Terry Johnson’s Hysteria: Rollicking, Poignant, Yet Schizophrenic

Terry Johnson’s Hysteria: Rollicking, Poignant, Yet Schizophrenic

From the Times

3.5/5

At the Hampstead, Terry Johnson’s tightly scripted Hysteria, essentially a farce playing on the thin, blurry lines of early 20^th-century psychology, surrealism, and sexuality offers a potpourri of theatrical moments.

At the outset, Paul Pyant’s lighting warmly suffuses Sigmund Freud’s lush, jewel-toned 1938 Hampstead study, designed by Lez Brotherston. In tandem with the sound for the production, which combines Gareth Owen’s effects and composer Colin Towns’ original music, the detailed richness of the setting impresses immediately. As the psychological action progresses, transitions further reveal the dramatic genius of this team.

Terry Johnson’s writing incorporates historical detail and attention to the real-life personalities and psyches of both Sigmund Freud and Salvador Dalí. Peppered with hysterical physical comedy and clever jokes revolving around Freud’s tenuous theories, Hysteria nevertheless reposes at poignant moments on the themes of sexuality, abuse, old age, and self-reflection.

Directed by Johnson himself, performances within the lush set support at their best and undermine at their worst both the comedy and the drama in this taut script. Antony Sher’s Freud and Lydia Wilson’s Jessica, often opposite each other, polarize the performance. Frantic scrambles across the stage are charged with spontaneous exuberance. Manic bouts for each character, softer for Freud and rougher for Jessica, take the breath away with their striking, vulnerable intensity. At other moments, however, both actors fall into delivery that merely carries the action forward. Their voices often fall in predictable, almost unnatural cadences and the delivery of the first scene is painfully bland. Peculiarly, there seems to be little overarching principle one moment to the next as to which scenes are dull and which lively or impressive.

Though Freud and Jessica share the touching moments, the comedy of Adrian Schiller’s Dalí helps to break the slower moments, infusing a welcome balm of absurdity. Schiller both acts physical comedy and delivers colorful Spanish commentary with with bravado. While an appropriate and often effective interpretation, moments tempering this aggressive masculinity might offer more nuance. Still, this assertive authority adds to Dalí’s almost mystical presence toward the end of the play. Portraying Dr. Yahuda with subtle comedy and tender sympathy, David Horovitch’s performance possesses the smooth consistency absent with the rest of the cast, effectively facilitating perhaps the one voice of reason among a host of agitated characters.

At its best and especially as it nears its climax, at the Hampstead Terry Johnson’s Hysteria, is a thought-provoking work. Despite inconsistencies in execution and a sprinkling of slow moments, boisterous comedy erupts from absurd interplay between characters. Meanwhile, intricacies continue to unfold even after the show has ended, inspired by the truly touching moments of poignant reflection on Freud’s theories and, more relevant today, the subjects he attempted to explain. Perhaps among a group of hysterics, a little inconsistency, not a little humour, and some deep revelations are to be expected.