Schizophrenia experienced first hand

Richard Jameson's new play 'Is It A Crime To Be Happy?' is part of the Mad Pride Festival. I was at university with Richard in the Sixties, and we were friends. He was a Magdalene scholar and a brilliant actor. I was at Somerville College and also acting in quite a lot of reviews, so we went on tours together. I was with him the summer that his illness overtook him and remember it very clearly.

Richard is brilliant, extraordinarily courageous and also very talented. He's had an independent life, living in the community despite the fact that he has schizophrenia. He comes to my talk show quite frequently and usually asks the best questions. I've heard him as a broadcaster too, and he has all the right qualities.

Is It A Crime To Be Happy? has only been performed once before as a director's reading, when Sam West was in the cast. I wasn't able to see it that time, but Richard has told me a little about it. He says it is largely autobiographical, following the story of a man working in an advertising agency who succumbs to what Richard calls hypomania. But I gather the story ends positively, as indeed his own has.

One day they will find a cure for schizophrenia. I wish that somebody had been able to in Richard's time. But given that he had to have this illness, he's used it an extraordinarily positive way. He comments not only on mental-health issues, but when he does tackle those issues, I find the strength of his work comes from the fact that he has been there, done that and experienced it first hand.

Is It A Crime To Be Happy?, Tue 11-Sun 23 Jul, Tue-Fri, 1pm, Sat & Sun 12.30pm, King's Head Theatre, 115 Upper Street, N1 (020-7226 1916). Mad Pride Festival runs from Sat 8-Sat 15 Jul starting with a sunset vigil at Suicide Bridge, Archway. It finishes with the Mad Pride Festival at Clissold Park, N16. For more info ring 0958 907 357. Or visit www.madpride.net