Exeter/Canterbury/Leicester.

INSIDE OUT OF MIND
by Tanya Myers.

Northcott Theatre Stocker Road EX4 4QB 17-20 March.
10am 17 Mar.
2.30pm 17-19 Mar.
7.30pm 17, 20 March.
BSL Signed 20 March.
TICKETS: 01392 493493
www.exeternorthcott.co.uk
(Daytime ‘NHS Priority’ performances bookable only by ‘phone).

then Gulbenkian Theatre University of Kent CT2 7NB 3-6 March.
10am 3 Mar.
2.30pm 3-5 Mar.
7.30pm 3, 6 Mar.
BSL Signed Fri 7.30pm.
TICKETS: 01227 769075
www.thegulbenkian.co.uk
(Daytime ‘NHS Priority’ performances bookable only by ‘phone.)

then Curve 60 Rutland Street LE1 1SB 24-27 March 2015.
10am 25, 27 Mar.
2.30pm 25, 26 Mar.
7.45pm 24, 26 Mar.
BSL Signed 26 Mar 7.45pm.
TICKETS: 0116 242 3595.
www.curveonline.co.uk
( Daytime performances bookable only by ‘phone.)

Runs 1hr 55min One interval.
Review: Alan Geary: 24 February at Lakeside Arts Centre Nottingham.

Heavy-handed agitprop blended with some elements of a play.
After two years Tanya Myers’ Inside Out of Mind is back. We’re still in a dementia assessment centre. This isn’t essentially a play in the straightforward sense: narrative content and development aren’t of paramount importance. But if you’re a layperson in these matters you might gain a better appreciation of being in such a place.

Crucially, you might have greater empathy for the people involved, staff as well as patients.

More crucially, the play is heavy-handed agitprop. Always implicitly, but often explicitly, it insists that dementia should be accorded a higher national profile. Specifically it demands better pay and proper training for the people who care for dementia sufferers.

The contrarian loose cannon who doubts that all nurses are ministering angels of mercy might not buy into the play’s central message. He/she might also sense the application of un-subtle moral pressure, blackmail even – anyone who doesn’t like this play must be an irredeemable reactionary.

Doctors get off more lightly than in the 2013 version. The earlier Dr Dido was an authoritarian snob. Here Robin Simpson makes him more of a cuddly incompetent. Acting overall seems even better than it was two years back. Robin Bowerman gives a sensitive and moving performance as Mr P, and Anna Mottram is good as Anna Bissett and RGN Patricia.

Lighting and back projection are used to facilitate fuss-free changes of scene and time. At certain points a forest of synapses with neurons darting about is superimposed on the set.

This is a collaboration between Meeting Ground Theatre Company, Nottingham Lakeside Arts, the NHS, and the Institute of Mental Health at the University of Nottingham.

Keith/George/Dr Dido: Robin Simpson.
Grace/Elsie: Maxine Finch.
Raj/Tom Bisset: Jim Findley.
Youth: Rebecca de Souza.
Gertie/Hazel: Ulrike Johannson.
Sophie: Lily Lowe-Myers.
Muriel/Brenda: Joanna Macleod.
Patricia/Anna Bisset: Anna Mottram.
Mr P: Robin Bowerman.

Director: Tanya Myers.
Designer: Nettie Scriven.
Lighting: Richard Statham.
Sound/Composer: David Wilson.

2015-03-01 00:40:32