4.48 Psychosis

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City Garage, Track 16 Gallery, Bergamot Station Arts Complex

2525 Michigan Ave.
Santa Monica, CA 90404

Category: Theaters

Region: Santa Monica

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More About

• Cynthia Mance
• Frederique Michel
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media
• Theater

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Playwright Sarah Kane's kaleidoscopic drama premiered shortly after her suicide in 2000. At the time, one British theater critic called the work a "70-minute suicide note" — and, of course, even with the best will in the world, it is almost impossible to separate the intense and ferociously angry text of the work from the tragic real-world story surrounding it. This is particularly true when you consider that the lyrical writing overtly deals with issues of depression and mental illness from the point of view of the sufferer — it may be one of the best plays to depict suicidal depression from the inside out. Set, as the program notes, "inside a deranged brain," the work consists of a series of fragmented exchanges that often take the form of inchoate expressions of rage twinned with frustrated awareness of a lack of control. A clearly unstable young woman (Cynthia Mance) sits center stage, bracketed by two figures in chairs behind her and another figure, a seemingly severed head in a bird cage — all of whom mutter abrasive vituperations at the hapless girl. A pair of other performers portray the doctors attempting to treat her — though they offer only the coldest comfort to the angst-ridden heroine, offering such utterances as "I know nothing of you, but I like you!" Frederique Michel's harrowing and edgy production, replete with eerie sound effects and dialogue interspersed with characters suddenly lurching into rhythmic spasms and twitching, hauntingly captures the state of mind of someone with tunnelvision perception in which all thoughts, excuses and opinions inevitably lead to one ultimate act of self-negation. Designer Charles Duncombe's sterile hospital room–like set and the percussive sound effects suggest the heroine's matter-of-fact view of her own madness and feelings of emptiness. The production delivers a disturbing and striking theatrical experience. City Garage at Track 16 Gallery (Building C) at Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Blvd., Santa Monica; Thurs.-Fri., 8 p.m.; thru Sept. 9. (310) 319-9939, brownpapertickets.com/event/185421.
Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m. Starts: Aug. 4. Continues through Sept. 3, 2011