Friends of East End’s Loonies challenge ‘expert view’ at mini-festival

Beware a wacky festival coming to London’s East End next month—the artists and performers include Friends of the East End Loonies who are challenging who we think of as “experts” in mental health.

The Expert View micro-festival is a two-day extravaganza with cabaret, thought-provoking performances, visual art and a specialist symposium exploring ‘expertise’ in arts and mental health.

Society loves an “expert”, but festival organisers are asking who really has that expertise, health professionals or those who have experienced mental issues themselves.

The mini-fest opens May 7 with This Room, a performance at 7.30pm at Queen Mary University’s film and drama studio in Mile End. It stars Laura Dean as an intimate using her experience of Obsessive Compulsive disorder and her treatment for it.

The following day, May 8, Selina Thompson invites visitors in Stilton Mash to enter her ‘church’ and let her absolve them of their “food sins”, 10.30am to 4pm.

The Expert View symposium is staged the same day at the Bromley-by-Bow centre with discussions, debates and performances by artists, academics, activists and practitioners.

The festival closes with a cabaret at the iconic Kingsley Hall, Bromley-by-Bow, with Bobby Baker and singer-songwriter Dylan Tighe, plus contributions from ‘Friends of East End Loonies’.