Nell Hardy & R.A.T presents: NoMad

Nell Hardy’s debut solo show based on her own experiences of homelessness and mental health hospitalisation in a poetic, dizzying journey through the dissociated mind of one woman our society left behind.

With devastating authenticity, disarming humour and, ultimately, hope, the show demands the question: who gets to decide what madness is in a society that treats people like this? Showcased through streaming in 2020, this production is a “screamingly raw portrayal….it will change you.” (A Younger Theatre)

Trigger Warnings

Strong language, references to homelessness, rough sleeping, domestic abuse, dissociation, restrictive eating/drinking, and attempted suicide.

About Nell Hardy

Nell is an ex-homeless actor, writer, theatre-maker and facilitator living, laughing and loving with complex trauma. She started her career from an emergency hostel seven years ago, and if anything has gotten even less sensible since then. This is the inaugural project for her company, Response Ability Theatre (R.A.T.), which represents and supports people whose lives have been derailed by trauma: telling their stories on professional stages in collaboration with them, engaging audiences’ social awareness in visceral but compassionate ways, and working directly with survivors and their service providers to find creative routes to their renewed self-respect, ambition and hope.

Reviews

“heartrending and thought-provoking … carefully dramaturged, well-composed, compellingly performed work by an original and promising voice in British theatre.” – Teunkie Van Der Sluijs, Creative Associate at the Young Vic

“Hardy’s heartbreakingly honest portrayal radiates truth … shatters our perceptions of homelessness and shows us how incorrect we truly are … listen to the story she speaks – it will change you.” – A Younger Theatre 

“I’ve been a fan of Nell Hardy for some time … achieves something of the sublime … made me positively itch to get back into a theatre” – London City Nights

Creative team

Written & Performed by Nell Hardy
Director: Sandra Preciado
Designer: Constance Villemot
Composer & Sound Designer: Alice Boyd
Lighting Designer: Ben Jacobs
Stage Manager: Maria Petitti
Creative Access & Wellbeing Facilitator: Aisling Gallagher
R&D Director: Vicky Moran
R&D Design: Anna Reid

Workshop series

Nell will also be leading two workshops as part of Mindful Mess Festival:

Saturday 20 November – NoMad: Duty of Hope Workshop – A workshop for providers of mental health and homelessness services.

Sunday 21 November – NoMad: Inside Us Workshop – A free workshop for current or previous users of mental health and homelessness services