It is always great to see movies, plays and television shows featuring characters with mental illnesses as it helps to raise awareness within the general population. Unfortunately there are also occasions where such characters are portrayed as being "psycho" or "weirdos" because of their condition which is not helpful at all.
A current example of a positive portrayal of mental illness however, is the Melbourne Theatre Company's play Next to Normal. It tells the story of a mother, Diana, who has bipolar disorder and how her condition affects her family.
The play itself has won many awards including 3 Tony Awards and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. This has given it a high profile and has caused large crowds to go and see it.
Like most theatrical productions the play is fictitious and as such Diana's experience of living with a mental illness is not exactly true to life. What the play does do though is raise issues such as the difficulty of finding a treatment option that suits you, as well as the difficulty from both the sufferers perspective and the family's perspective in truly understanding mental illness and the impact it is having on a person's life.
Regardless of how true to life this production is, its exploration of the impact of mental illness is a positive step forward.
Next to Normal is currently showing at the Arts Centre in Melbourne's Playhouse Theatre and has been extended until the June 4, 2011.
Links:
Next to Normal Wikipedia Page
Radio National's All in the Mind featuring Next to Normal
Videos from the American production of the show
No comments:
Post a Comment