Livestock is a performing and visual arts production company. Its practice is to run creative projects that engage with themes of mental health, psychology and well-being, using the arts.
Former Projects
HADLEY'S EXPERIMENT dealt with schizophrenia, or the hearing voices experience. This piece was partially based on a book, Operators and Things by Barbara O'Brien, published in the U.S. some thirty years ago (now out of print). The show was presented during 2007-8 in Birmingham, London, Carlisle, Brighton, Hastings and Manchester. The play was written and performed by Chris Johnston and directed by Dale Heinen. Additional performers were Timothy Lone, Anton Maiof and Catherine Kirk.
'A generous and enjoyable performance, offering some genuinely rare insights.' - Three Weeks
'I just wanted to drop you a line to say how brilliant I thought last night's performance of Hadley's Experiment was. So impressed by how it was staged, acted and the intelligent treatment of a subject that is so often caricatured and dealt with in sensationalised, ignorant and unhelpful ways.' - Email received
In evaluation, a performance at Wolverhampton Arena Theatre, 73% rated the show Very Good and 25% Good.
'Just a quick email to let you know how impressed I was with the production last night at Wolverhampton Arena. Chris Johnston has an amazing talent. He kept us all on the edge of our seats throughout the performance.' - Email received.
'Thank you very much for your company's performance - all the comments made to me were extremely positive about the portrayal of Warren's experience as an authentic description of the many possible complications within the individual mental health experience. At least two people said that, 'its just like that' to me - so congratulations.' - Su Barnicoat, Active8 and Focus on Mental Health.
YOICKS! A night of comedy held as part of the Brighton Fringe Festival, May 08, programmed by Maggie Gordon-Walker.
'Delivering the most original and entertaining comedy I have seen so far this festival - The Black Sheep, Wilkie and Walker, Mark Katz and special guests proved a winning combination. Maggie Gordon-Walker -spot on, brilliant as Margo Crabstick.' - Three Weeks
Future Projects
These include:-
Mr Dead and Mrs Free's Final Performance - a comedy for two centenarians
Hadley's Daughter - A follow-up to Hadley's Experiment; an exploration of the fraught relationship between nurses and their patients in a mental health environment