Former Coronation Street actress breaking down barriers for people living with bipolar as she brings her real-life story to the stage

A former Coronation Street actress is aiming to break down barriers and raise awareness of bipolar by telling her own real-life story. Natasha Naomi Rea is an ambassador for Bipolar UK which supports anyone affected by bipolar, a mental health condition characterised by extreme mood swings with episodes of depression - feeling very low and lethargic- and mania - feeling restless and overactive.

With A Night with Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda, the Manchester actress and author is bringing her critically acclaimed best-selling memoir Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda (The Journals of a Happy Soul With A Chaotic Mind) to the stage, in partnership with Bipolar UK. Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda tells us the story of Natasha and her journey through bipolar, single motherhood and trying to live the best life possible.

Natasha, who has starred in Bad Blood and Coronation Street, is bringing her book to life with A Night with Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda. The raw and unflinching one-woman stage show, set in Ibiza, has found its home at the Hope Mill Theatre, Ancoats on Tuesday, April 4 and Wednesday, April 5.

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Based on Natasha's real-life journey, it tells the story of Lily who has run off to the sun-soaked Balearic island to take a temporary break from her life as a single mother and carer for her elderly mama, while also trying to manage her volatile condition, one Natasha believes is still so misunderstood and misrepresented.

Natasha, 34, who was diagnosed with bipolar at the age of 14, felt it was the right time to take her story to the stage. "I have chronic anxiety where it can take me three or four hours to