Donna Franceschild, the creator of Takin' Over The Asylum has been interviewed by STV about the new stage adaptation of the TV series.
The original 1994 TV series starred Ken Stott and David Tennant in the roles of troubled, alcoholic DJ Eddie and his protege Campbell, a hyperactive teenager he meets in the mental hospital where he is attempting to set up a radio station. Katy Murphy, Ruth McCabe, Liz Smith, Andrew MacFadyen and Arabella Weir also co-starred in the six-episode drama. Now, nearly twenty years later, Donna Franceschild has adapted her work for the stage. She says of revisiting the drama:
"The best thing about it was being able to address the
situation in mental health now and also to hopefully ask the question – who are
the loonies…
"What’s changed now is in many ways the stigma has
decreased with a bunch of celebrities coming out and saying 'I suffer from
depression' or 'I’m bipolar'. But the situation on the ground for real people
with real mental health problems has not improved greatly, particularly when it
comes to employment.”
The stage version of Takin' Over The Asylum stars Iain Robertson as Eddie and Brian Vernel as Campbell. It opened at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow where it will run until the 9th March before transferring to the Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh from 13th March to the 6th April.
View the trailer here:
Thanks to Gillian Provan of STV for the information
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