Performances

Ink Theater: Teenage mental health

October 2026 - Years 8 & 9

Synopsis 

Fifteen-year-old Jake Preston is a boy who seems to have it all. He’s a gifted footballer who excels at school. He has good mates, a happy home life and a new girlfriend Casey. It seems that nothing could possibly go wrong but less than a year later Jake is seriously considering taking his own life. A crushing disappointment triggers the start of the gradual deterioration of Jake’s mental health. He can’t sleep. He loses confidence. He withdraws from company, ends relationships and underachieves at school. And then, as people notice that Jake is changing, the bullying starts; first at school and then more insidiously on line. Jake is now rapidly descending into a dark place where he believes the world would be better off without him. In his head Jake hears a boy beating a drum and coming closer every day. Jake believes that ‘when the drummer boy finally gets here then that will be the end of everything…the end of me.’ Jake rejects help and support from his worried mother, his friends and teachers. It is only Casey who can reach him. She is able to reach into his dark world because unknown to Jake she’d been there herself. Hearing Casey’s story helps Jake to break out from his cycle of despair, make the first tentative step towards safety and keep that drummer boy far off in the distance. The Drummer Boy is a story which explores circumstances that can lead young people to consider taking their own lives but it’s also a story of hope, resilience and recovery. Rob John. April 2025. 

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November 2026 - Years 7 & 8

St George's Theater - Crossing the line