Ahead of her appearance this month at the jersey opera house, we were lucky enough to grab 10 minutes with ruby wax, comedian, writer, mental health campaigner, to talk about her one-woman show ruby wax: sane new world-the tour. Ruby has based her new show on her no. 1 Bestselling book sane new world: taming the mind, which has enjoyed worldwide success since publication in 2013.
The evening promises to help you understand why we sabotage our own sanity and will also provide a manual on how to survive the 21st century, using ruby’s knowledge from her recent masters degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy at oxford university and spiked with her usual unmissable comedy.
So why do you think we need a ‘manual’…
We are not equipped for this century, it’s too hard, too fast, and too full of fear; we just don’t have the bandwidth. Our brains can’t take so much information in a world where we’re bombarded by bad news and force-fed information. I can just about take in the weather then i’m exhausted. You open a newspaper, everyone’s dead. We’re only supposed to know what our neighbour is up to; if the woman next door to you is having sex with the man next door to her we need to know; but four doors down and it’s none of our business.
That’s a fair assessment of modern life, so can i expect to learn something?
I will take you on a tour of the most important part of your life and how to tame it. We know so much about how the world works – but so little about our how our own minds work. It’s like having a ferrari on top of your head but no one gave you the keys. The show is very visual and high energy, you will definitely learn something about yourself. But of course it’s also funny!
Where did you get the inspiration for your new book?
I’m really interested in what happens in the brain and the book was a result of my studies. I mainly stole the content from a series of great academics and then spun it in to comedy.
Our theme this month is judgement, do you have any thoughts on the word?
Yes, this is something that i cover off in my book. It’s not a word i like, if you live your life judging other people then you’ll live a very narrow life. We don’t have the right to judge other people without the full story.
You’re a respected campaigner for mental illness in the uk and set up the blackdogtribe website some years ago?
Yes i set up the site as a result of a another show. I held these sessions where people could come along and talk, but this wasn’t easy to maintain so we set up the site so that people had a place they could go to meet other like minded people. Sane, the uk charity oversee the site now, i gave it over to them.
Do you think your open approach to mental health has helped to remove some of the stigma?
Yes i do, i feel as though i’ve helped us move away from the dark ages.
“I’m hilarious, trust me,” is the quote from her press release and having been fortunate enough to spend even a short amount of time in ruby’s company, we agree!
Catch ruby’s new show at 8pm on friday 28th march at jersey opera house, tickets are £17.50. Call the box office on 511115. Ruby will also be selling and signing her book, sane new world: taming the mind after the show.
