Watching "4.48 Psychosis"

On 16th September 2007, I had the opportunity to watch a play at the KLPac. The title of then play is “4.48 Psychosis” which was directed by Gavin Yap a young and talented actor/director. I was really excited and am looking forward to watch this play as that was my first time going to watch a play. The play was written by Sarah Kane who was a British play writer who commits suicide by hanging herself in the hospital where she was treated for severe depression. So, it was no surprised that this play is about a woman who suffered from mental anguish and psychological distress, a condition that relates closely to the playwright herself. To describe my experience watching the play, to start with, the stage doesn’t look like the typical theatre stage, like how I imagine it, with high stage located in front of the hall facing the audience. It’s rather a unique stage where it was located in the middle of the hall to which audiences sat around to. The play consists of three characters that is the woman, the patient and the doctor which were acted by Susan Lancaster, Samantha Schubert and Malik Taufiq. Before the play started, I read the synopsis of the play and it helped me a lot in understanding the play. But I kind of regretted of doing it because my understanding of the play has been set from reading the synopsis and it didn’t allow me to have my own interpretation. Even though I read the play’s synopsis before hand, I still have problems trying to figure out the meaning of some of the dialogues and monologues. I was really impressed with the actors’ acting. It was superb! Their acting was so real and honest. I was blown away by the way they project their voice. Their voice is so loud (but they’re not shouting) and clear it filled the hall and it sounds as if they’re using microphones. The use of a lot of lighting plays an important role in this play as it helps to create the intense atmosphere and it also helps audience to experience the emotion turmoil in the characters. When the play was over, I feel depressed and uneasy. The play did affect me a little. All in all, I think this play is too intense and too deep for first timers but regardless I enjoyed my first experience watching a play and are looking forward to watch another play.