In our culture of scientific materialism, psychic experience gets short shrift.
Claim to have had a vision of the future, or to have seen someone’s soul, and you won’t be credited. You’ll just be pitied. (Unless, of course, you’re attempting to benefit from the gullibility of the unfortunate – in which case, you’ll be pilloried.)
But, still, these psychic experiences are had, and the title of this show highlights our reductive thinking around the issue.
In this wacky one-person comedy, Sarah Francis creates Luna. She’s psycho only in the colloquial sense of the term; that is, manically unconventional (rather than dangerously egocentric and anti-social.)
Francis emphasizes Luna’s eccentric behaviour through direct interaction with the audience. Luna guesses people’s coffee orders – with statistically predictable success – and delivers to them empty cups. She conscripts one audience member to be her onstage boyfriend, another to be her pretentious boss, and another to be herself. This sort of audience participation is always risky, but it certainly results in a show that is intriguingly unpredictable.
As Francis swaps between roles herself, her physicality is excellent, creating in a flash both character and laughter.
However, there are pacing problems – partly due to costume changes, partly due to the challenges of audience participation.
And, despite the madcap mayhem, there’s a serious side to it all. Francis suggests the isolation of those who have psychic experiences, and the troubling bewilderment that comes from witnessing people trying to hide their pain while knowing all the time that their souls scream in agony. This is not charlatanism but rich empathy.
(For the sceptics amongst us, I’d point out that imagination and empathy are intertwined and, perhaps, the stronger the one, the stronger the other. Catherine of Siena, or one of the other medieval mystics, was once asked Do your visions appear in the real world or in your imagination? With soul-expanding sanity, she responded, In my imagination, of course. )
Paul Gilchrist
Psycho or Psychic by Sarah Francis
At the Emerging Artist Share House (Erskineville Town Hall)
As part of the Sydney Fringe
Until 20 September
Image supplied
Theatre Red 