I’ve struggled with writing this review, as I have in the past when I’ve felt that the line between entertaining and educating are blurred in a production. In creating “A Night with Me, Myself and Bipolar Brenda”, actress and writer Natasha Rae has used her own experiences with bipolar disorder and anxiety to paint a brutally honest picture of how she experiences life and motherhood under the cloud of mental illness. Rae is passionate and engaging, her manic energy on stage mirroring the periods of mania she has experienced as part of her illness over the years. She reflects on the impact bipolar has had on her loved ones, covers her coping mechanisms as well as her darker times which felt refreshing, and washes the show through with a thorough dose of self-deprecating humour.
That isn’t to say, though, that as an audience you’re in for an evening of laughs. As a trigger warning, the show deals with suicide (and contains a bucket load of swearing, in case you’re not into that) and Rae’s obvious struggles are vividly brought to life right in front of our eyes. At times it feels like you’re experiencing a breakdown with her, which isn’t for the faint hearted. As an ambassador for Bipolar UK, she also uses the play as a platform to highlight the failings of the mental health system and makes an impassioned plea to the audience to do more, to help to change the system and to care more about each other. Rae is, understandable, angry about being failed and seeing her son be failed, but at times it felt like her anger was being directed at the audience rather than wanting us to be her allies – which is certainly where I would rather be.
Rae’s relationship with her son is at the centre of the show and Rae’s decision to bring him on stage at the end of the performance certainly brings home the reality of what she has been describing to us. For me it felt like a fitting way to spend Mental Health Day and I hope that Rae achieves her mission to educate more people about bipolar and compassion. That said, this is a production for which I’d advise some audience discretion and not one I’d recommend to all theatre goers.
Reviewer: Zoe Meeres
Reviewed: 11th October 2023
North West End UK Rating: