Give Me Your Love

Based on real-life testimonies and groundbreaking medical research, Give Me Your Love is funny, fragile and profound – it is an investigation into the effects of combat stress.

Give Me Your Love tells the story of Zack, a war veteran who finds himself under a barrage of hostile fire where his enemies are cunning, using every trick in the book to mess with his mind.

The landscape is weird – it’s a cardboard box, in Zack’s kitchen and his wife whispers, kindly, that it’s safe to come out. But is it a trap? If the real enemy is Zack, then who will win if he loses?

Glimpsing only the performers body parts, audiences are confronted by two characters that have parachuted into their own fractures pasts wavering between dreamboat heroism and woozy enlightenment while engaging in disorderly conversation about patriotism, trauma and supermarket shopping.

Founded by the robust double act David Woods and Jon Haynes, multi-award winning Ridiculusmus brings complex mental health issues to the stage in a way that is both warm and accessible.

During the development of Give Me Your Love, Ridiculusmus worked with American-based doctors and war veterans who shared their experiences of a therapy using MDMA (‘ecstasy’) to assist in the reprocessing of trauma in cases of treatment –resistant PTSD.

Ridiculusmus also collaborated with Steve McDonald, an Australian-based war veteran whose organisation, PRISM, is lobbying for MDMA trials in Australia.

The aim of Give Me Your Love is to absorb, entertain and enlighten audiences about innovative forms of therapy using altered states of consciousness.

Woods and Haynes hope Give Me Your Love will play a part in de-stigmatising mental illness and ensuring that more controversial therapies gain recognition and approval from health organisations worldwide – so that people can lead better lives.

Written, Directed & Performed by David Woods and Jon Haynes