As part of our offer, educators, community group leaders – and anyone else – can choose to receive:
The full hour-long piece of filmed theatre (accessible for up to 1 year)
An audio described version
A 20-page education pack designed by the company
A PDF copy of the script (for classroom use only)
Both the standard and audio described versions of the film include subtitles that can be switched on or off depending on requirements.
The film is suitable for GCSE and above (15+). Please note the content warnings via the link below.
Prices range from £7.50 to £55, depending on the resources requested and the length of the hire period. 20% of the takings from each hire will be donated to Endeavour, a community domestic abuse charity.
See the link below for further info – and spread the word to your educator/community-minded friends!
The time has come to unveil our next big project – Make It!
This brand new play is in the pipeline for 2026, and will be written by Caroline Lamb, directed by Kitty Ball and produced by Brontë Appleby.
As always, this piece is about something incredibly important to us.
It’s about how our creative industries are being gradually buried in a world that offers less and less space for colour.
It will form just one part of a wider project offering fresh opportunities and connections to local artists.
It’s perhaps darkly fitting that we could do with a couple of quid to help get it off the ground! If you can, please please donate via the link below and/or share the news far and wide across your networks.
We’re thrilled to have been able to provide assistance in the development of Silent Approach, a new play by Caroline Lamb, based on the book Police to Paranoia by Rebecca J House.
In 2007, Rebecca House was a serving police officer with the Lancashire Constabulary. In the midst of a severe mental health breakdown, she was arrested by her own colleagues in her own home.
She was then sectioned under the Mental Health Act, while her parents tirelessly campaigned for her release.
Based on Rebecca’s book, Police To Paranoia, Silent Approach is a re-telling of her arrest and detainment, and her experiences at the hands of the professionals whose actions and decisions were to shape her future life and health – created for the stage.
Post-performance discussion Through her Lancashire-based organisation S.I.S. Strength In Struggles, Rebecca now works tirelessly to provide fee-free alternative therapies to those struggling with their mental health, often sitting alongside medical care. She will join us in the auditorium after the performance to answer your questions about her experience and to discuss her organisation.
Content warning for Silent Approach: Mental health struggles (paranoia, psychosis, depression), ableism, descriptions of death, suicide, depictions of violence, strong language.
We did it! Our upcoming project, Silent Approach – on which we’ll be collaborating with mental health organisation S.I.S Strength in Struggles – has achieved its crowdfunding target on Spacehive. This means that work can now begin on bringing it to life!
Our heartfelt thanks go out to all the wonderful people and organisations who donated in support of this really exciting project.
Silent Approach is a play based on the true story of Rebecca House, the founder of S.I.S and a former police officer who was sectioned under the mental health act. It explores the treatment of – and attitude towards – those in mental health crisis, and makes a powerful case for empathy and reform.
We’ll be touring Lancashire and Greater Manchester this autumn, so please watch this space for creative team and cast announcements, tour dates and much more! You’ll find all information and updates via the project’s dedicated Linktree:
It’s been a pleasure and an honour to have been able to bring this piece to the Martin Harris Centre in Manchester and the Octagon Theatre in Bolton!
In Manchester, our main point of contact was the wonderful Alex Shaw, who looked after us beautifully and helped us to manage preparations extremely efficiently! Huge thanks also to the fantastic Megan Kerry, Tom Pearce, Jonny Brown, Adam Wilson and the rest of the Martin Harris team for their support.
Alex Joynes, the Octagon’s wonderful Adult and Communities Lead, was our rock throughout the Bolton leg of the project – and the fantastic Endeavour team members were the engine driving us forward, offering endless positivity and accessing financial support on our behalf.
Our accessibility resources were provided by the glorious and super-creative audio describers from Hear the Picture and the flawless BSL interpretation services of Samantha Green, booked through Bolton Deaf Society.
Also massive thanks to University of Bolton‘s filmmaking course… more news on this further down the line!
And, of course, we couldn’t possibly sign off without a glowing mention of our core team. The tireless and inspired director/stage manager team composed of Helen Parry and Sabine Sulmeistere worked wonders, and our wildly talented actors Leah Eddleston, Alexi Papadopoulos, Daniel McKeown and Joe Clegg Prada (a double-contributor, due to his wizardry as a producer) brought writer Caroline Lamb‘s words to life in such a wonderful way, time and time again.
We’ll be back, no doubt about that! For now, take a look at another planned project we have in the pipeline – Silent Approach.
Plus: just a few tickets remaining for On Me 2025!
We only have 100 days to raise just under £30,000 to take Silent Approach on tour – and that’s not long at all! As we already have over 20 backers, this particular crowdfunding platform will consider matching 50% of our total – but it’s certainly not guaranteed.
Silent Approach presents the true story of Rebecca House, author of the book Police to Paranoia, and explores our treatment of individuals in mental health crisis. It also discusses how none of us are immune to mental health struggles. As part of our planned tour, we’ll be presenting wraparound activities and partnering with changemakers in a bid to make a real, positive impact on the current system.
If you possibly can, please donate to our crowdfunder to make this ambition a reality. You can give as little as £2 to help support an independent creative company and get this vital project in front of audiences. Please also share across your socials. Anything and everything you can do will give us a better chance of success!
In other news, our Off West End award winning play, On Me, is SOLD OUT at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton next month. If you’re a ticket holder for this event and you find you are unable to attend for any reason, please contact the Octagon’s box office to release your ticket, as there is now a waiting list!
HOWEVER, tickets remain for our 5th March performance at the Martin Harris Centre in Manchester, so grab them while you can! They are available on a Pay What You Can basis, starting from £5.
Rebecca House is a former police officer who was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2008.
In her book, Police to Paranoia, Rebecca details the treatment to which she was subjected during her fight to recover. This year, Dangerous To Know is proud to be teaming up with Rebecca – who now runs mental health support service, Strength in Struggles – to present her story on the stage.
We are now in the process of developing Silent Approach, a play based on Police to Paranoia, which will provide a unique insight into how society continues to treat individuals requiring mental health care – and offer a stark reminder that no one is immune to a mental health crisis.
The project will also feature well-supported wraparound activities to ensure that it makes an active difference.
Fundraising is now underway to ensure that Silent Approach can hit northern UK stages in summer 2025.
Spacehive, the crowdfunding platform we are using, gives us the opportunity to receive 40-50% match funding from backers, which is incredible.
Please read more via the link below and donate if you can to give this project the best possible chance. As little as £2 will make a significant difference.
Huge news! Our award-winning play, On Me, is returning to the stage in March 2025.
The first performance will take place on Wednesday 5th March at the Martin Harris Centre on Bridgeford Street, Manchester M13 9PL.
Doors will open at 6.45pm for a 7pm start, and the hour-long show will be followed by a 45-minute panel on Gender-Based Violence and Domestic Abuse, featuring key changemakers and frontline workers who will be taking audience questions.
The play will then head to the Octagon Theatre in Bolton on Friday 7th March and Saturday 8th March, thanks to vital support from the incredible Greater Manchester domestic abuse charity, Endeavour and backing from the National Lottery Community Fund.
On Friday 7th, doors will open at 6.45pm for a 7pm start.
Saturday 8th will be a matinee, with doors opening at 2.15pm for a 2.30pm start. Both performances will again be followed by our acclaimed 45 minute panel discussions.
We are absolutely thrilled to be bringing this vital piece back to Greater Manchester. Watch this space as we prepare to announce cast, crew and more fantastic partner organisations, all of whom will be working together to deliver On Me in 2025!
We’re excited to announce that On Me has received an OffComm (OffWestEnd Commendation) award for our short run of On Me in Trafford and Bolton in May 2024!
Requirements for nomination were a minimum of three performances and at least two reviews of 4* or above, which we achieved – and, on 6th June, we received the exciting news that the show was a winner.
Congratulations to everyone involved, and here’s to more exciting On Me news in the future!
…a thought-provoking short play. It is entertaining and often funny, but the underlying message is clearly carried throughout leaving nowhere to hide from it.
…just an hour long, but it is an important hour for the woman and men out there affected by the issues in the play.
There were several points in the play where every woman in the audience sighed the same sigh, recognising when they had been Shona, speaking to their own Christian – a stark reminder of the realness of this story.
Our Panel Discussions
We held one panel discussion in Sale and one in Bolton, each with its own set of highly qualified specialist speakers.
On 2nd May 2024, at Waterside Arts, we were joined by Professor David Gadd and Dr Caroline Miles from the University of Manchester’s Criminology Department, as well as front-line representatives from Samantha Fisher and Charlotte Clayton, CEOs of Trafford Domestic Abuse Services and Trafford Rape Crisis respectively.
On 16th May 2024, at Bolton Central Library, we were joined by Bernie Ryan OBE of the Institute for Addressing Strangulation, front-line representatives Jill Caldwell and Leanne Labrow from the Endeavour Project and Fortalice respectively, and Rafael Martinez from Bolton Council’s Community Safety team.
Both discussions were exceptionally enlightening, with all speakers providing hugely valuable insights according to their particular areas of practice and expertise. Jennifer Roberts of Lost in Theatreland wrote that the post-show discussion at Waterside was
…incredibly insightful. It’s easy to put plays like this in with others about sexual assault and the danger of living in a woman’s body, but giving the audience the opportunity to learn about the work that charities are doing to help survivors of intimate partner violence puts the entire play into perspective.
There will be a brief hiatus for now, but please watch this space and spread the word about our project. We’re on the lookout for more venues, additional funders and new opportunities to bring On Me to communities across the UK (and beyond…?)
We’ve loved sharing this experience with you. Now let’s see where it goes next!
Dangerous To Know 