HYSTERIA. To 5 April 2003
Salisbury
HYSTERIA
by Terry Johnson
Salisbury Playhouse. To 5 April 2003
Mon-Wed 7.30 pm; Thu-Sat 8.00 pm
Mat 27,29 March,3,5 April 2.30 pm
Audio described 3 April mat & eve
Runs 2hr 30min One Interval
Tickets 01722 320333: http://www.salisburyplayhouse.com
Review Mark Courtice: 21 March 2003
Funny ha ha, funny peculiar, funny Hysteria.
Sigmund Freud, exiled in Hampstead, wants quietly to get on with the business of dying. Yahuda, doctor and friend, is determined to stop Freud from renouncing his faith, Jessica wants a consultation, and Salvador Dali has come to pay homage to the describer of the subconscious, his artistic meal ticket.
From here an interesting play develops - funny, but also about ideas. Salisbury Playhouse does it full justice in an energetic and theatrical production.
The first act is farce, given full throttle by director Sansom. The half-naked girl, Dali (played with relish and loose limbed vigour by Nicholas Boulton) and Freud all dash from door to slamming door. Timing is impeccable, jokes played to the hilt, and silliness welcomed in characters that just about stay this side of believable.
Underneath lies a humming underscore of desperation, good for farce, and at the same time setting up what comes next...
Act 2 then delivers - the play shifts into stunning theatricality (a challenge taken up with glee by the team at Salisbury) to show what really lies beneath. Scene changes, sound, light, video, even a trap - this is theatre pulling out all the stops, making ideas manifest, but still great fun.
Nicholas Woodeson gives Freud desperate dignity and drives the show with energy that works particularly well for the farce. Megan Hall delivers too as Jessica, her performance accurate, passionate and pacey, despite the fact she is required to take on the burden of argument - forcing Freud to face up to the evasions that have underpinned his own relationship to his work.
Jessica Curtis’ design is full of sly humour (in Freud's study even the office chair is phallic), and is well served by Adam Cork's sound and the clever use of musical pointers to the era. Strange, shifting lighting by Oliver Fenwick creates a disassociated world, but sometimes risks underlighting.
Freud regrets choosing ideas above feelings; it is a measure of Johnson's theatrical skill that he creates images and events which enable theatre to bridge the gap between the two.
Sigmund Freud: Nicholas Woodeson
Jessica: Megan Hall
Abraham Yahuda: Bill Wallis
Salvador Dali: Nicholas Boulton
Anna/Young Woman: Stefanie Moore
Director: Laurie Sansom
Designer: Jessica Curtis
Lighting: Oliver Fenwick
Music and Sound: Adam Cork
2003-03-24 12:24:54