Hysteria, Project Theatre
From the Project Theatre website:
“The Irish Premiere of the Award winning comedy. The production coincides with the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sigmund Freud.
In 1938, in his study in Hampstead Sigmund Freud meets Salvador Dali. Chaos ensues. Their comical encounter dramatically transforms into an evening of HYSTERIA…
What’s hiding in Freud’s closet? Who is Jessica? Is memory a fantasy?
Terry Johnson’s brilliantly inventive, profoundly questioning and hugely entertaining play HYSTERIA, won the Olivier Award for Best Comedy and the Writers Award for Best Play.”
Hmmmm. From this I was expecting a comedy of sorts, and some bits were funny. What the review failed to mention is that the main part of the story revolves around one of Freud’s case studies of a woman who was sexually abused as a child. Mixed in with Dali running around holding a penis sculpture. It didn’t really sit right, and I don’t understand how it won awards.
In fact all I really need to say, and this is a spoiler, but trust me, it’s for your own good, is that it ended with: …and it was all a dream…
Sigh. Dinner and company was excellent though, and the play provided much amusement afterwards.
[...] We fell into the Project, a slobbering mess of drunks and reprobates.* The Gin Lady was in her cups despite the early hour, she’d been out carousing since early afternoon. A swathe of destruction trailed from her boots and I worried the coppers would soon be on our tail if they weren’t already. ‘Iss my birthday!’ she shouted, leering across the counter at the skinny malchick. ‘Givus me tickets!’ Her hand slipped to the leather bandoleer slung across her chest, drawing out a pair of needle nosed knitting needles . The bandoleer contained seven pairs of needles carved from the ribs of her victims, each progressively more barbed and poisoned than the last. I noticed she’d decorated the foul things with fluffy pink pompoms especially for the occasion. [...]
30 May 2006 at 7:56 am
I have to agree with you on the play. I wonder what awards it has received.
It was pleasant nonetheless; the underlying ideas were excellent, the production, acting and direction very good and I had a very good time.
What more could one possibly want?
08 Jun 2006 at 1:38 pm