Woman in Mind

Synopsis

Susan has to cope with an appallingly boring husband, an interfering sister-in-law who specialises in burnt omelettes, and a son who ran away to join a non-speaking cult in Hemel Hempstead. Unfulfilled and largely ignored, she conjures up the ideal family - a dashing husband, a heroic brother and a simply super daughter, a dream team who love and cherish her, admire her talents and play tennis a lot! But problems begin when the dream family acquire a mind of their own, throwing Susan into an alarming fantasy which begins to spiral out of control.

Our Review:

10 September 2008

Sir Alan Ayckbourn has, apparently, wanted for some years to revive his 1986 play, Woman in Mind, and cast Janie Dee in the lead. The current Scarborough production proves him right on both counts. The play is still current, disturbing, challenging and very funny, and Dee triumphs with a superlative performance.

Like much of Ayckbourn’s work, Woman in Mind operates on shifting sand: as soon as the audience thinks it understands the situation, the ground moves. Susan, a well-educated, smartly-dressed middle-class woman, wakes from unconsciousness in her garden, with a doctor in attendance. Their conversation is contradictory, at cross purposes. When he leaves, her “husband” Andy and an ideal family leap gaily on stage, celebrating her perfect life in perfect surroundings.

Soon, however, it becomes apparent that her actual family consists of a prosy, if well-intentioned, middle-aged vicar, Gerald, his widowed sister Muri...

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Latest User Review

Benedict Jameson - 12 September 2008:

I saw Woman In Mind on Tuesday night and think it's one of the best things I have ever seen of Alan Ayckbourn's. It is very funny as well as being very disturbing. Janie Dee is brilliant and deserves every award going for it. The rest of the cast are perfect and I thought the 'imaginary' family were very funny as well as terrifying. I came to Scarborough especially to see this as I wanted to be sure to catch it as I don't know if there are plans for it to transfer; surely it has to? It has 'hit' written all over it. I urge everyone to try and see it. ...

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