Writer: Dee Taylor-Thompson
Director: Dee Taylor-Thompson
The term ‘narcissist’ can get used quite casually, but in a therapeutic context it has a far darker meaning than someone who is quite self-regarding.
In the opening section of Dee Taylor-Thompson’s new play The Mind Of A Narcissist, we’re bombarded with clinical explanations of how narcissism works. While these come across as rather abstract, the drama then opens out and presents recognisible examples of this type of emotionally abusive behaviour.
For anyone who’s been affected by narcissism, this is bound to be triggering to some extent, but the play is designed to reassure them that they’re not alone. It’s important to stress that help and support is available, not least via talking therapies. The play carries an age guideline of 12-plus.
In the story presented here, Eva (Katherine Howell) and her aunt Bonnie (Paula-Jane De Boer) are constantly wrongfooted by Emma (Nicki Rochford), the other aunt who has stepped in to raise Eva following her mother’s death.
Emma repeatedly generates conflict, then persuades the well-meaning parties that they’ve caused the argument. However hard they try to make things better, they only get worse.
Long-term, as the play tells us, people repeatedly subjected to this kind of manipulation are pushed into a dilemma: do they keep trying to resolve these situations or walk away?
In a powerful if slightly confusing innovation, Dee Taylor-Thompson herself plays Emma’s Mind as a separate role. Other cast members make up a chorus that repeats key themes, neatly alluding to the repeating pattern of narcissistic traits.
The play covers a lot of ground in a short space of time. In the end, the real losers in all the unwanted drama are the narcissists themselves. Here, it’s suggested that Emma behaves as she does because of feelings of exclusion by her siblings during childhood. It’s made clear that this may be a reason, but it’s not an excuse.
This is all very raw, both emotionally and as a spectacle. Thomford Theatre have put together a brave piece of social education that also mostly works as a piece of theatre, carrying some important messages.
Runs until 12 August 2023 | Image: Contributed
1 Comment
I saw this in my fortnight at the Fringe as one of my 37-show selection. I rated it 2/5. It felt more exhausting than entertaining. Adrian, yes I also felt bombarded by the opening scene. It felt instructional as if the writer googled the term ‘narcissist’ and mashed a string of taglines together.
Auntie Bonnie was good. She gave a sensitive and gut wrenching performance and she has earned the shows its 2 stars. Beyond the aunts and Eva, the other characters crowded out the stage and egos felt competitive.
I agree with you about the weak ‘mind’ character. It felt unnecessary and unfortunately the stage hog actress playing it left a lot to be desired in terms of range and reason.
Leaving the theatre I felt disappointed that the execution of the show did not meet its promise. It’s such a shame I felt gaslit by something that claimed to demonstrate a public health message.
On a positive note was the age and body diversity of the show. We are still in a time where many performers still tend to be stick-thin and unrealistically young for the roles they are playing. In this show ‘the mind’ and Emma embraced the positivity of being middle aged and plus sized figures. They were joined by two other older actors giving a nice overall age range.
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