Woman in Mind

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Now late at night and during a thunderstorm, Gerald comes looking for Susan. While they have slept, his manuscript has been set alight and a message has been left on Muriel’s ceiling purporting to be from her dead husband. Unable to cope with her behaviour any more, Gerald leaves Susan who is having a complete breakdown. Lost in her own world as she attends Lucy’s wedding, events become more grotesque and she begins speaking the same strange language she heard Bill speaking at the start of the play. Delivering a final speech, her now intertwined fantasy and real families abandon her until she is alone in darkness, pleading ’December Bee’ (remember me) lit only by the siren light of an ambulance. In the sunset of her imaginary world, Andy caresses Susan and forgives her for being angry with Lucy. Susan, now worried by the increasing influence that Lucy, Tony and Andy have on her real life, tries to ask Andy to leave her alone. Andy says they will go when she asks but stays when Susan does so, suggesting she didn't really mean it. The scene becomes unreal, with Andy anticipating everything Susan says, then the voices of Susan and her imaginary family coming out of both their mouths. Susan, a middle aged housewife, lives a drab, disappointed existence. Ignored by her husband, disowned by her son, she survives by conjuring up an imaginary family with whom she can live out her dreams. But when the strain gets too much, fantasy and reality start to collide in an increasingly absurd and comic sequence of events. Cast: Janie Dee, Perdita Avery, Stuart Fox, Bill Champion, Joanna David, Dominic Hecht, Paul Kemp, Martin Parr Only this isn’t Susan’s real family. It is wish-fulfilment in the form of hallucination, the creation of a prettier home life where she is richer, smarter, and more loved by those around her. It is Susan’s reaction to a banal real-life home that is a terrifying amplification of many of the classic concerns of Middle England, complete with a loveless marriage and a son that no longer speaks to her.

His protagonist, Susan (Sally Hartley), following a concussion, finds herself embraced by the perfect fantasy family, a stark contrast to her patronising and distracted husband, Gerald (Pete Woodward) and her nightmarish sister-in-law, Muriel (Sarah Parnell). There is much good work to praise here. Sarah Parnell as the put-upon Muriel is a creation of genius and Pete Woodward and Simon Walton as vicar and doctor respectively, give nicely-studied work with an eye to detail. The ubiquitous Aaron Holdaway presents an essay in comedic delivery too. Some women also experience mood swings rapidly due to their PMS. [12] X Research source [13] X Trustworthy Source US Office on Women's Health U.S. government agency providing resources for women's health Go to source It will benefit you to be aware of the fact that her health and physical changes have a constant impact on her which reflects in her dealings or reactions while interacting with others. Because of the nature of this particular play, it is likely that some members of the audience will stop laughing before the others do. Generally, the women stopped earlier on! Susan was probably closer to a portrait of my mother in some ways, though it would be dangerous to say she was solely based on my mother. But the relationship with her husband Gerald had echoes of her own relationship with her bank manager husband. Never a good idea to marry someone solely for the good of the child which I believe she did. It usually ends in unhappiness for all concerned.What does the 'incomprehensible' language Susan hears in the first scene and speaks in the final scene mean? Contrasting Susan's own family are three imaginary characters, existing only in Susan's mind (and therefore visible to the audience):

I tell actors playing Gerald to be as nice as possible - if he says all the lines he'll never manage it - but he should try to be. It is very important that characters like Gerald are not so far out on the limb of outrageous caricature by the climax of the play that we cannot suddenly wonder if the man has a point after all as Susan destroys his precious manuscript. After all, we've only had Susan's word about him up till now and at this stage, how reliable is her word any longer? If after forgiving you she acts uncaring toward you, it shows that she looks at the bad experiences as a painful one. You may keep this in mind and give her space and be as amicable you are able. A woman is more likely to forgive someone slowly while seeing how the offender behaves in the longer run. Many ladies approach happenings on an intuitive level, through emotional channels and try to understand the intents rather than trusting in the words alone (or at all). [3] X Research source There are moments towards the end, immediately before Susan goes into what I call a supernova state, when the whole thing gets very bright and it's like Alice in Wonderland, completely dotty, when you get a glimpse, just for a second, of the real Gerald. There are still a lot of things wrong with him, but we begin to see his point of view - that he is dealing with a woman he doesn't understand because he doesn't recognise mental instability as an illness.

My mother, during the school holidays took me everywhere with her, often to London (we lived in Sussex) to visit publishers and editors, practically all female. And I sat there all the while, as they talked of this and that, a small boy listening - and largely unnoticed. If the breach is great, seek a way of apology specifically for her and your specific shared circumstance. Susan Woman in Mind is a play about a woman slowly losing her grip on reality. She has reached a sexual, social and intellectual crossroads. She is a vicar's wife who has fancifully invented another family straight out of a 1950s magazine: a husband with a white suit, a slightly mischievous brother and a lovely daughter who adores her. Her family are, in fact, an extremely gloomy set of people, but I wrote the play from this woman's point of view, inviting the audience to empathise with her. In the end the woman has a breakdown and just closes down altogether, which is very upsetting.

Gerald, Susan's real husband, a vicar whose interest in his wife has long since faded in favour of his book and undivided attention to his sister; Sally Hartley steals the show with an epic performance as the protagonist Susan. Running through a gamut of emotions and on stage throughout, she shows great psychological depth as she handles this poignant and harrowing mental breakdown. She is well supported by confident newcomers, namely Steve Burt (Andy) and Ben Tanner (Tony) taking the roles of her imaginary family members with Kirsty Terry as her sweet devoted daughter Lucy. Comedy and tragedy work closely together and here it is mainly provided by Gerald’s sister Muriel (Stephanie Jacob). Her attitude and resentful ‘put upon’ demeanour are a joy to watch as she stomps on and off stage. Recently widowed, she is now living with them and has brought along her husband’s spirit, sure that he will appear to her one day. If he remembers her ‘surprise omelette’, he will probably keep well clear. It could be that which finished him off. There is a lovely, understated comedy in Matthew Cottle’s doctor Bill, although a little too much time was spent on ‘entertaining’ an invisible child with a handkerchief mouse. Director Andrew Caple and his technical team have produced an interesting garden setting complete with lawn, pots and trellis, while the sound technicians have excelled with tortuous magnified voices and weather effects. Wardrobe too have ensured the cast are appropriately well costumed. There is plenty of enjoyment to be had from this moving production as the accomplished cast unravel Susan’s torment and appear to be talking nonsense!

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