Chloe Yates grew up in London and moved to Norwich during the pandemic to study creative writing at UEA. Four years later and she is still here – with semi-autobiographical play about mental health, Spring & Other Things, about to premiere at Norwich Arts Centre
A new play by 25-year-old writer Chloe Yates, Spring & Other Things premieres at city centre venue Norwich Arts Centre this weekend. Spring & Other Things is a semi-autobiographical show filled to the brim with comedy, queerness, and climate anxiety – and Chloe takes the audience through her journey from rock bottom in an adolescent psychiatric unit to falling head over heels in love with life again.
The play started as a 10-minute story told at True Stories Live, a popular storytelling event held at Norwich Arts Centre. ‘The audience reaction to this story was so overwhelmingly positive, that I went home and immediately started developing it into a full-length play,’ says Chloe.
Having managed to obtain arts council funding, Chloe collated a production team with director Georgia Harris and producer Lucy Farrant of True Stories live. James McDermott, Eastenders co-writer, helped develop the script and Chloe is working with the support of a drama therapist, Kathleen Blades to help navigate the emotional side of performing this play.
‘This is a subject that is close to my heart. After my own experiences within the mental health system, I feel very strongly that there needs to be massive, structural change in the way we understand, treat, and even talk about mental illness. We need to move away from this idea that the problem is within the individual, and start looking at wider systems of oppression, and how this is affecting people mentally.’
Chloe grew up in London and moved to Norwich during the pandemic to study creative writing at UEA. She fell in love with the place and the people and four years later she is still loving it here. She hopes to take the show on tour across the UK over the Autumn and Winter. She adds: ‘I really want to share this story with as many people as possible!’
Spring & Other Things premieres at Norwich Arts Centre on Sunday 16 June at 2.30pm and 7.30pm. Tickets are Pay What You Can Afford from £6.50-£12.50 and can be booked through the NAC website norwichartscentre.co.uk.
Featured image of Chloe Yates – supplied
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