To be or not to be: Shakespeare, mental health and me

Mark Lockyer first came across Shakespeare as a schoolboy, the play was Twelfth Night and he was reading Malvolio, a part he would go on to play professionally. Mark was a rebellious teen and acting became his escape, a place to free his imagination. Aged 17 he got a place at a top drama school, and was soon recognised as one of the best actors of his generation in Britain.

But things went dramatically wrong. This promising actor, much admired for his mastery of Shakespeare, had an undiagnosed bipolar disorder and in a moment of crisis in the 1990s he made a catastrophic decision that led to a serious crime and him contemplating suicide. It was as he was facing a prison sentence that Mark was finally diagnosed. It took him five years to be well enough to get back on stage.

Years later he wrote a play about his mental health breakdown that he took on tour around the UK. And he went on to perform a unique production of Hamlet in which he played all the parts himself. Mark now spends much of his time taking Shakespeare into prisons and mental health institutions with remarkable results.

Extracts from As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Living with the Lights On, Hamlet and The Tempest peformed by Mark Lockyer.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen

Producer: Andrea Kennedy

This interview contains reference to suicide. If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, you could speak to a health professional, or an organisation that offers support. Details of help available in many countries can be found at Befrienders Worldwide. www.befrienders.org

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(Photo: Mark Lockyer. Credit: Michael Carlo Photography)