By Natalie Littlehales, Contextual Consulting Marketing Manager
The Rik Mayall Comedy festival might not be the obvious place to do some experiential learning but there was a new piece of theatre on the line-up at the end of May, that had plenty of potential for discussion and education, so we thought it was worth a mention.
While I’m not a psychologist myself, I’ve always loved human stories, and being a mother and fan of the actress in this particular play I booked to watch “Baby Brain” starring BAFTA winner Kimberley Nixon. Having worked at Contextual Consulting and with consultant clinical psychologist Dr Joe Oliver (co-author of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy & Mindfulness for Psychosis) for a few years now, the subject matter crossover was coincidental but became more relevant and interesting as I watched. Baby brain is described as “a new play about motherhood, giving birth, postpartum psychosis and stand-up comedy!”, not topics you would expect to exist together! The story is based around new mother, Cass, who is in the mother and baby unit, talking directly to her audience while flipping between her mental health crisis and her dreams of becoming a stand-up comic.
The play was written by Kimberley Nixon with Tim Clague & Danny Stack of Nelson Nutmeg Pictures and is performed as a one-woman show. It’s framed as a ‘slightly true story’ because Kimberley herself had severe postnatal OCD (she has covered this more autobiographically in her recent book release – “She Seems Fine to Me: Behind the Scenes of Birth, Babies and My Broken Brain”). She is currently doing the rounds on podcasts and interviews to promote both the book and this play.
The audience included lots of couples and small groups, it wasn’t just women as I had originally expected, and while plenty of the humour was largely relatable to universal post-partum themes (the giant hospital nappies, breastfeeding, the pressure of social media etc), the more serious parts jolted the audience into an uncomfortable but sympathetic viewpoint. Through six acts, we also went on a journey with Cass, unsure what the point of both us and her being there was, the format not entirely clear as she often broke the fourth wall and talked directly to the audience. Throughout we aren’t really sure what has happened to her or where the baby is, watching her visibly crumble and spiral, forgetting dialogue, referencing things she has forgot to fill us in on yet and then brushing it all off to start her next stand-up routine. The intentional glitches, side quests and stop/starts that were part of the narrative also bought you on a journey of confusion alongside her. At one point I heard someone behind me say “Is this part of the play still?” and you could sense this uncertainty within the crowd at various points.
What I found interesting was how immersive the play could be and how empathetic the audience would become, not only to her, but to the condition itself through the way the play was put together.
Joe often explains how practitioners need to understand psychosis not merely as a condition of “brokenness” or “illness” but as a human experience that needs compassion, flexibility, and validation. Patients often describe a dreamlike feeling where their understanding of reality is blurred and unsure. Baby Brain skilfully took sincere and sweet maternal moments then quickly contrasted them with scenes of confusion, frustration and despair to create a similar feeling for the character but also those watching. Seeing Cass experience the ups and downs of her condition in real-time, and in a way that felt very relatable to most new parents, completely absorbed the audience into the room and situation with her, then switching between scenes and stories, facts and then fiction, made it a clever way to put viewers into a patients mindset. While it was not intended as an educational resource, but for awareness and to provoke discussion, I’m sure that someone wishing to understand more about psychosis could watch this play and get something useful out of it, I certainly did. Baby brain has already been endorsed by the charity Action on Postpartum Psychosis, showing how entertainment can be a good way to reach new people and make change, with them saying “The balance was struck extremely well between being a piece of thought-provoking art, powerfully telling Cass’ story through humour while also informing the viewers about a condition that many people would have little to no lived experience of”.
Joe talks about the significant emotional and social challenges faced by those with psychosis, such as stigma, fear, and isolation which can heighten the difficulty. Cass is well aware of these things, and brings them along as part of the story, referencing, Jennii with two eyes, “I mean, she has two eyes, but her name does too”. and how the nurses talk about her and her parenting, and how she answers the questions in the way they want to hear, while she herself doesn’t know what they want her to say.
ACT encourages clinicians to approach psychosis with openness, using skills like mindfulness, perspective-taking, and compassionate understanding. By doing so, patients are better equipped to manage their symptoms and create a meaningful life, even if the experiences of psychosis persist. As someone who had an awareness of what post-partum psychosis might look like, but no lived experience, I felt that this play transported you into a sympathetic yet informative story, highlighting the chaos and uncertainty that could be happening within a mind within such a short space of time.
For future tour dates and to see some of the feedback from previews, you can visit the Baby Brain website. Here is a short video too: