The other day I went to watch the lovely Bateman and the rest of her Fourth Monkey crew in 4:48 Psycosis, a play written by Sarah Kane. Before going to watch I have admit that I was bracing myself for a bit of emotional turmoil throughout. The lines that Charles commonly quotes around the house such as 'at 4:48 it will end', 'you don't need a friend, you need a doctor' and 'fuck the lot of you' and some of the psychology books that she's been reading meant that I wasn't expecting it to be particularly uplifting and was scared that I may leave theatre with a scarred soul.
However, Fourth Monkey theatre company, who Charlie has been spending every waking hour with recently, did a phenomenally thought provoking interpretation of a script that seemed near impossible to work with at the beginning of the process.
Under what sounds like some directional genius from Steve and Dave, the spectacle produced was incredible. I've always been a fan of Miss Bate (and who wouldn't be) but she has flourished in this company, producing some of the best work I've seen her do, and I'd like to think I've seen her do quite a lot having studied drama at uni with her. The whole cast worked beautifully together to produce some stunning ensemble work (my fave was flash flicker guys, it was worth the pain) that really bought such a complex psychological exploration to life and to a point where the audience is able to understand and engage with it.
This teamed up with costumes and make up that all worked seamlessly with the interpretation, enhancing the sterile and clinical nature of the piece whilst still incorporating the fantasy world of Kane's Psychosis met for an all round brilliant piece of work.
I can safely say that every member of the cast is one to watch for the future, and having partied till the early hours of the morning with them last night, it couldn't be a bunch of nicer people.
Watch out for the monkeys... They'll be in Edinburgh this summer... I'm booking my ticket now.
