Ruby Wax entered the stage in pink pyjamas, with a setting of a white office chair, table and laptop. A simple yet clinical layout for her Garden of Unearthly Delights show Ruby Wax – I’m Not As Well As I Thought I Was. Wax has been open and frank over the years of her mental health struggles having written books and even receiving in 2015 an OBE for her advocacy in mental health. This play is about her autobiographical journey dealing with her ‘trauma’.

Wax told us she wrote, auditioned, and even slept with herself to get the lead to this one woman show and she was perfect for the role. Explaining that by talking about mental health issues it helps stop the stigma, Wax’s honest and direct storytelling was refreshing. As she told us, using humour to tell her journey of childhood trauma helped make her feel visible in her otherwise invisible family life. Her parents verbal grenades shaped the impressionable young Wax and spearheaded a lifetime of buried mental health struggles until they came to the surface.

The story of trying to find meaning in her adventures of attending a thirty say silent retreat, swimming with whales and a Christian monastery was raw, funny and at times dark. Wax has a charming way of storytelling and while during this particular nights show an audience member needed medical attention and there was a ten minute pause, she came out of character for a brief moment and showed her caring compassionate side. Very poignant as that is exactly what we need more of in a world where this is very much needed.