We all seek sporadic refuge in daydreams – and in this bleak and icy back-to-work early January week, who isn’t spending a little more time than usual in the comforting mental company of a lovingly nurtured fantasy life? Yet what if our most private inner world was suddenly let loose into the public domain to interact with and disrupt our everyday reality? The dream might quite swiftly morph into nightmare.
Such is the beguiling premise of Woman in Mind (1985), one of Alan Ayckbourn’s most highly regarded dramas, in which bored and unloved middle-aged vicar’s wife Susan sustains a “knock to the head” and starts to merge the real and the imagined. Since the play premiered four decades ago, public discussion of mental health and depression, not to mention perimenopause, has blossomed, which should lend this revival additional resonance and clout. Frustratingly it doesn’t, quite.
squareTHEATREI've seen more than 100 plays this year – these are the 10 best
Read More
The ever-reliable – and from a theatre producer’s point of view, ever bankable – Sheridan Smith stars as Susan, a sharp, witty and frustrated woman whose marriage to Gerald (Tim McMullan) has descended into the humdrum as he works endlessly writing a dreary history book. Susan’s grimly frowning sister-in-law Muriel (Louise Brealey) lives with them and she hasn’t seen her adult son for more than two years.
No wonder Susan has constructed a rich and satisfying imaginary family, all of whom – including vivacious daughter Lucy (Safia Oakley-Green) – are utterly and vocally devoted to her as they live their gently opulent anyone-for-tennis life, complete with abundant glasses of champagne.
Romesh Ranganathan and Sheridan Smith in Woman in Mind (Photo: Marc Brenner)Susan is our unreliable narrator and the only character onstage throughout in Michael Longhurst’s elegant production, and Smith is very good without being great. She doesn’t let rip in the way we know that she can, to explore the full bleak extent of Susan’s emptiness and despair. Too often, Smith seeks easy recourse to a nervous laugh at the end of a sentence, instead of allowing the unvarnished words their full and unsettling impact.
Your next read
square CULTUREHow much West End stars really make
square TV INTERVIEWS Interview‘He’s not such a blatant toff’: Meet the new Inspector Lynley
square COMEDY InterviewChloe Petts: ‘There are some talentless male comedians who think they’re God’s gift’
square SOAPSThe Corriedale crossover will go down in soap history
Comedian Romesh Ranganathan makes his stage debut as bumbling doctor Bill, who tends to Susan after her initial accident. It’s a decent enough first dramatic outing for Ranganathan, although when Bill fiddles nervously with his glasses for what feels like the 400th time I had certainly had enough.
The play somewhat outstays its welcome, taking far too long to wind up for its finale. Yet Longhurst’s directorial flair is amply visible at the start, as the stage safety curtain (decorated with the plentiful flowers of Susan’s extensive imaginary garden) hovers uncertainly between up and down, only lifting fully after half an hour. It’s a gloriously crafty way of reinforcing the idea of a liminal state between two worlds, as Susan struggles to commit to another day of grinding mundanity.
To 28 February, then touring to Sunderland and Glasgow (womaninmindplay.com)
Hence then, the article about sheridan smith needs to let rip more in woman in mind was published today ( ) and is available on inews ( Middle East ) The editorial team at PressBee has edited and verified it, and it may have been modified, fully republished, or quoted. You can read and follow the updates of this news or article from its original source.
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Sheridan Smith needs to let rip more in Woman in Mind )
Also on site :