May you never feel the same about mental illness again -- : community theatre's contribution towards deinstitutionalising and destigmatising people with mental health problems : a case study: Lillian

This thesis investigates the field of arts-in-health in Australia by using Lillian 2000 as its primary case study. 'Arts-in-health' is a term coined by Sally Clifford in her Masters thesis (1997, p.3) to define participation-based community arts projects in healthcare settings. This research seeks to develop Clifford's work by analysing an arts-in-health project's impact on the community and its participants. Lillian is a rock musical written by Michael Bishop in collaboration with mental health patients at the Launceston Hospital in Tasmania in 1989. Over the past eleven years Lillian has been performed several times by a variety of people ranging from mental health workers and patients/clients, to community theatre groups and high school students. As a community theatre project, the musical aims to overcome public fears and destigmatise mental illness by raising community awareness and understanding about mental health issues. Issues addressed in this research include: the benefits of arts-in-health projects in healthcare settings; the need to combat negative stereotypes of mentally ill people proliferated by the media; a community theatre project's capacity to effect social change; and the discursive and ideological developments within mental healthcare - moving away from therapy to health promotion