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#FindingSimon a new play by Tom Ryalls

Help me find Simon. A new piece of documentary theatre about depression, men and surviving.

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#FindingSimon a new play by Tom Ryalls

#FindingSimon a new play by Tom Ryalls

#FindingSimon a new play by Tom Ryalls

#FindingSimon a new play by Tom Ryalls

#FindingSimon a new play by Tom Ryalls

Help me find Simon. A new piece of documentary theatre about depression, men and surviving.

Help me find Simon. A new piece of documentary theatre about depression, men and surviving.

Help me find Simon. A new piece of documentary theatre about depression, men and surviving.

Help me find Simon. A new piece of documentary theatre about depression, men and surviving.

Thomas Ryalls
Thomas Ryalls
Thomas Ryalls
Thomas Ryalls
1 Campaign |
LONDON, United Kingdom
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Overview
Finding Simon is a new performance about depression in young men. It's a solo performance and a piece of documentary theatre you can contribute to here: When I was 16 I had a friend called Simon. He existed almost entirely anonymously online and for 5 years was the only person I spoke to about my depression, being anonymous isolated the stigma I felt. It ended when I severed ties in order to get professional help and now 4 years later I'm going back to look for him and I need your help.

What is it all about?

Finding Simon is a new one man show about depression in young men. It's made by writer and theatre maker Thomas Ryalls (me) based on my real experiences. 

When I was 16 I made a friend online called Simon. I was struggling with depression at the time and the stigma I felt being a man meant I was struggling to talk about it. Talking to Simon was easier, the anonymity meant that I was able to escape the stigma I might have felt if I did it in person. 

I don't think this is an entirely alien feeling for a lot of men. There's this certain toxic pressure that comes with masculinity where we're told we can't be open about our problems, and therefore I think a lot of us are turning to anonymous online forums. Whether that's anonymous dating apps like Grindr, anonymous twitter trolls or anonymous online communities like Reddit and 4Chan fostering the rise of the alt-right. 

5 years after meeting Simon online I made the decision that anonymity while comfortable wasn't helping me and I severed all ties with me and sought professional help. Now, 4 years later I'm going to find him again. 

I've asked thousands of people to talk to me anonymously about their relationship with online anonymity and mental health and I'm going to take those stories and 2000 pages of chat logs of Simon and I and make a show about it. I'm been chosen to be a part of Litmus Fest, a 6-week development programme to research and develop a new show at Pleasance Islington in North London. 

We're going to do 2 scratch performances a the end of this 6-week development process and I'll be presenting a new one-man show Finding Simon, an interactive game made using real experiences. 

In a 21st Century of increasing egotism where technology and selfies and literally turning our gaze towards ourselves and other Finding Simon will encourage the audience to connect. It will encourage you to walk out of anonymity and connect with the people around you as you experiences stories of other people who have done the same. 

And every night I'm going to see if Simon turns up and if after all this time I'll finally meet him.

What difference will your contribution make?

As part of Litmus Fest Pleasance Islington have generously given me a wealth of support, including rehearsal space, some equipment, mentoring and marketing support. However, we're going to need a little bit more than what we already have. 

Your contributions will help me to:

  • Do more outreach. I'm engaging with people a lot on social media but I'd love to spread the net further. I want to boost the posts but also connect with people in person and do a week of in-person interviews to collect stories, allow people to speak about their experiences possibly for the first time. 
  • Up-scale the show. I can just about make a nice powerpoint but I'd love to get a projection designed involved with the show, I want a lot of the elements to be about live engagement to really affect the audience in the room so the ability to work with live projection and streaming technologies would really improve the show. 
  • Create a supportive environment. I'd love it if we could organise some mental health first aid training for at least one person working on the show so that we can really offer a supportive environment for people who are having these conversations for the first time. If we hit a further goal I went to engage a mental health support worker

What is the Impact of Finding Simon?

  • About 75% of deaths from suicide are men. I think often we focus on this statistic in a really simple way but the problem with mental health for men is linked to wider problems with toxic masculinity. I want to address the route of this problem, the lack of connection that masculinity allows, and look at what we need to do to treat the cause rather than put a plaster on the problem. 
  • Speaking for the first time. Finding Simon is a really dynamic and engaging way for people to begin thinking about mental health. I make work primarily for people that don't see theatre so this show might be the first time a lot of people have had the chance to ask for help. 
  • Finding Simon. Finding Simon will be easily tourable and will encourage a lot of people across the UK to get talking about mental health for the first time. I think the impact could be national once the project is created and we begin touring. 

Other Ways You Can Help

There are lots of other ways you can help too. 

  • Spread the word. Follow @BoyAndPen on twitter to keep up-to-date with how the project is progressing and share this indiegogo and the updates as they come in. 
  • Tell me your story. Check out our submission page (www.boyandpen.com/Finding-Simon), watch the video and tell us your story about anonymity online and mental health so we have lots of material to make a show about. 
  • Talk to someone. Ask someone if they're ok today. Let someone know you're here for them if they need help and when they're ready, do your best. 
  • Come and see the sharing. We'll be doing two work-in-progress sharings in September when we've made most of the show before we release the final product on the world and the ticket link for those will be out shortly. 
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