Exploring Graylingwell Hospital's rich heritage - Chichester

The Well of Lost Voices, which comes from Words Out Loud, will be performed in Graylingwell Chapel, now an arts and community venue, on January 28 at 7pm.

Ken Jones, who will be playing Graylingwell’s first medical superintendent Dr Harold Kidd in the piece, said: “We, at Words Out Loud, had held the view for a while that the history would provide a rich source of material with the outcome of a possible production in the renovated and recently opened chapel and so it has proved.”

Deni Jones and Mike Jenkins are co-directing. Mike explains: “The piece is made-up of submitted pieces from the people that come along to our open mic. We had about 28 submissions and we looked at which ones would work and I set about stitching it all together. We put a call out for the submissions related to the theme of human fragility. We had already decided that it would be something to do with human vulnerability because it was going to be at Graylingwell Chapel and we thought that that would be appropriate but we didn't want it just to be things on a theme a mental health. We wanted to see something wider than that. We had a good range of submissions some of which were very powerful. From that we chose about 14 or 15 pieces and I put them together but we didn't want it to become a variety show so we created a character called James who is an architect (played by Mike) and we have also included Dr Harold Kidd (played by Ken).”

In the piece, when renovation work is about to start at the chapel within the grounds of the former Graylingwell Mental Hospital, disturbances awaken long-buried feelings. Award-winning architect James Langdale – created for the piece – finds himself captivated by the voices of the past, forcing him to confront his own demons. Help comes in the form of an influential psychiatrist who seems to hold the key to recovery. But where has he come from and how does he know so much? “Kidd represents kindness and reassurance but we didn't want to do a character study of him. We just wanted his essence as a caring, kind and therapeutic person to be there and that's the crux of the piece really. And there is also a crossover with Ken. At one point, Ken who's playing Dr Harold Kidd, breaks out of character and speaks as Ken.”

As Ken says: “The Well of Lost Voices is a thought-provoking piece of crowd-sourced theatre which shows the vulnerability, fragility and resilience of the human spirit. Featuring music, movement, poetry and dialogue, written by the cast themselves, this ensemble performance will touch your heart and give you hope.”

Mike adds: “We are very excited by it and we think that the process that we've gone through to make the piece has been a great way of working. It has involved the community with people writing about their own experiences. A lot of them have not really written very much before or have not necessarily done very much with what they've written. And all of them, with maybe two or three exceptions, have chosen to perform their own piece. It's a lovely way to get people involved in this kind of cultural activity and perhaps doing something they haven't done before.” Tickets are available at £15 from The Chapel’s website:https://graylingwellchapel.com/whats-on/