Mind The Gap
Trailer from the 2011 Film of mind the gap by Abi Bown
Three disparate people find themselves stranded on a deserted platform of an underground station.
Vijay - caught in an eternal moment of remembering a crime he'd sooner forget.
Maya - slowly descending into a world of chaos, her memory crumbling away, piece by jigsaw piece.
Dino - whose fractured psyche is soothed only by the drugs he takes and thoughts of escape.
They are ministered to by Silas, the lone kiosk attendant, self styled healer and purveyor of Kit Kats and crisps. Together on platform 2B these four minds are compelled to confront the devastating nature of Alzheimer's disease, the agony that is post traumatic stress and just what it is that could drive someone to kill at random...
• Does the brain defines our sense of identity?
• What if we could treat Alzheimer's in the early stages?
• Is growing old a disease?
• What if we choose to selectively forget?
• What if we could treat addiction at its origin in the brain?
• What if we could predict through brain imaging?
Would we? Should we?
Mind the Gap
Mind the Gap by Abi Bown was originally developed in partnership with the European DANA Alliance for the Brain supported by the Wellcome Trust and Central YMCA. Y Touring has produced three productions of Mind the Gap to date and this year a live performance as filmed and pilot screening were held in 8 Picture house cinemas throughout the UK.The play provides a starting point for learning about the importance of brain research for the enrichment of human life and for the understanding of diseases and disorders of the nervous system. The secondary aim is to challenge the stigma of mental and neurological illnesses. Both the screenings and the live performances were followed by facilitated debates which created a space for the audiences to explore what they thought and felt about the issues posed by the drama.
Experts both contributed to the development of the production and to the live debates in cinemas. Here are links to some short films made by some of the Experts and the playwright Abi Bown talking about the issues that the play raises.
Dr Illina Singh
Reader in Bioethics and Society, London School of Economics and Political Science
Dr David Dexter
Reader in NeuroPharmacology,Dept of Medicine, Imperial College
Prof Steven Rose
Prof Richard Ashcroft
MA (Cantab) PhD (Cantab) FHEA, FIBiol Professor of Bioethics
Abi Bown
Playwright
