Supporting your health and wellbeing through creativity

Our organisation collaborates with youth leaders, marginalised communities, the NHS, mental health charities, and the community sector to create impactful theatre that brings attention to social and health disparities, as well as the challenges faced by these groups, including health issues, disabilities, and financial barriers.

At the heart of our work we promote collective and youth-led action, intersectionality and open forums to inspire meaningful change. We invite decision-makers and leaders to performances to ensure our work maintains a legacy and a clear call to action, supporting future generations to navigate complex social and health issues.

Our productions are bold and vibrant, rooted in verbatim theatre and authentic storytelling.

By sharing genuine voices, emotional performances, and music that explores sensitive and timely themes of human connection, lived experiences and identity, we blend compelling new writing with crucial narratives and diverse perspectives.

As an experienced organisation advocating wellbeing we also have a consultancy agency for organisations & the educational sector looking to integrate youth-led and creative approaches into their programmes. Social prescribing, community & educational packages.

 



Placed-Based Partnerships


READ GUARDIAN FEATURE HERE:

Bringing The Outside In 

Amber is alone.
She’s not turned up for the first day of her final year of sixth form.
She’s terrified of the climate crisis, and everyone knows it.
Enter Yerna - a three thousand year old “giant” she accidentally summons, who turns her stuffy flat into a forest oasis.

But can their intentions be trusted?
What can an ancient story teach a girl that she doesn’t already know?
Bringing The Outside In is a soul-stirring exploration of fear, hope, and the importance of community in a changing world.
 

Theatre for Life’s Bringing The Outside In comes as part of the Youth for Climate and Nature (YouCAN) scheme – a partnership project supported by the National Lottery Community Fund and match funding with the New Forest National Park Authority as a lead partner.

The YouCAN scheme is aimed at 11- to 25-year-olds to encourage more community-led action to tackle the nature and climate emergencies. It supports green skills and jobs, and an outdoor learning programme for young people from all backgrounds to explore urban, rural, coastal, and freshwater areas.

15th July 2 pm & 7 pm 
MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton 

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CURRICULM LINKS


PSHE Physical health and mental wellbeing, Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. GCSE Drama, Science and Geography. 

Supported by New Forest National Park and National Lottery Community Fund 




 

When The Clouds Come 

Eva is desperate to write and find independence despite her neurodivergence. Sian is coming to terms with a degenerative disease and the impact that may have on her own life, her family's, and what it may have felt like for her own Mother. In the midst of a pandemic the two find an unlikely companionship and begin to realise how their sensory experience of the world seems to have similarities and how, in turn, they are able to support each other the way nobody else can. Rooted in joy and acceptance, When the Clouds Come is a powerful two hander about the intricacies of brain health, self help and living life with dementia through a neurodivergent lens and how freedom can be found by simply changing your perspective. 

Suitable for audiences aged 14+
This production will explore themes of neurodiversity and dementia. 
2 pm - 30 minute relaxed version available for SEND audiences. 

4th November -  2 pm & 7.30 pm
MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton


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FREE TICKETS



CURRICULM LINKS

PSHE Physical health and mental wellbeing, Health and Wellbeing, Relationships and Living in the Wider World. GCSE Drama and Devising.

Please email  education@theatreforlife.co.uk for further enquiries. 

Supported by Alzheimer's Research UK (Inspire Fund) & BeeWell Youth Commissioning Fund (Hampshire City Council) 

CREATE AND INNOVATE: 2

Youth social action video campaigns supporting our 2025 "Your Brain Explained" theatre production.

Empowering young campaigners aged 16-25 yrs with lived experiences of neurodiversity to engage in advocacy & youth social action. 

Explore and enhance access to arts and culture for neurodivergent young people in Hampshire & how we can support long-term mental health and well-being through inclusive creative opportunities.

As part of the #BeeWell funded project, they are currently researching ways to enhance participation in arts, culture, and entertainment specifically for SEND groups, which currently has limited data in our local area.

Using research findings, the campaigners will create a two-minute & creative social media video aimed at promoting and sharing current arts & cultural opportunities available for Hampshire's neurodivergent communities. Additionally, the video will highlight ways in which decision-makers and organisations can enhance future access for these groups.


CREATE AND INNOVATE: 1

In our inaugural CREATE & INNOVATE youth social action programme, we engaged with our local youth community in Southampton from May to September 2024. 

Youth-driven creative initiatives aimed at exploring cultural views on menstruation and addressing the stigma and societal disparities surrounding female reproductive health with local Asian and Muslim groups. 

Youth-led creative campaigns to tackle healthcare inequities and barriers impacting our LGBTQIA+ community (including gender-affirming care).

The final goal was to advocate for accessible healthcare, normalise discussions, and promote a more equitable society for future generations through youth-led video campaigns which were shared with local stakeholders and decision-makers from the NHS, Public Health, researchers and LGBTQIA+ charities. 

This youth-led programme was supported with funding by Young Southampton (UKSPF fund).


The Feeling of Knowing Something is Wrong, But it Isn't

Theatre for Life’s performance The Feeling (of knowing something is wrong, but it isn't),  was performed at Mayflower  Studios, the play explored female hormonal health and gender identity experiences. It was created using hundreds of voices from focus groups taking part in a University of Southampton research project, ‘From Puberty to Menopause’. Participants were at different stages of their hormonal lifecourse (puberty, motherhood, infertility, and menopause) included discussions with LGBTQIA+ people and heard the perspectives of teenage boys and men aged 14+. Participants shared their experiences and how they’ve shaped their life and identity.

At its core, the play is a cry for help from a community of voices who have felt silenced. The performance aimed to increase understanding around female reproductive health care and LGBTQ+ health care inequities, as well as generate discussion around the language we use to make healthcare in Southampton and England not just accessible, but equal to all.

After the performance, policy makers, healthcare professionals, the cast and the audience discussed the topics raised and how they can be used to tackle health issues in Southampton and across the south.

Among the audience were students from Upper Shirley High School, some of whom had never been to the theatre before.

Emily Bridges, Head of English, said the performance had a profound effect on those who went to see it, adding: “The response from all of our young people was brilliant – they really enjoyed the show and loved the way the story was told.  The music and singing were mentioned a lot – this was a real highlight for some students. It was lovely to hear them enthusing about it.”

Fran White, Associate Director of Policy, Innovation and Partnerships at Hampshire and Isle of Wight Integrated Care Board, was also in the audience. She said: “The play was amazing and helped me as a local policymaker, to reflect on people’s experiences related to gender-based care and women’s health services and what we could do locally. There was a quote about healthcare professionals which really resonated with me. It helped to re-energise me and remind me why I do what I do.”

Supported by Southampton Institute of Arts and Humanities, Propel Associate Artist Programme at Mayflower Studios and Young Southampton (UKSPF). 

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actors preparing for the play
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