On Saturday 15 & Sunday 16 September, the inaugural International Weekend of Wellbeing will see seven venues across Liverpool’s St George’s Quarter become an exciting hub for a cutting-edge and compelling conversation on mental health and wellbeing. The Weekend of Wellbeing adds another strand to Liverpool Comedy Festival 2018 and has been made possible due to additional investment from Liverpool City Council.

 The Wellbeing Marketplace will take over Liverpool’s St John’s Shopping Centre on Saturday 15 September, offering shoppers the chance to experience our virtual reality meditation chambers, enjoy a bicycle-powered smoothie, have a quick trim from our comedy barber, get your face painted, or pop into the World’s Smallest Comedy Club for a quick fix of laughter. The marketplace will also highlight some of the city’s mental health organisations and service providers.

Four venues in Liverpool’s St George’s Quarter (Royal Court Theatre, Holiday Inn Liverpool, Central Library, Liner Hotel) will play host to some of the hottest comedy talent in the UK, all performing wellbeing themed shows. Comedian and bestselling author Dave Chawner will be riffing about male anorexia from his hit book Weight Expectations; award-winning playwright Sam Brady performs his two latest one-man plays Kindness and Things I Say When I Don’t Say I Love You, tackling the heavy subject of dementia with characteristic warmth, humour and charm. Doug Segal (“imagine if Derren Brown was funny”) returns to the Festival with I Can Make You Feel Good and Harriet Dyer brings her acclaimed stand up show on mental illness Barking At Aeroplanes to the Weekend.

Other speakers include Neil Hughes performing his lauded Ted Talk Walking on Custard, opening up about his struggle with anxiety and local comedian Jake Mills will be sharing his story of attempted suicide and how it led him to set up the Hub of Hope and his charity Chasing the Stigma.

Over at the Walker Art Gallery’s Rex Makin Lecture Theatre they will be hosting a series of panel discussions with distinguished guests debating the links between mental health and ethnicity, parenthood, the comedy industry and disability.

On Sunday 16 September, the Weekend’s venues will host a range of free workshops and sessions for children and young people, including comedy, theatre, poetry and clowning.

To get FREE access to places for each event, attendees should sign up to this mailing list here>

Categories: News

Subscribe to our mailing list