You Only Notice Us at the Extremes

Where Words Fail, the Body Keeps Moving
A love letter to those trying to survive the nights nobody else sees.

Hello, and thank you so much for taking the time to read about our work.

We are the team behind July 15th to…, a one-woman physical theatre performance about bipolar disorder, emotional survival, and the fragile, ongoing search for healing.

This piece is incredibly close to my heart.

I’m Stephanie, a theatre producer originally from China, and this work grew from deeply personal reflections on mental health, instability, loneliness, and the exhausting experience of trying to continue living, working, loving, and creating while carrying invisible struggles inside yourself.

Over time, I kept thinking about how difficult it still is for many people to access support around mental health, especially bipolar disorder. Even now, there remains such a painful gap between how bipolar disorder is truly lived and how it is often seen by society. So much of the experience exists in silence — hidden behind labels, fear, misunderstanding, shame, or the pressure to appear “fine.”

I didn’t want to create something clinical.

I wanted to create something human.

Something that could be felt emotionally and physically — not just understood intellectually from a distance.

Through physical theatre, movement, music, and fragmented memories, the show follows Ella, an artist trying to hold herself together inside a mind that never fully stays still.

Euphoric. Restless. Brilliant. Exhausted. Empty.

Some nights Ella creates obsessively through the dark, unable to slow the noise inside her head. Other days, even getting out of bed feels impossible. Time fractures around her. Memories return without warning. Fear quietly slips into ordinary moments. And still, her body keeps moving — searching for balance, release, tenderness, and something steady enough to hold onto.

When words begin to fail, the body becomes the storyteller.

At its core, this piece is a love letter.

A love letter to people lying awake at 3am trying to survive their own minds.
To people who feel too much, too fast, or not at all.
To people who have lost control and are terrified of being seen differently because of it.
To people trying to keep functioning while quietly falling apart inside.
And also to the friends, partners, families, and loved ones who stay beside them, often without fully knowing how to help, but still choosing to stay.

This project is created by a female-led ESEA (East and Southeast Asian) creative team who care deeply about making emotionally truthful and socially engaged work. As immigrant and emerging artists in the UK, we understand how difficult it can sometimes feel to continue creating meaningful art while navigating instability ourselves. But we still believe deeply in the power of theatre to create empathy, connection, and conversations that are often left unspoken.

We first shared the piece at Camden Fringe, where audiences responded in ways that genuinely moved us. Some people stayed behind afterwards to talk about their own experiences with mental health, grief, medication, fear, burnout, survival, and loneliness. Others simply said:

“I felt seen.”
Those conversations reminded us exactly why this work matters.

Now, we are bringing July 15th to… to Edinburgh Fringe 2026 at theSpace @ Niddry Street.

For us, this piece is about more than theatre.

It is about visibility.
It is about care.
It is about making space for conversations that are often hidden behind silence.
And it is about reminding people — even briefly — that they are not alone.

If this story resonates with you, we would be so grateful for your support — whether that means coming to the show, sharing the project with others, or supporting our crowdfunding campaign below.

Edinburgh Fringe Ticket Page:

https://www.thespaceuk.com/shows/2026/july-15th-to

Social Media link:

https://www.instagram.com/july15_to_?igsh=aHpzZ21wN201Z3p5&utm_source=qr

Thank you again for reading our story.

We truly hope this work can offer even a small moment of recognition, comfort, or connection to someone who may need it.