This multimedia adaptation by Douglas Baker is based upon the real-life account of Nellie Bly of her spell in New York’s notorious Blackwell’s Island Asylum in 1887. It documents her initial unsuccessful attempts to be employed as a journalist by the misogynist editor of the New York World, John Cockerill, who, taking advantage of her youthful enthusiasm to pursue investigative stories, sent her undercover to be committed to the asylum as a patient. The abuses of patients that she uncovered were published in The World and led eventually to the closing down of the asylum, as well as to a surge in young female investigative journalists.
Although there are many characters in this story, there is only one actor, playing the role of Nellie Bly. Most of the other characters are portrayed through multimedia projections either onto the scrim screen, which separated the acting area from the audience, or onto the backdrop. The video projection was extremely slick and sophisticated: walls, doors, windows, maps and many other effects appeared smoothly, linked to sound effects played to the audience through headphones. The depiction of all the characters, except Nellie Bly, were not realistic. They were a mixture of sketchy, flashing outlines and puppets and, most bizarrely, the inmates of the asylum were represented by helium balloons tethered with string.
Lindsey Huebner gave a tour de force performance as Nellie Bly. She was confident, assured and convincing throughout the 90 minutes playing time. It could not have been easy performing to, and constrained by, the digital images that represented virtually everything else in the play.
So, a strong storyline, excellent acting by Huebner and a very impressive technical presentation should have made for a high-class performance. But the whole was less than the sum of its parts. The novelty of the digital presentation soon waned and became quite tedious. The scrim screen acted as a barrier between the actor and the audience, and the use of headphones, rather than creating an immersive experience, as advertised in the preshow publicity, had the effect of isolating audience members from each other. Theatre is, after all, a live experience, with actors performing in front of an audience. While modern digital techniques can be extremely effective in adding to the experience, in this case they were allowed to dominate to the point where they impinged on the effectiveness of the storytelling.
Playing until 2nd July, https://brockleyjack.co.uk/jackstudio-entry/ten-days-in-a-madhouse/
Reviewer: Paul Ackroyd
Reviewed: 16th June 2022
North West End UK Rating: ★★