Fringe Review: Mad

Jen Dalton has more courage than any playwright in Cincinnati. Putting part of her life on stage with the subject of mental illness is something few would do as openly.

I can’t express in words the level of emotion put into this play. The “voices” made you feel like you know how being schizophrenic feels, but not really. I can’t imagine anyone can know what it is like to have voices in your head, unless you have voices in your head.

New Stage Collective has a great space, there is just no other way to put it. The transformation to deal with the open window design was well done, along with reducing the seating.

It was interesting to see Michael McIntire in the cast. He is likely better known as the main person behind the Marmalade Brigade. He’s formerly of Foxy McCoy, another good local band that ended before its time.

The crowd was older than I expected, it was close to being mostly over 50 years old. That isn’t bad, but where is young crowd? I guess seeing the 7PM show on a Wednesday may have thrown the younger set off? I’ll judge that based on who comes out to Fringe Karaoke tonight.

UPDATE:I was a bit rushed last night in posting this and I neglected to add some more comments. Hats off the entire cast for a great performance, especially to Andrew Bernhard and Sue Breving who portrayed the love of a son and mother with a warmth wrapped inside a cover of pain.

Also a little advice to those going to the show, I would sit in the upper sections. Make sure you can see around the people in front of you. The second row on the audience left is not a good place to sit. I think I would have been able to appreciate the lighting affects more if I had been sitting up higher.

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