Playwright Alan Ayckbourn is famous as a master of light comedy and social satire. He has a darker side, however. His 1985 play “Woman in Mind,” at The Edge Theater, deals in the hallucinations that are part of a middle-aged woman’s nervous breakdown and the disintegration of a family that likely played a part in that breakdown.
* * * Stars | Drama
The story takes place in an English garden over the course of 48 hours. While the performances are impressive, particularly that of Gina Walker as Susan, the woman losing her grip, the play itself feels long at two hours.
There is plenty to laugh at, notably the fumbling, tripping, spilling antics of Andrew Uhlenhopp as Dr. Bill Windsor, and the ridiculous pageant of Susan’s champagne swilling imaginary family, portrayed by Jeff Jesmer, Jack Wefso and Samara Bridwell. But beyond the laugh lines, there is tremendous tragedy in Ayckbourn’s depiction of the pain of mental illness.
Walker makes Susan’s loneliness and confusion understandable. Her sadness is painful to watch as she momentarily realizes her disconnect from her aloof husband Gerald (played with the right pomposity by Randy Diamon) and from rational thought.
While the play postulates that Susan’s mental confusion is the result of her having stepped on a garden rake and lost consciousness, a truer subtext slowly emerges. A lifetime of unbearable stress and disappointment, lack of fulfillment, a hollow marriage, empty mother-son relationship and tedium are probably more to blame than a konk on the head from a garden tool. If early-onset Alzheimer’s had been a common label in 1985, the play might have been better appreciated as a true tragedy.
Director Scott Bellot seems more invested in mining the humor than mourning the loss of sanity of the central character. He is more interested in exploring a woman’s “daydreams,” as he writes in the director’s notes, than identifying her dementia.
Walker, who never leaves the stage through the two acts, depicts Susan’s descent into madness with dignity. In fact, it’s difficult to comprehend the audience’s laughter at times as the psychotic symptoms mount.
Sound and light cues effectively suggest Susan’s state of mind. Clever set design allows for impressive weather-related waterworks. In all, this well-crafted production of “Woman in Mind” is more heartbreaking than it at first seems.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830, jostrow@denverpost.com or @ostrowdp
“WOMAN IN MIND”
By Alan Ayckbourn. Directed by Scott Bellot. With Gina Walker, Andrew Uhlenhopp, Kelly Uhlenhopp, Randy Diamon, Samara Bridwell, Jeff Jesmer, Jack Wefso and Jonathan Halo well. At The Edge Theater, 1560 Teller Street, Lakewood, through Nov. 15. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 6 p.m. Tickets $26. Call 303-232-0363 or online .
