Sarah Kane’s one-hour play, "4:48
Psychosis," which plays at St. Ann’s Warehouse Oct. 26-31,
goes a long way towards correcting the all-too-common public
ignorance of the devastating ramifications of mental illness.
Written in an evocative style that borders on poetry, the Royal
Court Theatre production, directed by James Macdonald, features
a staging that echoes the gut-wrenching dialogue. Jeremy Herbert
has designed a set with an angled mirror that projects the characters
onstage onto a screen at the back of the stage. Thus the actors
seem to be suspended over themselves in a mind-body duality.
The screen, as the mind, both re-creates the flat, one-dimensional
world of the psychotic mind and also depicts the disconnected
nature of psychotic thought. At the same time, it demonstrates
how the mentally ill become victims of society, manipulated like
puppets at the will of the so-called healthy.
A window revealing houses, cars and people coming and going on
the street is also projected on the screen. This may be the characters’
lifeline to reality. Or it may represent a reality they can never
quite reach.
From time to time the image on the screen breaks up into the
kind of static one sees on a television when it’s not set on
any channel. The reference to a tortured mind is obvious. Transitions
from the screen to the stage are accompanied by dramatic changes
in the lighting. (Nigel Edwards gets the credit for lighting
design.)
"4:48 Psychosis" tackles the inner feelings and thoughts,
the symptoms and the prevalent cures that characterize the disease.
It is filled with the humor, irony and pain of these "pariahs
of reason." The two women and one man onstage (Marin Ireland,
Jo McInnes, Jason Hughes) sit at a desk, on a swivel chair and
lie on the floor. They speak of their self-loathing, their yearning
for love, their inability to love and be loved and their fears.
The time in the title 4:48 seems to refer to when
the patients see their psychiatrist (a role taken by the patients
alternately) when they have one hour and 12 minutes of a sanity
that can be more painful than pleasant.
These psychotics make clever plays on words. They describe in
great detail the "piecemeal crumble of my mind." They
mock their doctor and cling to their doctor as the only one who
understands and may possibly care.
Whether this play is harder to watch or to act is probably a
matter of which side of the stage you’re on. Surely these three
actors must use everything they know about life and acting to
portray such a broad range of human emotion. And they do so brilliantly.
But it is not easy to witness this ruthless, unforgiving display
of the suffering of people who, like a rat caught in a maze,
exist in a painful world from which they cannot escape.
When the house lights come up and the applause is over, every
member of the audience goes home to their (presumably) safe and
sane homes. It appears the author had a different kind of relationship
with her work.
Kane committed suicide in 1998, shortly before "4:48 Psychosis"
was produced. Coupled with the brutal clarity of this script,
the playwright’s death makes it abundantly clear how personal
this play must have been. It is all the more a tribute to the
human spirit that this talented woman was able to write such
a moving and magnificent play despite her pain.
The Royal Court Theatre’s production
of "4:48 Psychosis" runs through Oct. 31. For shows
on Saturday, at 3 pm, and Sunday, at 1 pm, tickets are $35. For
shows on Friday and Saturday, at 8 pm, and Sunday, at 4 pm, tickets
are $45. St. Ann’s Warehouse is located at 38 Water St. at Dock
Street in DUMBO. For tickets, call (718) 254-8779 or visit www.ticketweb.com.
