The company of Crisis: A Rallying Cry in performance. Credit Tiu Makkonen.
What do you regret? What are you hopeful for?
These are big questions, ones that company members of Crisis: A Rallying Cry asked the audience as they took their seats for the first performance at the Traverse Theatre earlier this year.
They are questions that set the scene for a high-energy, emotive journey of both the personal and political sides of mental health throughout human history as seen by 16–21-year-olds.
Crisis: A Rallying Cry was produced by Josie Young in association with Kick the Door, which focuses on creating bold new Scottish work in theatre and film. The aim was to create a brand-new short play revolving around young people’s mental health using an ensemble theatre-making process.
It launched in November 2021 thanks to National Lottery funding through Creative Scotland’s Open Fund, with a call-out for young artists.
Rehearsals for Crisis: A Rallying Cry, courtesy of the production. Explore more on their instagram.
By January 2022, a fast-paced and high-pressure rehearsal period had begun. The company devised their show from the ground up, exploring issues like climate change and the impact and influence of social media. Form, movement and delivery were experimented with, including how to use breath and choreography.
I was equal parts terrified and enthralled - how will we pull this off?- Kathleen, the rehearsal diaries
In the end, their hard work paid off: they secured a run at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh in February 2022, which sold out, and they earned a four-star review in the Scotsman. It was only once the dust had settled on such a whirlwind experience that company members were able to reflect. Angus, Kit and Josh spoke to us about the best parts of being in Crisis, their biggest challenges, and how they would describe the whole experience in just 3 words.
