Other

Written by Lorna Laidlaw Other focuses on the BME community and the mental health system, Other. tells the story of a young mixed race man in reverse, working backwards from his detainment in a medium secure forensic unit at aged 19, to his promising beginnings when he was born. A fascinating and intensely moving performance, highlighting the missed opportunities for intervention in Thobias' life. The play asks searching questions about the identity of those people who don't fit into the neat boxes on monitoring forms and whether it needs to be like this for young people of dual heritage.

"I wrote it specifically to make you cry. I did. You can go to so many talks and endure so many statistics and just think - 'that's a nice graph!'. But in Other. you actually connect with someone, and you think and feel for the character of Tobias, and want nothing more for him than what his mother wants. No one gives birth to a child and wants them to be sectioned. No one. Every mother wants to stand on the top of that hill with their child and say, 'Wow, that's all ours!'." Lorna Laidlaw

"The play is excellent medicine for identifying the issues that prevent positive outcomes for Tobias." "Other. brought issues to light very forcefully. It made me want to cry for Tobias at times." "The play and debate not only moved you, but it also helped you think about the type of interventions that might have saved Tobias from throwing away his future..." "Mental health problems can be extremely deep rooted and external factors can make things a whole lot worse. Other. captured this perfectly and highlighted the need to act quickly when signs of a mental health problem arise."