Performing Anxiety - the Making of Tero Buru

When Beldina Odenyo, aka Heir of the Cursed, died in November 2021 she left behind an unstaged play, Tero Buru, named after a funeral ritual practised by the Luo people of East Africa.

Beldina’s sister Leah McAleer has been working with some of Beldina's friends and collaborators to stage the play in a spectacular production by Disaster Plan in association with the National Theatre of Scotland. Here, members of the production team and Artist Wellbeing Company Practitioner Emma Hagen discuss the importance of safeguarding the mental health of everyone involved. Chaired by Andrew Eaton-Lewis, who recently led on the creation of Performing Anxiety, a new Mental Health Foundation resource for artists making creative work about mental health.

This event is part of the Now You See Us programme, a two-day showcase of new artist commissions, creative workshops, film screenings and vital discussions responding to this year’s Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival theme, In/Visible.