Susan Woman in Mind is a play about a woman slowly losing her grip on reality. She has reached a sexual, social and intellectual crossroads. She is a vicar's wife who has fancifully invented another family straight out of a 1950s magazine: a husband with a white suit, a slightly mischievous brother and a lovely daughter who adores her. Her family are, in fact, an extremely gloomy set of people, but I wrote the play from this woman's point of view, inviting the audience to empathise with her. In the end the woman has a breakdown and just closes down altogether, which is very upsetting. There are moments towards the end, immediately before Susan goes into what I call a supernova state, when the whole thing gets very bright and it's like Alice in Wonderland, completely dotty, when you get a glimpse, just for a second, of the real Gerald. There are still a lot of things wrong with him, but we begin to see his point of view - that he is dealing with a woman he doesn't understand because he doesn't recognise mental instability as an illness.

The play was first performed in 1985 and it seems a very good time to revive it with so much talk about mental health and the tragedies which it can cause. There are suggestions that social media has a lot to answer for, and that’s probably correct, but that was not available in 1985. The problem has been around much longer than we would care to believe. We can only hope that this play will bring it even more to the fore—whatever the reason, it’s a frighteningly tragic story, but an impressively spellbinding production as we follow this deeply disturbed woman on her journey. The final shred of reality is when Muriel says "The ambulance is on its way", and a blue light flashes. Susan's speech descends into the same gibberish Bill used at the beginning of the play, and, with a desperate request to "December bee", she collapses a final time. Andy, Susan's imaginary husband, handsome, devoted, master cook, and everything missing from Gerald;It’s important to emphasise that Susan must always appear quite ordinary. It's a difficult quality sometimes for an actress to catch. Most people who want to act are quite extraordinary!. We should never get the feeling - what's this remarkable woman doing putting up with all this? Coming across like a companion piece to Anthony Neilson's The Wonderful World of Dissocia, Woman in Mind is a funny and unsettling vision of mental ill health, its cosy rituals of family life acting as a thin veneer to cover Susan's awful inner torment. The woman is Susan; neglected by her insensitive, loud-mouthed husband Gerald and rejected by their only son, the poor woman feels useless and hopeless. Is it surprising that she invents an ideal loving family with an enviable lifestyle and a dwelling with vast grounds compete with lake, tennis courts and swimming pool. This new family become reality to her, so real that they actually appear surrounding her with love and acclaim, a different world for her to escape her unhappy life. For a long time she is between the two worlds, but gradually they intertwine, sometimes confusingly but eventually, and tragically, the imaginary world takes over and refuses to leave. The central character in Woman in Mind is, of course, Susan. She is a housewife who, in reality, is neglected by her husband, patronised by her sister-in-law, and estranged from her son. In her own imaginary world, by contrast, she is happy, successful, and loved by her perfect family. Susan remains on-stage throughout the play, and everything seen and heard on stage is what is seen and heard by Susan, both real and imagined.

As Susan, Sally Hartley gives one of the most astonishing performances in local theatre it has ever been my pleasure to witness. Measured, believable, truthful, both vulnerable and strong and utterly convincing. Tony, Susan's imaginary young brother, again devoted, mischievous, and presumably compensation for Gerald's devotion to Muriel; and As Lucy tries to comfort her, it becomes obvious that Susan’s Family draw their own lives from Susan’s experiences. Confused by all that is happening, Susan tells Lucy to go away and confronts Gerald about their relationship. He walks away from her and Andy appears; Susan futilely telling him to go away, leading to a disturbing confrontation in which it becomes unclear who is controlling who in Susan’s mind. Andy departs, leaving Susan shaken but convinced that she has rid herself of the Family. Now late at night and during a thunderstorm, Gerald comes looking for Susan. While they have slept, his manuscript has been set alight and a message has been left on Muriel’s ceiling purporting to be from her dead husband. Unable to cope with her behaviour any more, Gerald leaves Susan who is having a complete breakdown. Lost in her own world as she attends Lucy’s wedding, events become more grotesque and she begins speaking the same strange language she heard Bill speaking at the start of the play. Delivering a final speech, her now intertwined fantasy and real families abandon her until she is alone in darkness, pleading ’December Bee’ (remember me) lit only by the siren light of an ambulance.

Comedy and tragedy work closely together and here it is mainly provided by Gerald’s sister Muriel (Stephanie Jacob). Her attitude and resentful ‘put upon’ demeanour are a joy to watch as she stomps on and off stage. Recently widowed, she is now living with them and has brought along her husband’s spirit, sure that he will appear to her one day. If he remembers her ‘surprise omelette’, he will probably keep well clear. It could be that which finished him off. There is a lovely, understated comedy in Matthew Cottle’s doctor Bill, although a little too much time was spent on ‘entertaining’ an invisible child with a handkerchief mouse. Most of my plays at some level are autobiographical. I think Woman in Mind , in the end, is no more and no less than many others.

At the time of going to press a high wall of secrecy surrounds this project. Some have the theory that the reason for this is to protect such highly original comic material from the risk of plagiarism. Others, more cynical, suggest that it could be due to the fact that the author hasn't started on it yet and is anxious not to commit himself. And when she comes round, hemmed in by the silver birches of Ti Green's set, looming like a sinister extension of her troubled mental state, something significant has changed. She has acquired a pristine English accent. The grim reality is very different: husband Gerald (clergyman's son Paul Toy) is a self-obsessed priggish vicar, always in another room writing his interminably dull, interminably long parish history since 1387. They have reached the separate bed stage already. His protagonist, Susan (Sally Hartley), following a concussion, finds herself embraced by the perfect fantasy family, a stark contrast to her patronising and distracted husband, Gerald (Pete Woodward) and her nightmarish sister-in-law, Muriel (Sarah Parnell). Right from the outset the eerie lighting courtesy of the excellent technical team creates an atmosphere of otherworldliness and confusion, and the minimalist staging perfectly complements this focus on lighting to allow the imagination of Susan to be externally portrayed in a vivid and alluring way. Whilst the first act may have benefited from a change in lighting to give more momentum to the gradually developing plot, the second act marvellously manipulates lighting and staging to enhance the psychological themes and characters’ interactions, resulting in a highly charged and vivid act that brings out the true life of the characters and the issues that shape the play.If after forgiving you she acts uncaring toward you, it shows that she looks at the bad experiences as a painful one. You may keep this in mind and give her space and be as amicable you are able. A woman is more likely to forgive someone slowly while seeing how the offender behaves in the longer run. Many ladies approach happenings on an intuitive level, through emotional channels and try to understand the intents rather than trusting in the words alone (or at all). [3] X Research source Cast: Janie Dee, Perdita Avery, Stuart Fox, Bill Champion, Joanna David, Dominic Hecht, Paul Kemp, Martin Parr Hair growing, hens? Goosey? Gandy? Chair old? Hair shone? Tone show, fleas. Fleas, tone show. December bee? Choose ‘un. December choosey. December bee? December bee?

If the breach is great, seek a way of apology specifically for her and your specific shared circumstance. Synopsis: Like many other women in the UK, Susan lives with a boring, inconsiderate and unattractive husband. Like many other women, this drives her mad. Enter Susan's mind, where fantasy and reality collide with devastating and hilarious consequences. Woman in Mind tells the mesmerising tale of a woman's struggle with her imagination. There is plenty of enjoyment to be had from this moving production as the accomplished cast unravel Susan’s torment and appear to be talking nonsense! Director Andrew Caple and his technical team have produced an interesting garden setting complete with lawn, pots and trellis, while the sound technicians have excelled with tortuous magnified voices and weather effects. Wardrobe too have ensured the cast are appropriately well costumed. Because of the nature of this particular play, it is likely that some members of the audience will stop laughing before the others do. Generally, the women stopped earlier on!However, next to her fictional family, they are saints, as the trio, doting husband, Andy (Steve Burt), irrepressible brother Tony (Ben Tanner) and perfect daughter, Lucy (Kirsty Terry) lead us all into a darker, disturbing world. At first, the imaginary characters are distinguished from the real characters by their white summery outfits. However, as Susan's mind goes out of control, the real characters start entering Susan's imaginary world, until it is very difficult to tell what is real and what is pretend. Only this isn’t Susan’s real family. It is wish-fulfilment in the form of hallucination, the creation of a prettier home life where she is richer, smarter, and more loved by those around her. It is Susan’s reaction to a banal real-life home that is a terrifying amplification of many of the classic concerns of Middle England, complete with a loveless marriage and a son that no longer speaks to her.