HEARING VOICES has now been made into a film. Extracts are now available free on YouTube! Three extracts of the film version of HEARING VOICES have been posted on YouTube. Visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=02hUsBm8ptQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmFtaeeOE0M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BVEmW6YA6E The intention behind posting these short films on YouTube is so that the hidden voices of mental health service users can be heard. Users of the psychiatric system have little or no opportunity to express their experience and histories. Many people who would benefit from watching the play and hearing the stories in “HEARING VOICES” will not have had the means and opportunity to go to the theatre.

TALKS and SCREENINGS of the FILM “HEARING VOICES”

Clare gives talks to mental health groups and organisations, housing associations, conferences and universties around the country (and in the US) about the writing of the play, combined with a screening of the full length film version of the piece, followed by a Q & A session with the audience.

PREVIOUS TALKS

• Thursday 26th July 2012  The Richmond Fellowship Trust. Dulwich, London. Clare will be giving a talk about her experiences of the psychiatric system and the making of her play “Hearing Voices.”
• Monday 10th September 2012 Self Harm and Recovery: minimising harm and maximising hope. One-day conference. Clare will be giving a keynote speech at this conference.
• Tuesday 22nd May 2012 Clare will be one of the speakers at “The H Word”, an event organised by PACE with DIVA magazine to raise awareness around lesbian, bisexual, trans women’s health and wellbeing. Register your FREE place. Contact: becky.large@pacehealth.org.uk 020 7715 0374
• Wednesday 22nd FEBRUARY 2012 “HEARING VOICES” TALK and screening of film version of the play for One Housing Group, Camden. London.
• Thursday 3rd MARCH 2011 2:00 pm Clare will be giving a talk about her play HEARING VOICES followed by a screening of the film and a discussion to PAs at Emory University, School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
• Monday 21st FEBRUARY 2011 6:00 pm Clare will be giving a talk about her play HEARING VOICES followed by a screening of the film version at Life Craft, The Bath House, Gwydir Street, Cambridge, CB1 2LW.
• Monday, 29th NOVEMBER 2010 Clare will be giving a talk about the making of HEARING VOICES and screening the film version of this play to mental health service user groups and interested professionals. 6.30 p.m. at the Lesbian Community Project premises. 49-51 Sidney Street, Manchester M17HB. Contact: sandycastles@hotmail.com
• Monday 6th SEPTEMBER 2010 NHS LGBT Health Summit, Hertfordshire

Watch this space for upcoming dates.

If you are interested in BOOKING Clare to give a talk about her play and to show the screening of the film version, followed by a Q&A session please contact admin@claresummerskill.co.uk for details about availability and booking fees.

PREVIOUS TALKS and COMMISSIONED FILMS by CLARE SUMMERSKILL

Over the last few years there has been an increasing demand for Clare to appear at conferences, universities, groups and organisations and give various talks on certain subjects that she has been writing about. All her talks contain theatrical segments from the relevant plays and films to which they relate. Bookings for Clare’s talk can also contain a screening of the relevant DVD of each project.

HATE CRIMES.

After being commissioned by the Metropolitan Police and Age Concern to write and produce the film “Queens’ Evidence” (about the relationship between the police and older LGBT people, looking at why there is there a low rate of reporting hate crimes from that section of society) Clare has been invited to talk about the film she made and the research she has done into this area.

GATEWAY TO HEAVEN.

Following the writing of this play, based entirely on memories from older lesbians and gay men, two national tours and the adaptation of this production into a film commissioned by Age Concern, Opening Doors Clare now gives a talk about the research of this play and the interviews she had with thirty older people about their own experiences of growing up lesbian and gay and living in a world for much of their lives where the majority of society did not accept their sexuality. This talk is particularly popular in LGBT History Month.

HEARING VOICES.

This is a talk about the writing and research of HEARING VOICES which is a play that Clare wrote, performed in and has now been published by Tollington Press. It is based entirely on interviews with Mental Health service users who all became friends on a secure psychiatric ward where they met Clare. It is a searing indictment of the so-called “Care” currently provided by the NHS to those in mental distress.

COMMISSIONED PLAYS and FILMS by CLARE SUMMERSKILL

Clare has also written several commissioned plays and films for social sector organisations, which have been performed at various conferences and AGMS.

After the introduction of the Hate Crime Bill, Clare was commissioned by THE METROPOLITAN POLICE and AGE CONCERN to write and produce a film about the relationship between the older LGBT people and the police over the last seventy years. This piece was based entirely on interviews and was made into a DVD called QUEENS ’ EVIDENCE which is available from Age Concern, Opening Doors. Clare can be booked to talk about the making of this film, combined with a screening of it followed by a Q & A session. (See TALKS above)

For the NHS she wrote and with members of her theatre company performed two short plays. One was for a Chief Nursing Officers Conference and the issues that were tackled dramatically were around Inequality and Social Exclusion. The other NHS play was performed to nurses at a national NHS conference, which addressed the theme of “Shifting The Balance Of Power”. Issues covered in this piece included: Primary Care Trusts, Strategic Health Authorities and Securing Clinical and Professional Leadership.

For MOSAIC Housing Association Clare produced a short play addressing issues around older tenants. Areas addressed in this piece included Housing Associations’ communication with older tenants: Provision of aids and adaptations in older people’s homes: Minimalisation of disruption when repairs are carried out in older people’s homes.

For AGE CONCERN NATIONAL AGM Clare, in partnership with Women And Theatre Company, wrote a short play addressing issues such as images of older people in the media, grey power, the financial and emotional costs of nursing home provision, older people and sexuality and older people and their transport needs.

If you are interested in BOOKING Clare to give a talk about her play and to show the screening of the DVD version, followed by a Q&A session please contact admin@claresummerskill.co.uk  for details about availability and booking fees.