Having finished up a 5-year stint presenting in the pressure cooker that is a breakfast show on National Radio, Keith Walsh decided to take a step back, to try and figure out what was going on in his head and around him. He started writing about his experiences, first as a form of describing his new reality and then with the aim of turning his writing into something – maybe a book, maybe a script. Gradually, a rough draft of a script emerged and was then developed and rehearsed in a collaborative process guided by a professional theatre director Janet Moran, with the support of Riverbank Arts Centre and Kildare Arts Service.

What is Pure Mental about?

Keith started to go to therapy, he wanted to put a label on the way he was feeling. What was it? Midlife Crisis? Midlife awakening? Breakdown? Well his family thought he was going mad. What he did do was go on a journey to find and chat to his demons and to find the real person underneath the fuzzy mess of stress. What happened in his childhood that made him unable to access the emotions he needed to tackle life in his 40s? Specific in that Keith is wrestling his own demons, Pure Mental also has an everyman quality and relevance, exploring the pressures and societal expectations of the 40-something Irish male.To further develop the script and rehearse the production so that it is ready for dissemination Keith and Janet have planned a further three weeks of R&D time in the venue. This phase will take place in November.

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