Unsettling, rich with seamless physicality and melancholic tableaux, the pupils from The City of London Academy certainly capture the poignancy of Sarah Kane’s final play. A rallying cry against ‘the chronic insanity of the sane’, as one of the nameless character’s calls out towards the conclusion of the piece, is the driving force of Kane’s narrative which follows no clear linear structure. The nature of the text therefore gives a director a certain amount of creative freedom and Paul Crisp takes full advantage of this. His choreography transitions well between moments of relentless despair and brief, tentative hope which instils in the production a sense of poetic progression.
Yet this vision couldn’t have been realised without the energy and concentration of the cast who, dressed all in black, carefully glide around the stage and work as a unit to create a variety of scenes. These range from a claustrophobic train as one by one characters branch off to stand on an imagined platform, waiting to jump, to a psychiatrist’s office where medication is prescribed with little compassion. However, the changes between these locations could be aided by the occasional blackout, as at times it seemed difficult for the actors to negotiate their way across the stage in full lighting.
Max Richter’s piano compositions play in the background, accompanying moments of dialogue, heightening the atmosphere within the room. On this note, however, I would add that although the overall standard of acting by these students making their theatrical debut was very impressive, there were moments when certain descriptions of mental illness were delivered with slightly too much vigour; certain lines could be more heart-rending if the language, alongside Richter’s evocative melodies, was left to speak for itself.
4:48 Psychosis, a play which revolves around aspects of depression and suicidal behaviour, is a challenging text to both direct and perform. Yet in both measures it is handled well and with grace. Watching students of such young age depict and explore the darkest realms of the human mind in a tender, empathetic manner, is the defining feature of this production.
