Battling the black dog…

My love of theatre has become my life, however my love of theatre has also saved my life in the past.

Depression is a battle a lot of us go through in our lives, I’ve found a lot of people in theatre especially have gone through a tough period in their lives which has brought them out stronger than ever.

In my life, I’ve battled with my family’s depression since the age of 9 and my own since the age of 14. During childhood, theatre kept me going through the family crises as it let me forget and go into a world of my own through my characters and of course I was spending time with some of my closest friends. When I had my own breakdown, the only week I was remotely happy for many months was the week of my show, and surprisingly the event that brought me out of my breakdown was getting into a summer school at Liverpool Empire. Drama was the only thing that I could cling onto, that one moment of happiness to grab hold to in the black cloud. Since then theatre has become my career, and yes it causes stress and problems of its own but still the high I get after a show can not be beaten by anything. It is still my escape and my reason for living and talking to fellow university students i know that theatre has helped a lot of people through struggles, and become who they are today.

But what is it about theatre that makes us do it no matter what? 

The worlds we create, can be so magical and different that you can’t even think about the real world. On the other hand, they can also be depressive and difficult but this causes challenges in a different way however whatever happens you’re still in a made up world pretending to be someone else. Even as a stage manager I get to go to this different world every day for however long. The people we’re surrounded by. Some of my closest friends are actors or crew members, and why is that not surprising? Cause we spend the most insane hours together trying to get the show up and running and you can’t help but develop personal relationships and friendships as there’s no time to see anyone else! Plus theatre people are crazy and so loving! Finally because we love it! You can’t do this industry without a major love for it, otherwise you wouldn’t put up with the hours or the occasionally difficult people or anything else that we hate.

Depression will never leave me, but it will get easier to handle and doing a job I love helps immensely.

Since its come in the news more often, I’ve wanted to write this post, it’s important for people to speak out about their struggles so that present sufferers know they are not alone.

Keep positive, keep doing what you love, and keep supporting each other!