afford the time for that kind of structure. Though This Be Madness is an inventive and darkly humorous story of sisterhood that delves into the combined challenges of juggling new parenthood alongside loved ones struggling with psychosis and depression.

In this fractured fiction told through poetry and performance, with a musical score co-created by Mairi Campbell, we meet a recovering mum bouncing on a Pilates ball in The Land of the Lounge Room. Determined to soothe her baby and ‘stay on the ball’, she tries finish her sentence and tell us how she is unable to reach her sister Ophelia, wrestling with a cataract on what Shakespeare calls the ‘mind’s eye’.

Wondering what delusions we might all share, she questions the silent war many of us are waging – with little ones, with loss or with prams that don’t fold easily; and considers how can we nurture our collective sanity?

Written & Performed by Skye Loneragan. Music by Mairi Campbell & Dave Gray. Lyrics by Skye Loneragan. Directorial support: Kath Burlinson & Stewart Ennis, Choreographic support: Emma Jayne Park; Lighting and AV Design: Roddy Simpson

Supported by Creative Scotland & SMHAF.

Recommended Age 15yr +