Richard Boggie's logo, the 'o' in Boggie is the head of a person holding a white cane

Featured Project

You Need to Calm Down

The words "you need to calm down" are graffitied in brown, alongside a a smiley face. The paint is running down in drips.

My second full-length stage play shines a light on the use of restrictive practices in our mental health system, and their damaging impact. After many years of damning CQC reports and Panorama revelations  about the mistreatment and abuse of Autistic people and people with a learning disability, I decided that my own contribution to creating change would be through the power of storytelling.

You Need To Calm Down tells the story of Becki, a young Autistic woman, fighting to escape a system that is supposed to help her, but due to a lack of compassion and human kindness, and the use of isolation and segregation, Becki is desperate to get away. She flees to her best friend, Rachel, but Rachel is conflicted about how to help her friend.

Becki and Rachel are fictional, but the story is based on the very real experiences of Autistic people that I spoke to in my research for the play. Their experiences of being locked away, dehumanised and treated like an animal are woven into this story.

Project Development

I shared an early draft of the script with Alexis Quinn, a leading academic in this field and Manager of the Restraint Reduction Network (RRN). The RRN has endorsed the play, saying:

“The play foregrounds the lived experience of solitary confinement, highlighting the fear and trauma caused by enforced isolation. Richard sensitively demonstrates the narrative of care and safety surrounding the practice as well the desire of services, families and friends, to support those who are in distress. This narrative is contrasted with peoples lived reality of the practice, which is one of fear, isolation, trauma and even torturous abuse. Richard skilfully ensures peoples rarely heard lived reality is expounded with a depth of truth rarely told.”


We shared some extracts from the play, as a rehearsed reading,  at the RRN national conference in Newcastle in November 2024, and you can see a few edited highlights in this short video: https://youtu.be/9ZfeJF24_Pg
Credits: Katherine Newman (Director), Rhian Jade (Becki), Meena Al-Nawrasy (Rachel)

The award-winning Alphabetti Theatre are partnering with me for a production, hopefully in the summer of 2026, but we are, of course, relying on funding from the Arts Council. We should hear about this by the end of February.

Crowdfunder campaign raised an amazing £1,500 last year, which will help to ensure we can add lots of access features including Audio Description, BSL and captions.

If you would like to know more about You Need To Calm Down, or are interested in partnering, sponsoring or funding this important project, then please do get in touch.