PLAY REVIEW INSIDE A MIND BREAD AND ROSES INDEPENDENT THEATRE

 

Here I am at the Bread and Roses an independent theatre housed above a trendy pub in Clapham, South London. Inside a Mind is a show ‘based on the eyes of someone who is suffering from trauma’. It is a spoken word play. I was lucky enough to have a quick chat with Director, Crystal Turner-Brightman who wrote this remarkable performance based on their own personal experience of events and living with PTSD. Crystal was also the producer and director of ‘Inside the Mind’. Victoria Strupish was the assistant director and score composer.

This is a new spoken word play that has evolved in Crystal’s mind in varying guises since 2017. This performance brings to life the traumatic events of one students experiences and has a  young cast that completely understand the nuances of the four main characters.

Sophie Ebbs as the main character, Sage, was totally believable as a character with anxiety and trauma, negotiating the ups and downs of friendships and relationships at University. She plays vulnerability with belief that her whole being is hopeless. Learning to read people and their underlying personalities is hard for all students starting out in their new lives. But doubly difficult when you are coming to terms with your sexuality. It’s hard to describe too much here as I’ll give the plot away.

It’s always exciting to see a small cast in a fledgling production.  This young cast finding their feet delivering a passionate performance about sensitive topics involving physical threat and coercion and create a very moving experience. To have a performer called ‘Fear’ played by Liv K Czibor is the voice inside most of our heads. The voice that stops us moving on, experiencing new things, taking risks. Liv was eerie and fluid on stage and playing a voice rather than an actual character while being present on stage is naturally difficult, but it works. ‘Fear’ clearly saying those familiar words not just to Sage and the audience but words we all know from our own quiet times inside our heads.

Tia Hudson plays Tamsin the antagonist in this story. Tia comes to the stage as a character that we’re not sure if we should like. But we soon find out what she’s really all about. Tamsin (Tia) is real, and fierce and dominant and takes over the performance and we begin to understand where Sage’s ‘Fear’ finds its name.

Michael Sookan was the calm counsellor who helps Sage find out that everything will be alright and that we can live with our anxieties and accept them. By doing this we can free ourselves from Fear and move forward with our lives. Michael delivers a trustworthy performance as the counsellor from the university who is there to help Sage find herself and encourage her to start to live and breathe once more.

This performance covers themes of trauma, toxic relationships, and fire safety and comes with a warning of unsuitable content for under 14s.

The characters were recognisable in the many people we encounter every day. Who knows what each one of us lives with and deals with? Who knows our own innermost fears? It’s only 40 minutes long but I really enjoyed it; nothing that I expected at all, so a thought provoking evening in Clapham was had by all.

The production is on a short run 21st & 22nd (7.00pm) - 23^rd March (2.30pm matinee)  

Reviewed by Penny Curran

on 21st March