Mockingbird - POSTPONED

Cancellation Notice
We regret to inform you that due to the COVID 19 virus, we have had to postpone the show Mockingbird until further notice. We will be sure to inform you as soon as operations proceed back to normal and new dates have been scheduled!

A black comedy about mental health.

Based on the true stories of four generations of women and their devilish alter egos, Mockingbird is a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of postnatal distress, which affects approximately one in seven women and many men every year.

Written by Lisa Brickell in collaboration with composer Sarah Macombee and dramaturge Ruth Dudding, Mockingbird is performed by Lecoq trained actor Lisa Brickell and musician/actor Siri Embla. Directed by Giovanni Fusetti and Ruth Dudding, Mockingbird follows Tina (Brickell), a counsellor who is afraid of commitment and terrified of having children due to her family history of postnatal depression.

Brickell masterfully switches between four generations of characters and their hilarious ‘inner critic’ which she performs in a Commedia dell’arte style half mask. Mockingbird is rich with personal anecdotes from Brickell’s own family and informed by the work of Dr Diana Jefferies and her team at Western Sydney University, who studied historical accounts of women admitted to Sydney’s Callan Park and Gladesville Hospitals from 1885 to 1955. Brickell also consulted mental health organisation Changing Minds NZ. Taimi Allan, CEO of Changing Minds, says that sharing the real-life ‘lived experience’ is ‘absolutely integral’ to breaking down the stigma, barriers, and discrimination associated with mental health issues.

“Helping people to share those experiences, through the powerful and engaging medium of theatre and sensitive use of humour, is a wonderful way to gain empathy and understanding rather than sympathy from audiences,” says Allan.

“This is the most wonderful show, deeply moving, hysterically funny with a twist that takes you to the darkest of places and returns you to the light.”
— Alex Bonham, What’s Good, Auckland