Old age is not for sissies. This crack, with its whip sting, is usually attributed to Bette Davis.
Whatever the case, ageing ain’t going to be easy. And, in our secular world, ageing is an illness from which no one recovers.
Mad for You, written and directed by David Allen, presents the challenges faced by an ageing Janet (Alice Livingstone) as she loses her mental abilities. It also presents the challenges experienced by her family. Her husband, Brian (Andrew James) has promised to never put Janet in care, but her daughter (Emma Louise) sees little other option.
For the most part, Allen employs an almost TV style realism, but this realism is textured by flashbacks to better times, when Janet had all her faculties, and by brief scenes in which we witness her delusion that she’s still a working performer. Janet’s former career facilitates references to famous dramatic characters who’ve suffered madness, like Lear and Ophelia. (There’s also an odd scene in which Brian breaks the fourth wall and unfavourably compares Australia’s aged health care system to that of Holland or Denmark, I don’t remember which.)
In some ways, Allen presents us a scenario, rather than a story. Janet’s dilemma can have no satisfying solution. All roads ultimately lead to the same destination. Yes, the choice of route is debated, but the play doesn’t take us far down either dismal track.
Instead, we get a deeply moving portrait of suffering. Livingstone gives an extraordinary performance, powerfully juxtaposing the terror and bewilderment of dementia with poignant reminders of the vivacious, intelligent woman Janet once was. It’s the storm’s dark chaos, made all the more terrible by being broken by the fitful lucidity of lightning.
It’s great to see new Australian work in a wonderful little venue like this.
Paul Gilchrist
Mad for You by David Allen
Produced by ADHOC Theatre
at Sydney Acting Studio to 11 Feb
www.sydneyactingstudio.com/in-production
Image by Nick Walker
Theatre Red 