Humanising Mental Health was very much the focus of the SPARK Youth Arts Ambassadors through 2024 and into 2025. This project was funded by Wakefield Council through their Culture Grants programme as part of Our Year 2024 and by Live Well Wakefield’s small grants. It was both creatively inspiring and enlightening.
In January we invite people to come and hear the stories the YAA’s discovered though their research into the history of West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum – later known as Stanley Royd Hospital. The YAA’s, alongside young theatre-makers and artists from the Wakefield District, unveiled the past and shaped the future in a powerful exploration of mental health history through performance, storytelling, and art.
The sharings included theatrical performances inspired by real-life histories, art and creative responses to historical research and a fresh perspective on mental health, then and now.
Here is what some of the arts ambassadors had to say about their involvement in the project and performances:
“We found in this project a sort of identification with a history and a heritage that was both very real and very personal. That is partly from the research, but also from the process of creating something informed by that research – we had to practice a sort of radical empathy to put ourselves in those shoes we had read so much about, which is an unusual thing to practice but a rewarding one. Overall, I feel developed, not just as an amateur historian, or playwright, but as a person for having taken part.”
And here are some thoughts from an audience member who came to see the performance:
“The night was performed, written, researched and presented all by young people in the Wakefield area. It was excellent to see so many young people bringing justice to such a niche subject, which is so key to Wakefield’s history. Each play was written with so much care, you could tell each line was carefully researched, crafted to tell a touching story about the people affected. Writers Yuri, Elvira, Ashe, Aimee, John and Jamie should be overly proud of the work they created, it was incredible. It perfectly balanced the educational elements of the performances with an enjoyable theatrical experience, which felt so raw and true to the stories of the asylum. Each piece had its own individuality but all worked in tandem to develop a phenomenally authentic evening of theatre.”
You can find the rest of their review here: https://tinyurl.com/yc35v7ae
The events will took place at Westgate Studios (Studio A4) as part of Wakefield Artwalk on the 29th of January and also at Treacy Hall, Wakefield Cathedral on the 31st of January.