Reasons to Alive Theatre Review

Aptly in week where Prince Harry publicly spoke about struggling to get up due to struggles with mental health, I saw a play on the same subject. Reasons to stay alive is based on book by Matt Haigh. Apparently the book has been very popular and subsequently this show has been a virtual sell out in Sheffield.

It is debatable whether mental health issues are becoming more prevalent or it is just more people are opening up. Certainly lot said and written about mental health currently. The show featured quotes from various people’s book about mental health, listed famous people who have opened up about their mental health and read tweets for the #reasonstostayalive. This was interspersed with the story of Matt Haigh’s struggles and the impact on his partner. It was an eye opener or rang true depending on your experience of mental health. The play could  be a useful basis for which to have conversations about mental health. I found it a little disjointed flipping between the story and different insights, but overal think well acted and raised important points.

Googling today I have found Matt Haigh is a popular writer of adult books like Reasons to live and also chidren’s books.

Ending spolier

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In the show I was rather disappointed when it seemed the solution to Matt’s problems was going to be that he published a book, because not everyone can do that. However,  when it actually was suggested his problems later reoccurred, I was also dissapointed because it be nice to think that if someone have ot face such issues they only have to face them once.