Up for the challenge posed to them more than a decade ago, Birmingham based STAN’S CAFE have this year managed to somehow bring to life what can only be described as the world’s most famous self-help manual – THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY.

Dealing with the depressive and debilitating condition brought on by variants of Melancholy, clergyman Robert Burton’s 17th century, 1500 page tomb, contains within it centuries worth of inscrutable knowledge and bizarre treatments.

Yet when you look beyond the encyclopaedic insight into arcane medical history, the book is in fact quote extraordinary. Described by Samuel Johnson as the only book ‘that ever took him out of bed two hours sooner than he wished to rise.’ it is often refereed to as the greatest book ever written.

Stan’s Cafe (pronounced Caff) theatrical interpretation has managed to find both the hilarity and the relevance from the vast written work, and created something that provides a truly fascinating and entertaining evening at the theatre. This is a piece of of Stan’s Cafe repertoire which highlights why the West Midlands is blessed to have been able to retain this remarkably innovative and collaborative theatre company.

Stan’s Cafe and the West Midlands

After all, they could well have decided to set up shop in London or anywhere in the South, as that is where the Stan’s Cafe (pronounced Caff) concept was born. Co-founders Graeme Rose and James Yarker were sat in the actually named Stan’s Cafe, near Brick Lane, London, when they decided to form the bond which began the companies almost 25 years of creating wildly offbeat and avant garde productions.

Originally deciding setting up shop at Birmingham’s famed Custard Factory – mainly because it was an ideal base to tour from and had less saturation of theatre arts based companies in the early nineties. The outfit are now based at the @ A E Harris venue in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter.

Under the artistic direction of James Yarker, Stan’s Cafe continues to be a tour-de-force in collaborative production work, bringing together practitioners and associate artists from a massive base of disciplines including music, design and film as well as theatre. Their tours take them across the UK and the world.

Where to see Stan’s Cafe

THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY can next be seen in the West Midlands at the Birmingham Rep studio 7 – 9 November 2013

After that it’s 16 November: Theatre in the Mill, Bradford, 19th & 20th November: Live at LICA, Lancaster, 21st November: Lincoln Performing Arts Centre with a final chance, for the time being at least, to enjoy this wonderful experience on 26th – 30th November at the Ovalhouse, London

You can also find out much more about Stan’s Cafe future projects at their website, along with a wonderful archive of past works and essays

Photography: Graeme Braidwood

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