24:7 Theatre Festival, Madness Sweet Madness @ Cosmo Concert Hall 27.7.15

Hi, I’m Kate and I like theatre. I like stories and when a group of creative individuals come together to breathe life into a script. What I like most about theatre, is that it can reflect issues to society and fly the flag for change. I confess in the past I have been disappointed to find the piece didn’t carry a contemporary relevance or stand for something – and that is admittedly snobbish. There is nothing wrong with just enjoying a play because it is a story. Chocolate doesn’t do much for you, but you enjoy it all the same. Be that as it may, I was happy to see the title Madness Sweet Madness on the 24:7 programme; yes, we are getting some stigmas of mental health on the table.

Madness Sweet Madness has a strange ambience, seemingly somewhere in the realm of a dream, on the brink of wake. The piece is presented in real time, but there is something oh so…off. Like a watercolour reverie, bleeding into something more real.

Grace (Sophie Harrison) is unable to work and is lodging with her brother in law, Vesuvius (Matt Aistrup), after her husband Charlie and the passengers of a missing plane are lost. Grace and Vesuvius’s relationship had me guessing almost instantly. We learn Grace has been prescribed some pills to help her cope and, equally suspicious, Vesuvius is sleep-deprived due to Grace's unpredictability and asks if he could “knock her out” so he can get some shut eye. Just as we try to keep up, two unconventional cops arrive, hopefully to shed some light on this murkiness. But they heighten the unsettling surrealism. They have intimate details they inexplicably acquired and oddly help themselves to cook eggs for their breakfast. The madness has spread here.

The script was very intriguing, but unfortunately some comic material was skated over and I suspect this is down to the pacing of the piece overall. The aforementioned dreamy oddity was a theme across the dialogue and its delivery, which came at the expense of the jokes planted by writer Georgina Tremayne.

Another motif that had me quizzical was the luminous house at the back of the stage. What purpose did this serve? Was it yet another attempt at a moving Salvador Dali painting, a representation of the nature of mental illness or simply because there are references to houses (none of which glow in the dark) in the script?

All of the actors did a good job to animate the vision of both writer and director, but I think it would benefit having characters of an older age. I hate to sound fickle, but I think Grace’s grief would in turn be more relatable and gain greater empathy.

This play would serve a second attempt as I think we haven’t yet scratched the surface of its potential.

Words: Kate Morris

Images: Courtesy of 24:7 Theatre Festival