IT'S beginning to seem as though every young theatre-maker in Scotland should be issued with a large sign to hang over his or her desk: "It's not about you!" The idea of this would be to discourage any more navel-gazing shows about the creative proc
ess, and its moral dilemmas.
Mark Westbrook's first full-length piece, after an early career focused mainly on directing is staged as part of this month's Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, and it approaches its subject with impressive flair, competence and energy.
It tells the story of David, a young man being admitted to mental hospital for the first time, and of his encounters with his doctor, and with fellow patients, Katie and Luke. All three inmates are played with real pace, passion and intelligence by Steven Rae, Ceejay Watt and Simon Conlon.
The only problem is that after a cracking first 15 minutes, it emerges that David is not really a patient at all, but a naïve young conceptual artist seeking material for a project – a self-portrait, if you like, of the artist as an exploitative young fool.
The play largely switches its focus, in other words, from an important subject that really matters – mental health, its meaning, and the scandalous neglect of those who struggle with the lack of it – to the kind of commonplace and increasingly repetitive critique of the indulgences of conceptual art that any fool can write, and any fool agree with.
The result is a promising play in terms of form and technical achievement; but a wasted opportunity in terms of substance, despite some sharp perceptions, and memorable moments.
The full article contains 284 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
