Psychosis unleashed on York
DramaSoc hits the York Theatre Royal this week with two plays exploring mental disorders. Venetia Rainey meets the cast and crew.
“It would leave the audience mentally and emotionally exhausted; it would be dangerous.” These are the words used by DramaSoc’s chair to explain why two plays being put on at the York Theatre Royal were not allowed to be shown back-to-back in one night. Sophie Larsmon is, of course, referring to The Madman and the Nun and 4.48 Psychosis, picked by herself and a panel of judges to be performed in the highly professional space this week.
She is proud, and rightly so, that a professional friendship has been established for the first time in both institutions’ histories. This ‘joint venture’ is the fruit of 18 months’ labour. and she is keen to emphasise that the YTR has as much to gain from the liaison as DramaSoc, saying of Damian Cruden, the Artistic Director of the YTR, “He was basically asking me, ‘How do I get students into the theatre?’”
Cruden expresses similar sentiments: “My interest is that people use this building” and he sees it as a step towards making the theatre a “part of the community’s artistic life.” For a long time, the YTR has tried to solve the conundrum of students not attending the theatre and the obvious answer is now being realised: as one of the directors phrases it, they must “let them put something on, because it gets them involved”.
This new liaison allows directors to think about balancing budgets, city-wide publicity and profit; aspects of drama generally able to be ignored in the Drama Barn. Profits will be split, with half going to the YTR and the rest to DramaSoc. Aside from money, the collaboration gives directors and cast a chance to perform to what Cruden calls “a different type of audience”. Edward Duncan Smith, a cast member of The Madman and the Nun, said, “It is a weird feeling, anyone can walk in and watch it”, although he also believes that such a platform for students is “a good stepping stone”. Both Natasha Long, director of The Madman and the Nun, and Lisa Blair, director of 4.48 Psychosis, seem to relish the pressure of the project: Blair deemed the experience so far “nerve-wracking but exciting”.
‘4.48am is when many psychotics find themselves to be most lucid, but appear at their most deranged’
The whole venture is made more ambitious by the fact that both plays tackle incredibly tough material. Both are about mental disorders and, as Larsmon points out, are “very thematically linked”. However, both the plays’ directors emphasise their differences and Cruden is at pains to point out that whilst they do “compliment each other”, they are also “very different plays”.
The Madman and the Nun is essentially, Long explains, about the “role of the artist in society”. Written by Stanislaw Witkiewicz, it explores the sanity of its main character, Walpurg, a poet who is treated as a madman. It questions contemporary society’s treatment of artists and different methods of psychiatry, arguing that, in the words of Long, “art is sanity; society is mad”.
When asked to sum up her play in one sentence, Long - who has not directed at the Drama Barn before - responds thoughtfully: “In trying to escape the confines of society’s straitjacket, the madman-poet raises the question as to who should be institutionalised, the artist or the doctor?” Duncan Smith is enthusiastic about his involvement in the play. He tells me, sitting excitedly on the edge of his seat, that it is a “surrealist comedy about love and the fine line between art and sanity, with a fair bit of Freud-bashing and lots of surrealism”. The Theatre Royal has, they agree, given them “space to experiment a bit more”, and Long especially seems pleased about the creative choices the opportunity grants her. Cruden admits that The Madman and the Nun is “difficult to sell in a way” because it does not have the same controversy surrounding it as 4.48 Psychosis and is “a little-known play”, but he is adamant that it will be able to hold its own against its more notorious counterpart.
4.48 Psychosis covers very different ground. It is described by Blair as “a play about bipolar disorder, told through a combination of interview, monologue and motif, wherein clarity and psychosis merge together destructively” and by Larsman as a “biographical suicide note”.
However, Blair also believes that Sarah Kane - the play’s controversial writer who committed suicide shortly after finishing it - meant for there to be a “lot of humour in it”. It is an incredibly “dark play” which covers a very “sensitive subject”. The title comes from the time 4.48am, when many psychotics (including Kane) find themselves most lucid, but appear to outsiders as at their most deranged. It lacks both a distinct plot and characters and is written in a deconstructed form of poetry, which Blair remarks “makes it considered quite a difficult play to put on”. Despite all of this, she chose it for her directorial debut at the University; when I remark on this impressive feat, she laughs lightly, retorting, “impressive or stupid”.
She gives most of the credit to the actors, calling them “a fabulous cast”. They are equally passionate: “I love it”, beams Alice Boagey, a member of the four-strong cast; “I’ve never been so prepared for a play so early on!” She cites the “words, the lyricism of it” as the best part of it. “It is very human.” Boagey continues, “even though people might not be able to immediately relate to it, things like loneliness and feeling isolated are things I think everyone can relate to.” At the same time, she admits the psychotic element messes with her head: “Sometimes I need to just put the script down and distance myself from it”; an indication of its raw power.
Whilst 4.48 Psychosis is the better known play, due to Kane’s reputation and her other controversial plays, The Madman and the Nun also tackles fascinating and disturbing subject matter, and is performed by an equally talented cast of students. This new venture by DramaSoc should, Larsmon hopes, “make it less insular” and dissipate the “town-gown divide” by opening up student drama to the public. The future of the scheme, however, is entirely dependent on ticket sales for the performances this week, as the YTR is ultimately a commercial theatre. “People have become imaginatively lazy”, Cruden sighs, and both plays are excellent examples of what he calls “theatre that asks the audience to engage”.
This week, fight your mental apathy and get down to the Theatre Royal; it’s right by the Minster, and students only pay £5.
