Ruby Wax

The much loved US born comedian, actor and writer brings her show to the Wyvern

 

Wyvern Theatre, Swindon

Monday 15 May 2017, 7.30pm

 

Ruby Wax is a much loved US born comedian, actor and writer, along with being the ‘it girl’ of mental health campaigning. She has a Master’s degree in Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy from Oxford University.

 

This event is a follow up to her sell out touring show, and best-selling book, Sane New World, which helps us understand why we sabotage our sanity with our own thinking. Her new best-selling book, A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled is the basis for the discussion. Funny and insightful, this event is your passport to saner living. She might not be sane herself, but she does a pretty good imitation.

 

Tickets: £23.50, Concessions £2.00 off

 

Interview with Ruby Wax

by Kelly Jobanputra

 

Tell us about this show of yours, which is called ‘Frazzled – A Guide to Mindfulness’….

 

A lot of people have read my book ‘A Mindfulness Guide for the Frazzled’ and it’s based on that; this is about the science and practice of mindfulness. I’m trying to do what Bill Bryson did. How does our mind work? Why do we have these intrusive negative thoughts? I then spin this into comedy but I go off-piste, this is not a lecture. I sneak in interesting facts that I have learnt through research. We are living in wild times and people are beside themselves! And if you love something, like mindfulness, then you get on with it.

 

You are famous, a wife and a mother of three. How do you balance all of this?

 

I probably was not at home enough for my kids, as I have always worked to be honest, but now they say how proud they are of me.

 

You are well known for being a mental health campaigner – how do you cope when you get unwell?

 

I am lucky that I go through long periods of not being depressed. I went 10 years without being ill and then 2 years ago, I had depression again. I use mindfulness and I understand when it’s coming on. When I know it’s coming, I can then make preparations. I can shut down instead of ramping stuff up. It really does feel like a disease.

 

You are known for being a comic interviewer, who have been your worst and best interviewees?

Donald Trump was the worst. He actually scared me and he was a tyrant. I reacted badly and I let him get to me but I couldn’t help it. Him getting in as president is mind boggling and is Brexit squared, what a nightmare. Carrie Fisher was the best person to interview and I did that 30 years ago. A few years after I interviewed her, we became friends. She was hilarious and we were a match made in heaven.

 

You are an author but what books by other people do you like to read?

 

I love science books. I like to read about how the brain works, how you can train your mind and how you can change the way it functions. I also like reading books by Margaret Atwood, Anne Tyler and Jonathan Francis Bennett; and I am always looking for recommendations.

 

You have done so much in your life so far; do you have any future plans?

 

I want to go back to school and study more stuff. I would like to go back to Oxford to learn more. There are also many places that I haven’t travelled to, like China and Asia in general. I want to perform more in Africa and Australia as they are my favourite places to put on gigs. It’s about how you are accepted there.

 

I am busy all the time though as I am performing in London’s Leicester Square Theatre for all of June and I am writing a book right now called ‘How to be Human’. I have been working with a neuroscientist and monk and I use the train as my office; the book is coming out next January. I like to be busy!