Here I am, at Hampton Hill Theatre watching an amateur theatre production of ‘The Madness of George III’ gazing at actor Mandy, aged 70 who has been in theatre since the age of 7. Her costume is elaborate with vibrant colours of blue and red, with gold lace rimming her jacket. Her character (Papandiek) is stood still, posed, almost stern looking in their demeanour. The onstage lights are bright yet the auditorium is dark, still and in suspense of the plot. I take a trip to Mandy’s house, her mannerisms completely different to the role she was playing on stage, she’s smiley, opened armed and excited to be talking about her love for the arts. So why has Mandy embedded herself in the theatre for 63 years?

She talks about a music performance group she started with 9 other friends at the time – London Pride Music Hall which fundraised for big charities. “All of our kids grew up together and now their children are friends – they are absolute family”.

She looks back at her varied acting experiences but mostly dwells on how she met both her late husband and current partner through amateur dramatics. She sips on her brew as she reminisces of past shows – sometimes doing four in a year and tells me about the variety of friends she has… “I have the most exciting raft of friends going from 16 right through to 90 odd, these people are special to me and are my friends, it’s so exciting doing theatre with youngsters there and it keeps me young in thought if not in body”

In the midst of covid, Teddington Theatre Club set up zoom calls where plays were read aloud; this sense of community “really lowered the angst”. She followed on to speak about how through her hardest times, when life was tough the theatre was her “saviour”.

Josh, 28, an amateur dramatics director shares the same sense of community as Mandy and all of his social life surrounds the arts. As Josh sits and talks to me about his role as a director for Youth shows, he seems outgoing, though he assures me that this confidence only came through acting. Later he became a director of the Youth group he first began with (YAT – Youth Action Theatre). He describes amateur dramatics as his “lifesaver”, as he was a shy young person struggling with his introverted ways. Now working in a prestigious arts venue – The Southbank Centre, Josh believes that his career would not have taken this path without the experience and fun he’d had doing amateur dramatics. “I wouldn’t be the man I was today without joining YAT in 2013” he says.

So why are the arts important to so many of us?

Genene Grubb, play therapist tells me how play – something associated with childhood is fundamental to our lives even in adulthood for our well-being and general experience. She works for The Purple Elephant Project – a charity organisation that supports children and families through play therapy. I ask her what is creativity and how it can help us: “Creativity is a direct link to something internal” she says “using our brains creatively we are working on a subconscious level – where our memories feelings and triggers come to the surface. Through art we are giving movement to our feelings”.

This is certainly the experience that James, a 29 year old artist, has described when engaging with the arts. He says music is his passion, poetry is his outlet and painting is “pure therapy”. James is living with psychosis and his care-coordinator helped him to find avenues to express himself. He has released a book ‘4 STEPS FROM THE WIRE‘ a “collage of different poetic techniques mashed together”. The book is beautiful, filled with street art styled artwork with heartfelt words of poetic genius. James says that the curation of this book “got me through a very difficult time” and subsequently was published and is part of a collection in The National Poetry Library. James describes how he has “taken mindfulness into the practice of painting” as his newest art form. Art for him is a way of resolving or fixing something and giving back through creation in the hope to reach someone who can relate or feel something from his work.

When we think of the arts we cast our mind to how we love a night out at the theatre, listening to music on a train journey and the pleasures of art galleries. Beyond this, the practise of art has an immense effect on people’s lives and has been a ‘lifesaver” to so many.