Theatre / “Systems and Sanity”, Rebus Theatre. At Gorman Arts Centre, until June 17. Live-streamed season June 19-July 2. Reviewed by HELEN MUSA.
AN affecting, thoroughly enjoyable evening at the Ralph Wilson Theatre in an otherwise dismal week of performance was a reminder of why live theatre continues to be, well, alive.
The unpromisingly-named “Systems and Sanity” – Rebus could surely have come up with something snazzier – were proof apparent of this.
You won’t get into this show, which finishes tonight, June 17, because it’s been completely packed out, but there’s a chance to view what happened in the live-streaming which starts from Monday here, although it will be a challenge to match the live performance on digital media.
From the opening moment of the play-proper, where cast members treated us to have a spoof plane journey, to the conclusion where the audience laid shredded questionnaire sheets at the base of a tree in the Gorman Arts Centre courtyard, this was an evening of variety and surprise.
Director Robin Davidson’s tightly disciplined cast, many but not all of whom had experienced the mental health system themselves, took us on a trip through a series of vignettes, which, instead of seeming obscure or arty, were entertaining in the extreme.
Ralph Nelson’s readings of his poems about the lonely “Loco Man” and the aliens inside the poet’s head were pitch-perfect.
Liz Drysdale’s wordless repetitive attempts to open a door – subsequently abandoned – and a hilarious scene, where patients in the waiting room have to wait so long that one of them turns into a skeleton, spoke to flaws in the mental health system.
A beautiful scene involving globes of light, rejected at first but eventually accepted, spoke of optimism for the future,
Multi-talented Sam Floyd used his skills as a freelance juggler to juggle the system, and in a tour de force, Joel Swadling both interviewed and played the charlatan Dr Fraud, unwilling to accept the progress towards health of patients for fear his income might be disturbed.
To be sure, broad brushstrokes were used in such scenes, and when the whole cast addressed the audience it became a little too polemic to my taste, but on the whole Rebus deftly handled the balance between its disturbing subject matter and the need to entertain entice an audience.
Cleverly book-ending the performance with drinks and chit-chat in the main hall of Gorman Arts Centre, this was an evening of theatrical joy.
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