Give Me Your Love is about MDMA assisted therapy for Post Traumatic Stress.
“It’s Ridiculusmus at their best”, The Stage.
Welcome to the world of war veteran Zach. As the last man standing, Zach has retreated into a tiny dugout under a barrage of hostile fire. His enemies are cunning, using every trick in the book to mess with his mind. Even the landscape is weird: it’s a cardboard box, in Zach’s kitchen, in Port Talbot. His wife whispers, kindly, that it’s safe to come out. But is it a trap? For if the real enemy is Zach himself then who will win if he loses?
Give Me Your Love is the second instalment of Ridiculusmus’s three-pronged investigation into innovative approaches to mental health. Informed by the latest scientific research, it explores the healing potential in altered states of consciousness.
The show premiered at Arts House, Melbourne in November 2015 and has toured extensively since. It has been supported by a Wellcome Trust Arts Award, was shortlisted for the Mental Health Arts Award and won the coveted Lustrum Award at Edinburgh in 2017. Sir Robert MacSummerhall, former governor of the World Bank and Summerhall’s founder declared the company to be “in a league of their own” at a glittering post-show ceremony on the last day of the Fringe.
Here is a clip from the post show discussion, Stress, Distress and Disorder at Battersea Arts Centre.
Click this link for a Radio National Australia interview with David and Australian army veteran Steve MacDonald about the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress with MDMA.
To read some things that may have contributed to the making of Give Me Your Love click here.
Four-star review in The Stage: “Ridiculusmus at their best”
Observer review: “Haynes and Woods play nimbly with delusion”
The vibe in Bristol: “A wonderfully well researched, well produced and well-performed play. This is a must-see for anyone who wants to understand the world of mental health better or wants to see something beautifully creative about a tentative topic. This show brilliantly balances comedy with the seriousness of the issue.” and from the brilliant Stepping Out Theatre: “hilarious, poignant, haunting, strange and unforgettable”
Give Me Your Love was commissioned by Battersea Arts Centre and Arts House, Melbourne. It has been supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England; the Wellcome Trust; Royal Victoria Hall Foundation; the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts; Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne University and the City of Melbourne through Arts House and its Culture Lab programme.
All photographs by Sarah Walker
