Though Youth Infringement Festival’s production of Reality shed light on the reality of living with mental illness, the play’s personification of the human psyche coupled with its choice of actors led to a puzzling execution.
Written by Victoria Ricciardelli and directed by Harley Wegner, Reality follows Psyche (Jennifer Omoike), as they deal with the realities of living with mental illness. Torment (Kate Addison), a physical embodiment of Psyche’s mental illness, attempts to exert its power on Psyche while dancing around, invisible to the characters onstage. When Torment succeeds, Psyche spirals into debilitating anxiety and panic, shriveling to the ground like a dying flower.
Eventually, Psyche seeks professional help from a psychiatrist, where the realities of the mental health system take centre-stage.
While Reality provided an honest depiction of the difficulties of navigating anxiety, it also bit off more than it could chew. Due to limited performance time and subpar acting, the play simply could not do this reality justice.
The time constraint of the play meant many experiences and perspectives were skimmed over. With more time, transitions between Psyche’s reality, memories and dreams could have been better developed to understand the progression of Torment’s control over Psyche. Reality focuses on one extreme, and then concludes by switching to the polar opposite. With extra time, the audience could have seen more of Psyche’s recovery, rather than just their suffering, as the play progressed.
Other than mentioning the protagonist is the embodiment of the human psyche in the play’s synopsis, there was nothing in the performance indicating this crucial detail. For those who hadn’t read over the synopsis ahead of time, Psyche would have appeared to be the average teenage girl—dressed in a crop top and sweatpants, dating, texting during online class and going to parties.
This prompts the question—was Psyche supposed to be human, or a human conscience? This detail could have been easily clarified in a brief introduction at the beginning of the play.
Despite confusion surrounding her character, Omoike skillfully portrayed the difficulties of living with a mental illness, navigating the complexities of functioning in public while living with anxiety. She impactfully brought the realities of those with mental illness to life onstage.
While Psyche’s depiction was confusing, that of Torment’s could not have been clearer. Clothed in all black with black and white makeup, Torment perfectly embodied the black-and-white thinking all too common for those with anxiety. Silently dancing around the stage, Torment snuck up to each character, making itself the only thing they could focus on while it subdued them.
Omoike and Addison’s stage chemistry provided a deep and intimate portrayal of Psyche and Torment’s complex connection. Torment is Psyche’s unwanted parasite. When enveloped in their antagonist’s darkness, Psyche appears smaller onstage, giving an honest depiction of mental health at its worst. Torment furthers this dynamic, portraying pitiable frustration when Psyche refuses to succumb to their darkness.
While some characters’ dynamics drew me in, others were underwhelming. Psyche’s dynamics with their partner, for example, left me disappointed. While Omoike’s stage presence was top notch, their partner (Nick Gray) didn’t seem as engaged onstage. It wouldn’t have mattered if Gray’s character was meant to be distraught by Psyche’s suffering, or completely unbothered by it, their nonchalance on stage felt entirely disconnected.
Reality delivered on addressing the disconnect between someone suffering and the outside world. On numerous occasions, Psyche clearly expressed how alone they felt, but their suffering was repeatedly ignored. They believed their friends would be better off without them, and that their partner was the only support they had in life.
When Psyche sought professional help, the psychiatrist (Owen McGowan) was more concerned with how Psyche answered questions on a mental health questionnaire than actually getting to the root of their suffering. Instead of offering affordable therapy options, which Psyche advocated for, he prescribed medication and emailed them online resources, depicting the gaps people in need of mental health support face while trying to access care.
Reality had many thought-provoking and inspiring elements through its portrayal of mental health. However, because it attempted to cover so much through its characters and storyline—and some actors simply did not deliver—the final product was lackluster. Possibly, with a longer performance and stronger actors, Reality could have been done justice.
Featured image provided by Youth Infringement Festival.
