Once again our ‘’very professional’’ Armidale Drama & Musical Society (ADMS) has swept the boards with their latest ‘’Next to Normal’’ (N2N) musical tragedy showing the impact of modern medical practice on lay persons.
Director Cal Hunter met the challenge head-on and successfully conveyed the long term impact of a baby death on the subsequent lives of parents and other family through the cast of characters played by allegedly amateur performers, supported by the equally talented ‘’band’’ under the direction of Bruce Menzies.
Mother character Diana (Lana Howlett) was diagnosed with bi-polar syndrome early in life and the impact of the loss of her first borne son due to medical misdiagnosis makes up the thread of the play. A very strong, sympathetic performance of dealing with this tragedy, that won a standing ovation.
Father character Dan (James Meyer) is the devoted husband who has spent seventeen (17) years being the faithful supportive husband through the many family mood swing episodes. Dan is unable to hide the pain of realizing that his family life is disintegrating, despite his best efforts.
Daughter character Natalie (Belle Meyer) was delightful as the too often ignored teenage daughter, disconnected from her parents as Dan concentrates on supporting his wife while too often seeming to ignore his daughter.
Boyfriend character Henry (Hadi Hussein) plays the Gen X male, not enthused by much while discovering his adulthood. The teenage ’’ghost’’ character Gabe (Michael Harrell) haunts the set and the audience until the dramatic climax, with a strong performance.
The medical fraternity are represented by Dr Fine (Sarah Meyer) and Dr Madden (Justin Senior) both characters dedicated to ’modern’ medical practices of pill popping, and ECG ’brain-burning’. The irrelevance of these procedures to the conclusion of the unresolved underlying trauma is very stark.
The two level set created by Pat Bradley & Team was an ingenious expansion of an otherwise limited stage area, well lit (Nathan Mark) with adequate sound (Carolyn Shepherd) to show off the choreography of Sarah Gibson Meyer.
This N2N script by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt was first performed in 2008 and presents a serious indictment of modern medical practice on individuals subjected to misdiagnosis, mal-prescription and procedural mal-practice. These too frequent ‘’social maladies’’ have continued unabated since.
This production deserves all the accolades it receives and continues the 60 year tradition of fine performances by ‘’Armidale amateurs’’ in the Armidale Playhouse Theatre. Well done everybody!!
Got something on your mind? Go on then, engage. Submit your opinion piece, letter to the editor, or Quick Word now.