AROUND five years ago Ruby Wax, the American comedian and TV personality, was unintentionally ‘outed’ as a depressive after Comic Relief used her image to help raise money for the mental health arm of their charity.

Despite living quietly with the illness for many years, the experience prompted her to speak out and she has since gone on to tour the world with a critically acclaimed show about depression, gain a master’s degree in mindfulness-based cognitive therapy from Oxford University and receive an OBE for services to mental health.

Wax’s latest venture is a UK tour of her book ‘Sane New World: Taming The Mind’, a manual on how to navigate the chaos of the 21st century, which arrived at New Brighton’s Floral Pavilion last night.

With her trademark ribald humour front and centre, Wax took the audience on a tour of the brain and how it works and examined how we sabotage our sanity with our own thinking.

The classically-trained actress, who found fame with TV shows including ‘Girls On Top’ and ‘Ruby Wax Meets’, was met with warmth and adulation by the Floral audience, who had braved the wet and drizzly weather to hear her musings on mental health and our struggles to stay sane.

Already on stage and clutching a mug of tea as the audience walked in, Wax appeared as the friendly face of neuroscience – her zany stage persona belying the gifted and insightful academic beneath.

The show, interspersed with fun graphics and videos, was both profoundly interesting and hopeful; at times the theatre was silent as the crowd hung on each of her shrewd observations.

Wax is a lady who certainly knows her stuff. Her own experience of depression combined with her scientific understanding thanks to her recent scholastic achievements gives her a profound insight in to the illness and the devastation it can cause.

At times it almost felt like we were at a TED talk, so in thrall were the audience as Wax revealed the intricate workings of our ‘spurting’ synapses and cerebral landscape.

But this was no lofty or highbrow lecture; on the contrary it was a fascinating and reassuring look at how we all suffer at times due to the lack of understanding that commonly exists about our own brains.

The second half of the show was presented in a discussion format, though I could have happily sat through much more of her funny and informative discourse, so interesting were her revelations.

This is a Ruby that has always shone brightly in the field of comedy though I suspect she has an even brighter future ahead of her as a mental health campaigner, author and academic.

Her ‘Sane New World’ Tour continues throughout November, January and February. Catch it while you can.

For more information visit www.rubywax.net/tour.html Ruby’s book, ‘Sane New World: Taming The Mind’ is out now.