The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland

Overview

This mouthful of a show is an ambitious attempt to stage the first psychotic episodes of a mother and son. Its creators, UK company Ridiculusmus, have carved out a position as one of England's most exciting independent outfits. Here, they draw on a Finnish method of treatment called 'Open Dialogue'; one that holds that psychosis exists "between" people, rather than "within" individuals, and picks apart the nebulous web of relationships in which it lives.

Co-creator David Woods might be familiar to local audiences from his star turn as the "director" in Back to Back’s acclaimed 2011 Melbourne Festival offering Ganesh Versus The Third Reich. Just like so much of Back to Back's work, this sounds like the kind of show that only theatre can do; one that inhabits the form's unique ability to show multiple voices and bodies moving through both space and time — giving full expression to psychotic confusion and hallucination through split staging and polyphony.

If you think The Eradication of Schizophrenia in Western Lapland sounds a bit heavy, take some solace in the fact it's garnered rave reviews in its native England. Ridiculusmus were praised for their ability to find humour and tenderness in this darkest of subject matter.