• UCB charged us with creating a stand-out meeting centrepiece for professional meetings in the pre-launch phase for Equasym XL. The aim was to encourage secondary care consultants to re-assess their prescribing choices to coincide with the entrance of this new brand into the marketplace. Equasym XL is a unique treatment for ADHD, by nature of its eight hour duration of action, a period of time that coincides with the school day. The activity therefore needed to communicate that both parents and children living with ADHD may view school as the most challenging environment for them, and the one that they most need to have control of their symptoms for.
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  • Our centrepiece needed to ‘emotionalise’ the condition for secondary care consultants by bringing into focus some of the more difficult experiences that children living with ADHD face at school, and demonstrate how this affects their life in general and that of those people around them.
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  • Stage Right was the chosen mechanism. For research, a series of focus groups was used to gather insights into the challenges faced by children with ADHD at school and their parents.
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  • A narrative framework was built around the character of a twelve year old boy with ADHD, and the family and school community around him. An experienced playwright and director worked on the script and staging for the play ‘Could do better, must try harder’.
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  • The premiere performance of ‘Could do’ took place at a pre-launch educational meeting for child and adolescent psychiatrists and paediatricians. Subsequently a regional tour saw ‘Could do’ staged live at a further series of meetings. A short film version of the play was studio recorded for distribution to physicians.
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  • ‘Could do’ received overwhelmingly positive feedback with audience members:
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  • ‘I first saw ‘Could do better, must try harder’ in June 2004 and was impressed with both the idea and the quality of the production. It is an original concept; the execution is clinically valid, accurate, and sympathetic to the individuals it portrays. This combination of qualities make it truly memorable.’
    Professor Peter Hill, Honorary Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Great Ormond Street Hospital & St George’s Hospital Medical School   ‘This play was a great surprise. It leaves a lump in the throat, and has had a real impact on even the most hard-nosed healthcare professionals. You couldn’t fail to be moved by the performances and the images and message remains firmly implanted in one’s consciousness.’
    Andrea Bilbow, Founder and Director of ADDISS, Registered charity, no 1070827
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  • ‘This play has provided an innovative and powerful new force in conference delivery that truly "bites". It will stay in the mind, body and soul well after the evaluation forms are completed.’
    Fintan O’Regan
    Behavioural Management Consultant/SEN Advisor, Surrey LEA