Beyond Walls residencies: Jeremy Weller

Part of the Beyond Walls programme of Art and Therapeutic Design at the new Royal Hospital for Children and Young People, Edinburgh, are a number of residencies and fellowships. These have created a number of opportunities to build relationships between the hospital and the communities which it serves, as well as reflecting our ‘place-based’ approach of creating connections and audiences between the two.

Two residencies were focused on specific communities within the city, and three fellowships on research and working practices in the Department of Clinical Neurosciences (DCN). The first of the two long-term Residences was awarded to Jeremy Weller, theatre director.

Jeremy Weller is the Artistic Director of Grassmarket Projects, a theatre and film company. He conceived and directed ‘Where it Hurts’, a play which was performed by both NHS staff and members of the city community, rather than trained actors. It focused on individual lived experiences of longstanding issues of addictions, poverty, depression and suicide attempts.

The play ran, to critical acclaim, for three weeks at Summerhall Arts Centre as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Stage rated it ‘5 stars’, praising it for, “…authentic voices on mental health issues.”

Jeremy says, “The people I worked with in Where it Hurts feel marginalised and excluded. They kept asking me who would be interested in seeing them perform. My role was to nurture and to help them. I don’t tell them what to say. I ask them what they want to say and work out how to do it. I see it as going on a journey together and we see where we end up. As an artist I’m interested in giving voice and shape to their unique and raw experiences.”