Woman In Mind

Alan Ayckbourn’s play, Woman in Mind, is the first co-production by Dundee Rep Ensemble with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and is directed by Marilyn Imrie. In inimitable Ayckbourn style, a woman’s mental breakdown is dramatised with humour, surrealism, poignancy and pathos. Concussed by her garden rake, Susan (Meg Fraser) starts to regain consciousness just as the gauche doctor, Bill Windsor (Neil McKinven) arrives. Nevertheless, she is still very confused when concerned members of her family arrive to comfort her.

Before too long, it becomes apparent that these strangely perfect family members, all dressed in white clothes, are Susan’s projected fantasy, a diversion from her troubled suburban family life. In her “real” life, Susan is neglected by her dull husband Gerald (Richard Conlon), patronised by her absurd sister-in-law Muriel (Irene Macdougall), and estranged from her hostile son, Rick (Scott Hoatson).

By contrast, her fantasy family are, in a slightly weird way, perfect, loving, and successful. Her imaginary husband Andy (Andrew Wincott, who plays Adam in Radio 4’s The Archers) is all that Gerald is not – handsome, devoted and passionate. Tony, her younger brother (Buchan Lennon), is enthusiastic and protective and Lucy, her imaginary daughter (Laura Dale), is loving and considerate.Gradually, however, Susan realises that the fantasy figures are impinging on her real life and, as both the play and her unravelling progress, her two worlds collide, culminating in an arresting ending. Meg Fraser’s performance is particularly strong given the range she has to cover – her “real” Scottish persona, her landed gentry fantasy character, and the comedy and tragedy (between which there is often a very fine line) of her situation.

The play is set in Susan and Gerald’s small garden which, in Susan’s imaginary version, becomes a grand landed estate. Ti Green’s stage set cleverly evokes both dimensions, with stands of birch trees bounding the clipped suburban garden and a “dream box” suspended above, representing the domain of the psychological landscape. The elements of suspended reality are augmented by Mark Doubleday’s skilful lighting effects, Lewis den Hertog’s projected imagery and Pippa Murphy’s music and soundscapes.

I found two of the parts rather stereotypical – in both cases probably because they are attached to the only characters representing “professions” – the doctor and the minister. At times both characters slipped beyond comedy and farce into melodrama. In part, this may also be down to the Ayckbourn sense of humour which occasionally feels rather dated (although there are also some outstanding, laugh-out-loud moments). Nonetheless, there’s something about this foregrounded humour which makes the performance all the darker, all the more surreal, bleak and sinister.

Woman in Mind presents an interesting entanglement of psychology and social comment. Although Susan’s presenting problem is the concussion caused by her accident with the garden rake, the implication is that her breakdown and hallucinations actually stem from her stifling, loveless marriage. Hers is an extreme version of how we tend to turn to fantasy as a retreat from those unsatisfactory aspects of our lives we can’t or won’t deal with. This is familiar Ayckbourn territory – a glimpse into the extraordinariness of middle-class suburban ordinariness. And though it’s maybe more difficult for 21st century audiences to imagine Susan staying in this marriage to the point of mental breakdown than it was in 1985, when the play was premiered, we recognise her plight nonetheless.

Woman in Mind is a safe choice for collaboration between Dundee and Birmingham Repertory Theatres, given Ayckbourn’s popularity (widely talked of as an English-language playwright, apparently second only to Shakespeare). But this is a bold co-production, and Meg Fraser’s performance is stellar.

Lindsay Macgregor