Sheila Kitzinger Programme 2023-24 Projects
after birth: Towards a short film on maternal mental health
The 2021 play after birth was the product of a collaboration between researchers in the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, Oxford playwright Zena Forster and charity Action on Postpartum Psychosis. A performance of the play, and post-show discussion with clinicians/academics, and midwifery/medical students, was supported by the Sheila Kitzinger Programme in 2022.
Evaluation of the play was overwhelmingly positive with the public, health professionals, women with lived experience and researchers. The project was also ‘highly commended’ at the University of Oxford’s Vice-Chancellor’s Innovation and Engagement Awards 2022 as ‘deeply compassionate, innovative, interdisciplinary collaboration and co-production’.
Sheila’s work ranged over many issues touching under-served groups, such as those with mental health problems, and highlighted the complex interplay of physical, psychological and social wellbeing. This is also reflected in the growing research literature exploring the benefits of the use of storytelling and film in educational contexts, to decrease stigma, resulting in increased empathy.
The play on stage. Photo by @camharlephoto
The support of the Sheila Kitzinger Programmed helped start the next phase of work to extend the reach of the play’s key messages. Jo Elliott (a BAFTA winning filmmaker) joined the team to develop a short film based on the play. The programme funded a face-to-face, multi-disciplinary workshop to support the development of this short film and also to explore how we can use the film as an educational intervention for health professionals to promote perinatal mental health.
Zena and Jo have developed a draft screenplay for the film and, with the help of this Sheila Kitzinger Programme award, are developing a short ‘taster’ film to help move the project forward.
Ultimately, the aim of the play, and now the film, is to raise awareness, increase empathy and reduce stigma around perinatal mental health, and ultimately improve care and outcomes for women and their families. This builds on Sheila’s approach and legacy.
From left to right: Zena Forster (playwright), Louise Richardson (then-University of Oxford Vice-Chancellor), Rachel Rowe, Fiona Alderdice, Sophia Wilkinson (NDPH PPIE lead)
Motherhood during Covid: A play with Q&A panel
With funding from the Sheila Kitzinger Programme, Dr Antonia Mackay (Oxford Brookes) led production, in collaboration with Associate Producer Amelia Thornber (The Old Vic Theatre), Amy Enticknap (co-founder of Human Story Theatre), Jennifer Kirman (PLSE Oxford School of Nursing and Midwifery) and Dr Eleanor Lowe (PL English Literature, Drama and Creative Writing), of an original drama exploring the impact of the pandemic on first-time mothers and their experiences of maternal healthcare at the North Wall Theatre: Three M’Others.
Written by Dr Mackay as part of her research into the impact the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent digitisation of maternal healthcare, the play brought to life pilot data which concluded that the measures introduced during two UK lockdowns negatively impacted women’s mental health.
On Friday 31st May 2024 Three M’others showed its last performance at the North Wall Arts Centre, Summertown. Offering a glimpse into the real, lived experiences of women as they embarked on their own maternal journeys in the face of a global pandemic, Three M’others concluded its two day run at the theatre to a packed auditorium, with an audience including the public, midwifery students, Brookes Drama students, the Green Templeton community and interested academics.
Following the final performance on Friday, Dr Mackay hosted a Q&A panel featuring experts from medicine, midwifery, health visiting, nursery nursing, psychiatry and Sociology who offered to further contextualise the devastating effects COVID-19 had on women’s maternal healthcare. The play and panel left a lasting impression on its audience, highlighting social, cultural and economic issues that have remained relatively invisible – until now. This play, it is hoped, offers the first step to achieving positive digital change for new mothers in a post-pandemic world.
Poster for the play ‘Three M’Others’ at the North Wall Theatre in May 2024
