ABSTRACT
MeHelp was an interdisciplinary research project that brought together UK and Indian academic and health service delivery organisations to use theatre and storytelling as a method for increasing levels of mental health literacy in Kerala. This chapter is on the work conducted by the theatre and storytelling team and how their work interacted with, drew upon and influenced the work of the other project partners. It focuses on how both the language and the communicative demands of theatre allowed this work to become an integral research tool that re-animated health settings in new ways rather than simply being used as a dissemination tool. This is key in understanding the purpose and function of theatre within wider health contexts, as the emerging field of health humanities develops its theoretical base. Over two separate performance events, the role of theatre and storytelling evolved from public mental health awareness and science communication to contribute instead to research processes into mental health literacy. It thus refashioned the process as co-research, asking questions about how theatre and storytelling might challenge assumptions about how narrative could work in mental health-related research.
