You shall go to the ball: who can forget the nerves, tenterhooks, endless hours of anticipation and gazing into mirrors. Will he . . .? Will she . . .? It's Trinity Ball time in 1968, and a gifted, impoverished music student has invited the woman of his dreams to accompany him. She's a beautiful Anglo-Irish heiress, somewhat out of his league, and he's badly smitten - no, obsessed. He has begun to experience hallucinations and delusions, and it's clear that he is developing a mental illness. When one of his psychotic episodes occurs at the ball, the repercussions affect him and his friends for years afterwards. Gavin Kostick's new play, The Asylum Ball, was specially commissioned for Calypso Theatre by the company's artistic director, Bairbre Ni Chaoimh. The title comes from the 19th-century custom of holding balls in "lunatic asylums", to which the inmates' family members and friends were invited, so that the mentally ill and the sane could mingle freely. Bairbre Ni Chaoimh has been researching the subject of mental illness, in particular schizophrenia, for the past year.
"I've got to know people with schizophrenia and now know that it has nothing to do with split personalities, which is the general misconception. Most people with schizophrenia are living in the community, perhaps in some form of supported housing, rather than in institutions. They are also more likely to be the victims of violence than the perpetrators. "I worked with Pathways theatre company (which includes people with schizophrenia) last year, exploring these issues, and decided to pursue them further. I consulted specialists in the field of mental health, such as Dr Geraldine Swift at the Mater Hospital, and the GP Dr Austin O'Caroll."
Initially, Ni Chaoimh had hoped to stage the show in St Patrick's Hospital, Dublin, but it was impractical. Instead, it will run for two weeks in the SFX, which she's pleased about, since "it's such a Dublin story, set all around that part of town". Although she worked closely with Gavin Kostick on the script in the early stages, it is very definitely his play, she says. Having observed his prolific output as a writer and director, she thought he would be "the ideal person to write this. He has great sensitivity, as you can see in a play like The Ash Fire, and he also understands extremes of behaviour."
Spanning four decades, from the late 1960s to the present day, The Asylum Ball incorporates specially composed music - almost a soundtrack - by Trevor Knight, who worked with Ni Chaoimh before, when she directed Donal O'Kelly's Catalpa: The Movie. "Trevor had to write music for two young bands, one in the 1960s, one in the present day, which will be performed live. That meant we had to find actors who were also musicians. The show is full of music, and spectacle." Ni Chaoimh is "incredibly excited" by the stage imagery, which she hopes will transform the SFX space, which proved possible last year for the Dublin Theatre Festival highlight, Cloudstreet. Dolores Lyne's set design exploits the imaginative possibilities of entering into the heightened consciousness of someone whose perception of the world is distorted. The costumes, designed by Marie Tierney and Japanese fashion designer Kei Ito, are sumptuously theatrical: in the Trinity Ball hallucination scene a vast ball gown appears on stage with windows opening in the folds, through which faces peer out.
Anyone who saw Ni Chaoimh's superb touring production of Yerma last year for Galloglass will know that she takes an adventurous approach to staging: increasingly she is interested in incorporating puppetry and dance in her productions. "I'm learning all the time," she says. As a director she wants to keep breaking new ground and experimenting; as an actor of 20 years' experience (most recently seen in Rough Magic's The Whisperers) she watches and learns from other directors, pleased to be temporarily relieved of the responsibility of maintaining an overview of all aspects of the production.
Calypso Theatre, which Ni Chaoimh joined as artistic director last year, is committed to presenting theatre productions that explore issues of social justice, human rights and equality. So, can we expect to be preached at? "We are raising awareness of social issues, but it's not agit prop," Ni Chaoimh says firmly. "I hate that. I'm more interested in the human stories. With The Asylum Ball, I wanted to present a love story, a young person's story, which also delves into the experience of mental illness." Three weeks into rehearsals, it's obvious that she is totally immersed in the creative process. "It's hard to believe it will all come to an end after the two-week run. It has been such an exciting collaboration, with no egos. It has been an adventure from start to finish."
The Asylum Ball runs at the SFX from September 20th-30th
