Alchemise Theatre believes in the power of daring to hope. We believe that making art can bring light to difficult times and transform them into something luminous.
Alchemise Theatre is a materialisation of Louise, our Artistic Director’s, hope. Dreamt up on her sick bed, we aim to conjure all the things Louise, as a chronically ill person with mental health challenges, needed but didn’t have access to; community, play, joy, connection, self-expression; whilst also shining a light onto the experiences of the ‘sick’ and ‘disabled’: those who are left at home, shoved away into corners, unseen. We aim to make the invisible, visible.
Alchemise Theatre believes in the radical act of putting health first, and dreams up a version of society that does so. We believe in the politically transformative power of prioritising everybody’s health, and believe that creativity is central to this. We believe that theatre-making has both a material and intangible effect on social, emotional, physical and creative health.
We are an arts and health charity using primarily theatre to help support and improve wellbeing for all.
We run projects for those experiencing chronic and mental illness, their immediate families and carers; as well as educational workshops for wider society to help breakdown societal stigma and ableism.
We employ the positive benefits of social and creative play, and socio-emotional learning, to boost wellbeing for all participants at all stages of health.
At the core of our charity is a desire to both provide for the parts of the whole which our health system cannot cater for, whilst also undoing or creating some respite from the negative health effects of capitalist society (isolation, individualism, burnout culture etc).
