Stepping Out Theatre - The UK’s Leading Mental Health Theatre Group

Founded inside a Bristol psychiatric hospital on All Fools' Day 1997, we celebrated our Silver Anniversary in 2022, and are still going strong. Stepping Out Theatre occupy a unique place in the UK's history of theatre and mental health. It has produced a huge range of work on mental health themes and is open to people who have used mental health services and their allies.

In nearly three decades of producing live theatre, we have produced well over 100 live theatre shows, ranging from large scale community theatre productions with dozens of service users involved to small scale touring professional fringe productions, and from full scale musical theatre to shows rehearsed and performed entirely online during Covid lockdowns.

To mark our silver anniversary, we made our third, and most ambitious trip yet to the greatest theatre festival in the world. In August 2022, a dedicated 24 strong team of Stepping Out Artists and Ambassadors took no fewer than SIX productions to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Six months of planning and preparation, with previews in London, Clevedon and Bristol led up to 48 performances of our six shows in just 9 days in Edinburgh over the first two weeks of the Fringe Festival.

Postponed twice because of Covid, in 2023 we took two productions of new work by Ukrainian playwrights to the international 'Water is Memory' Festival in Vichy, where we performed inside an Art Deco World Heritage listed 1920s theatre. Our Ukrainian work continued in 2025 with the world premiere of 'Diary of a Ukrainian Madman' by Liudmyla Tymoshenko.

Here's to the next 30 years!

Mark Rylance, Patron

"The work Stepping Out Theatre is doing should be supported by all interested in a society that is healthy. Stepping Out understands and does not shy away from the possibility that theatre, the ancient art of these islands North West of Europe, is a transformative and healing activity which brings joy into people's lives. If you want to hear something true, go and hear what Stepping Out Theatre are saying. I only found myself in theatre, and I hear that Stepping Out is helping other people do the same. I have great hopes for this company and deep respect for what they are doing right now."

Most Recent Show

Crisis

A script-in-hand performance by LiSah Stuart

Running Time : 1 hour

When a couple married for more than 60 years have to deal with a mental health crisis, they come up against a system that doesn't seem to work or care.

Moving, politically angry, and sometimes playing out like a crime drama, this is ultimately a tale of enduring love.

[more details . . ]

16 Aug 2025
Subud Hall, 29 Wesley Place, Bristol, BS8 2YD

Latest News

Glastonbury to Bristol in Support of Stepping Out
Oct 2025

Jonny and Ann Tooze (sister of Project Co Ordinator Mark Breckon) are generously giving up their time and lots of energy to walk/run between Glastonbury and Bristol on Saturday 18th October, raising donations to support Stepping Out Theatre. This route on country roads is 26.7 miles which they’ll do all in one day!

This has been a tough couple of years for funding and donations for events like this really help us to continue our work.

Please donate if you can:
https://gofund.me/4dd36fbd6

Thank you, Ann and Jonny!

Halloween Writing Project
Sep 2025

We're running a Halloween themed project over the next couple of months. This began with a very enjoyable drama and improv workshop at the end of August and we’re now running writing workshops leading to a script reading of group members' short Halloween pieces at the end of October.

We hope this will be the first stage towards a production on these themes (not necessarily at Halloween) in 2026, if funding allows.

If you'd like to join any of our workshops, please contact mark@steppingouttheatre.co.uk.

[news archive . . .]