Breathing With The Tide

The modern interpretation of happiness and entertainment has been developing in a grotesque way. The disadvantage of living in a late-capitalist society is that everyone seeks a perfectly idealised, better, falsely-manufactured dream life. However, many face issues such as stress, anxiety, and other mental health issues, and being told these things can bring us closer to a happier life. The distractions, which can take place in negative ways, like addiction or overconsumption; or positive ones, such as leisure.

Acting and attending plays are both ways of escapism, and that’s exactly what it stands for: to engage and take people away from their everyday lives and problems. However, with the current technological developments, engaging people has become much more difficult. The visitors seek more to feel distanced, and a general playhouse located in the centre of the town cannot always create enough distraction from the surroundings.

This project focuses on taking the visitors away from their everyday lives into a place focusing on play, where the shore of town merges with the sea. It ‘breaks the fourth wall’ by rehabilitating a place where the natural elements fully immerse with cultural heritage. The place where this story begins is the island of Birnbeck Pier, which got left behind and forgotten since its final closure in 1994, only because its location didn’t serve the need of the people at the time. The creation of alternative ways of active and passive healing, supported by nature, are dedicated to distract people from their lives and to gain knowledge about themselves from their visit.

This happens through a therapy centre which focuses on psychodrama, drama therapy and fairytale therapy, alongside a theatre that exhibits plays focusing on mental health. These all serve the same goal: to create an open and safe place by bringing life to a deprived island, who’s afraid of the same thing as us all: being forgotten.