Leading mental health charity, Penumbra, hosted a sell out performance of ‘The Bench’, a play written and produced by Watch This Space Productions last week. Jay Lafferty of Watch This Space put on the special free showing of the performance in support of the work of the Edinburgh Crisis Centre which is managed by Penumbra.
Penumbra is a leading mental health charity providing a range of support services to around 1800 people each week. Penumbra works with partners across 17 local authority areas to provide innovative mental health support in a community setting.
The Edinburgh Crisis Centre is managed by Penumbra as a partnership with NHS Lothian, City of Edinburgh Council and the Edinburgh Carers’ Council, and supports around 2000 people each year.
People can contact the Centre for support by email, text or freephone: mailto:crisis@
Watch This Space Productions’ performance of The Bench took place on Thursday in the Traverse Theatre.
Edinburgh Crisis Centre Manager, Barrie Hunter, commented: “Our team here at the Edinburgh Crisis Centre provides short term emotional and mental health support to around 2000 people in the city who are in distress or who are at risk of suicide and self-harm, and we provide a safe and non-judgemental environment where people can talk in confidence.
“There’s constant demand for support from the Crisis Centre, and it’s not unusual that we get several calls in the space of a few hours from people who are extremely distressed and need support immediately.
“It’s vital that people know they can ring up, text or email and get face to face support – potentially on the same day – and stay overnight if they need to. This is especially important because a mental health crisis is an extremely difficult thing to experience and key to recovery is early support.
“That’s why we’re so delighted that the hugely talented team at Watch This Space Productions have really got behind the work of the Edinburgh Crisis Centre in raising awareness of what we do through The Bench. The performance was a sell out and no wonder because of the talented team behind it.”
Jay Lafferty of Watch This Space Productions added: “We are delighted to be able to support Penumbra’s work. Since its debut at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2018 ‘The Bench’ has been on a nationwide tour.
“In early 2019 the play was published by Josef Wineberger and is currently being translated into German and French. We are excited to be back in Edinburgh for this one off performance and feel that the topics addressed in the play fit well with the work undertaken by the Crisis Centre.”