2020 was a really strange year for Enter Edem, as predominantly an outdoor arts theatre company, they found that many of the performers have really struggled not to be out in the public, given their desire to be up close and interacting!

U.matter has supported many different Enter Edem projects over the years, including one of their most popular educational comedy shows, ‘The Time Travel Treatment Room.’ During lockdown, U.matter  commissioned the show again, but this time as an online experience so they can still reach out even from their studio.

As a collective of freelance artists, Enter Edem are passionate advocates of good mental health and wellbeing, wanting to brighten up  audience members’ day through storytelling. ‘The Time Travel Treatment Room’ offers this by taking the audience back into the peculiar past to enter the Victorian Era where you meet Doctor Bartholomew Henry Mithenthorpe, Matron Helen Earth and their patient Wilbern, for a comedic exploration of the historical diagnosis and treatments for Mental Health. The aim was to astound viewers with the practices of yesteryear, as the Doctor humorously educated you on his “genius” work within the Asylum and “forward thinking” strategies. Aiming to show that mental health care has come quite far in a crazy history lesson with a twist, ‘The Time Travel Treatment Room’ is fun for all the family.

As the production has such a small cast and it has toured as a vintage Victorian Mental Health presentation, the show was perfect to adapt to a digital version, with some added fun through ‘Treatment Titbits’, which replaced the waiting room interaction you would have while entering and exiting the live ‘Time Travel’ tent. In the ‘Treatment Titbits’ online apothecary you can learn about various therapies and still have a go at performing a Lobotomy or take the Doctors quite ridiculous Personality test.

Now the show and interactive page is available for free online, with the hope to bring some needed smiles and comic relief during lockdown.