Musical Paintbox, The

Claire is a born loner, although she dreams of becoming a professional concert pianist she has few friends, and feels hounded by the expectations placed on her by her family. Struggling with a low self-esteem, and to find her identity during her adolescence she fears that she will not be loved just as she is, unless she has something to prove. This forces her into a position of becoming a perfectionist to the point of being obsessed with her music, to the exclusion of anything else. At university she meets an art tutor, David who has separated from his wife due to the pressure on the family of caring for a 14 year old step daughter, Rosie, who has schizophrenia and a history of self-harming. The relationship between David and Rosie pushes way beyond the normal boundaries, resulting in Melanie, David's wife, who is Rosie's main carer experiencing a nervous breakdown herself. Claire knows nothing of David's background or the fact that David will turn her life totally upside-down, resulting in tragedy. The Musical Paintbox is an attempt to address the shortcomings of the mental healthcare professionals, by pulling no punches in observing the treatment of patients on a psychiatric ward. It attempts to show that artistic expression is essential to basic human survival in every one of us.