Northern Rascals Bring Sunny Side Back to the Stage

Following their tour in 2025, Yorkshire-based dance-theatre company Northern Rascals return  for their final tour ofSunny Side, tackling the UK’s male mental health crisis head on. At the  heart of the company’s ethos is understanding and sharing the everyday realities of struggling  with mental health with audiences through raw storytelling that merges contemporary dance,  theatre and spoken word. Sparking essential conversations on adolescent wellbeing, the  company continues its partnership with men’s suicide prevention charity ANDYSMANCLUB. The  aim is to amplify a message shaped by the voices of over 1,500 young people from across the  UK, connecting with new audiences in Stockton, Bradford, Rotherham, Scarborough and Leeds  this year. 

A visual metaphor that holistically explores men’s mental health,Sunny Sidereturns amidst a  rising mental health struggle in the North of England. Lead character K struggles with his sense of self in an unhappy home and feeling left behind as friends go to university – leaving the 18- year-old feeling trapped in his small and uneventful Yorkshire village. K tries to fight the  monotony of everyday life by travelling through the past, present and future. The show’s return  is reflective of the prevailing issues surrounding mental health, choosing dance to express this  message that is too commonly repressed.

Sunny Sidelooks to provide, at its core, a social commentary on young men who lack emotional  support in a world that does not always make space for them within the archetypal model of  masculinity.The cast delivers this message with remarkable emotional openness under the  acting coach Geoffrey Colman. The production’s set design by Caitlin Mawhinney perfectly  reflects K’s mental state and captures the emotional weight that continues to stay with you  from childhood. 

Co-Artistic Directors Anna Holmes and Sam Ford comment,The world has shifted again and  again and again in the 6 months since we left Sunny Side, but one thing that still remains,  perhaps even more than before, is our need for compassion and connection. Sunny Side has  always provided that space, a place where the very private stories of our internal world can be  placed on a platform, held and bear witness too. A moment to see beyond the person that we  show to the world and through to the root of who we really are. The show will always hold a  special place in our hearts here at Northern Rascals, it’s a story born from our hometown, from  the valleys, the grit, the North. And we can’t think of a better ending for the show than to take it  back out on the road, to Northern audiences in Northern venues, for one last time. 

Working in partnership with ANDYSMANCLUB, this return tour responds to the current socio political climate, as 74% of all suicides in the UK involve men –Sunny Sideoffers a timely and  necessary platform for dialogue, understanding and community support. Northern Rascals  developed this dynamic narrative through in-depth outreach to 1,500 young people across the  UK, working collaboratively in studios, schools, and digital spaces. The show is testament to the  company’s commitment to creating socially impactful work grounded in real stories.

Main Image: Courtesy of Northern Rascals

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