Review: Sheridan Smith and Romesh Ranganathan in Woman In Mind at Sunderland Empire
Olivier award-winning Sheridan Smith and multi award-winning comedian Romesh Ranganathan are starring in Alan Ayckbourn's twisted psychological drama Woman In Mind at Sunderland Empire
Susan, after a bump to her head, sees her world split in two – one very mundane and the other fantastical but, as time goes on, the lines start to blur. Woman in Mind premiered in 1985 at Stephen Joseph Theatre in the Round, Scarborough, at a time when women’s mental health was taken less seriously than it is today, and Alan Ayckbourn focuses on Susan’s feeling of invisibility and wanting to be heard and seen. It’s great to see this revival showing in the North of England once more.
Romesh (playing Bill, Susan’s doctor) opens this production with some of the most difficult dialogue we’ve heard in a while, talking incomprehensibly in nonsensical English, so we’re immediately aware of Susan’s fractured mind, and some of these odd statements become important later in the play.
For much of act one the safety curtain hides the majority of the stage, an interesting choice which leaves an intimate space for performance as figures from Susan’s imagined life appear from behind the curtain. When the full set of a maze of foliage is revealed, we remain in Susan’s garden where she bumped her head, but the lines between reality and fantasy blur as the characters move around on stage.
Despite a spectacular rain scene and disorientating sound in act two, the setting itself is simplistic with good reason. A largely conversational play, it doesn’t need bells and whistles. Sheridan’s endearing performance of a mentally fragile woman battling her unravelling mind and Romesh’s faultless comedic timing throughout complement the fantastic ensemble and their quirky characters. The ensemble is an impressive lineup including Tim McMullan (best known for playing Atticus Pünd in the BBC mystery dramas Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders) as Gerald and Chris Jenks (as seen on screen in Sex Education and Robin Hood) as Tony.
This play, which is very much of its time, leaves you constantly on edge and always questioning what’s real and what’s not, but it’s somehow still very funny, and Sheridan’s intense performance is unsurprisingly the star of the show.
