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:
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.
Fantastic news on the reviews front: our performance of On Me at Waterside Arts in Sale – which took place on 2nd May 2024 – has been awarded 4.5 stars from The Reviews Hub!
Written by Helen Jones, the write-up reads as follows:
“Dangerous To Know Theatre Company have brought their award-winning Manchester Fringe play On Me back into production and landed at Waterside Arts, Sale for one night before performing for two nights in Bolton later in the month.
On Me tackles the very current issues around gender-based violence, female safety and the difficulties in forming relationships in the post #MeToo era. Shona and Christian are actors employed for a docu-drama about a true crime abuse case. Christian plays the cruel abuser who turns killer later while Shona is his surviving victim. Together they play out the scenes of the relationship which turns violent, while dealing with the impact the subject matter has on them personally. Attraction grows between them but the situations they play out affect their off screen emotions.
Leah Eddleston portrayed the role of Shona in the original Manchester production and returns to it here, creating a confident and outgoing woman who hides her past. But her past rears its head during filming and makes her vocal when her sister is in a vulnerable situation. But the past becomes the present as she is vulnerable too. Alexi Papadopoulos is the less confident Christian, a nice guy but the actions of his character make him question both men in general and his own role in relationships with women. Papdopoulos is excellent, showing that men can also have that vulnerable side. The cast is made up of Trevor Dwyer-Lynch as the film director and John Joyce O’Keeffe as the clapper loader. Writer Caroline Lamb appears on film as the original victim.
The set is simple but effective with a sofa centre stage and the green room and a bar as minor areas each side. A backing screen allows for both the backdrops for the staging and an impactful place to show the real story behind what the two actors are filming. There is a slight technical issue when the pre-recorded sections of filming are broadcast and are less audible than everything else.
Caroline Lamb has taken a difficult subject, but one so relevant to many young people today, and developed 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. While established director Helen Parry makes sure it gives the punch the subject matter deserves.
The play is followed by a Q&A session with local professionals who deal with the issues raised on a day to day basis.
On Me is just an hour long, but it is an important hour for the woman and men out there affected by the issues in the play. You won’t be able to catch it in Sale but it is well worth making the trip to Bolton for and hopefully it can gain longer runs to bring to more areas it’s very important message.”
The DTK team have been handed the Offie/Off Fest/Off West End Award for our July production of On Me on the Greater Manchester Fringe!
Credit: Shay Rowan 2022
We were also shortlisted for the Greater Manchester Fringe Award for Best Drama and playwright Caroline Lamb was shortlisted for the Write for the Stage Award for New Writing!
Dangerous To Know 