• Advertise
  • Request Review
  • Write for Us
  • Privacy
  • Login

Theatre Bubble

The UK Theatre Network

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Reviews
  • News
  • Features
  • Spotlight
  • Opinions
  • Interviews
  • Guides

My Perfect Mind- the experience of not- Young Vic

September 10, 2014 by Verity Healey Leave a Comment

Review of: My Perfect Mind
Price:
£10/£19.50

Reviewed by: Verity Healey
Rating:
5
On September 10, 2014
Last modified:September 12, 2014

Summary:

The play’s a great teacher and has some wonderful comic moments

More Details

My Perfect Mind, just opening at the Young Vic is an essay upon the nature of truth and reality [the battle between magic and reality both in our minds and the theatre] illusion and hyper reality and plays around with notions of identity expectations.

It’s based on Edward Petherbridge’s real life history [here playing himself]and charts the actor’s 2007 journey to New Zealand to fulfill his lifelong ambition to play King Lear, only to suffer a paralyzing stroke two days into rehearsal. What follows is a series of dramatic and comedic associative events as Edward Petherbridge, metamorphosing into Lear and back again and supported by a dynamic Paul Hunter playing a series of fall guy characters from a German Psychiatrist to a Romanian Shakespeare academic, zips back and forth in time and particularly so, to the moment when his mother, just two days before his own birth, suffered a similar crippling stroke in Yorkshire.

What is our experiential truth and how does that manifest itself in contrast with an objective [if any, as we can only perceive according to our level of consciousness] perception of reality? At one point Edward Petherbridge tries to answer, relating how, in a play at the National Theatre, he was suddenly aware that out there, beyond the confines of the auditorium, were courts and hospitals and the Houses of Parliament- real lawyers, real doctors but yet, the realness for him- the supposed hyper reality of the imaginary world he was in- contained the real stillness and the real truth. The issue of identity and the expectations that go with that is also raised. At first Paul Hunter’s psychiatrist claims the actor is suffering from King Lear Syndrome- someone who believes he is Lear. But later it turns out he has Edward Petherbridge syndrome instead. A comment on the ego perhaps, its expectations of itself and desperate need to create sense and meaning? A rejection or discarding of one identity in favor of another when it feels appropriate? Who is who?

OMPM6ther reviews have suggested that the Edward Petherbridge/ King Lear/ Fool dynamic in this 90-minute comic two hander wonderfully directed by Kathryn Hunter, is a comment on the universal foolish man who would be king but it’s even simpler than that, as it suggests that the king and the fool reside alongside each other in us all. As My Perfect Mind wonderfully exemplifies then [the trick being the mind is perfect simply because it isn’t], the nature of one’s own reality [and hyper reality] and truth, depends on individual perceptions of and reactions to external events and therefore determines which character one decides to be- the self, the king, the fool or all three.

Edward Petherbridge gets his magic in the end and is King Lear but it’s a magic fashioned and derived from the detritus of a tragic event that could have turned out differently if other perceptions and choices were made. The play’s a great teacher and has some wonderful comic moments and is a nice complement to the Young Vic’s main house show, A Streetcar Named Desire, where the longing for a different kind of magic hyper reality has disastrous consequences.

My Perfect Mind runs until 27 September at the Young Vic

A Told by an Idiot, Young Vic and Theatre Royal Plymouth co-production

Created by Told by an Idiot

 

book tickets

further reading

 

Written by Kathryn Hunter, Paul Hunter and Edward Petherbridge

 

Direction – Kathryn Hunter

Design – Michael Vale

Light- Alex Wardle for Charcoalblue

Sound- Gregory Clarke

Associate Director- Mia Theil Have

Script Consultant- Kathleen Riley

Touring Production Manager- Andy Beardmore

Company Stage Manager- Carol Pestridge

Technical Stage Manager- Rachel Bowen

Author: Verity HealeyI write about theatre, I write short stories/ poetry www.verityhealey.blogspot.com, I also sometimes make films.

Filed Under: Review Tagged With: Edward Petherbridge, Kathryn Hunter, My Perfect Mind, Paul Hunter, Told By An Idiot

Join the discussion Cancel reply

NEWS / Japanese Romeo and Juliet to the songs of Queen announced

Coming to Sadler’s Wells in September as part of its world tour, A Night At The Kabuki is a retelling [Read More]

INTERVIEW / Paul O’Donnell talks about Shoot Festival

Shoot Festival returns this year with a mix of commissioned pieces and showcases of the best of Coventry’s arts scene. [Read More]

Review / The Man who Knew Too Much at Omnibus Theatre

A packed Omnibus Theatre lapped up the entertaining antics of The Man Who Knew Too Much. Co-Director and Co-writer Olivia [Read More]

Spotlight / Inua Ellams at 05Fest Lewisham

Inua Ellams, the Albany and WE ARE LEWISHAM  presents………. 05Fest, 10 – 19 March Poetry takes front and centre stage [Read More]

Review / Eng-er-land at the Alleyn Theatre

This new play, Eng-er-land  kicked off a UK tour with its opening performance in the Alleyn Theatre at Dulwich College [Read More]

Top Posts & Pages

  • 10 Tips to Help You Prepare for Your Reality TV Auditions
  • 5 Stage Elements to Consider for a Rousing Theatrical Production
  • Paul Hegarty in conversation with INK Festival,East Anglia
  • Japanese Romeo and Juliet to the songs of Queen announced
  • Ben Lloyd-Hughes in Kiss Me
  • After All This- Ovalhouse
  • How to Applying for Arts Grants and Funding
  • Blasted- Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
  • Katy Owen: Auditioning for Oxford School of Drama
  • Caldonia Walton talks to us about ALEX
  • Verity Healey
    Author

  • September 10th, 2014
  • comment iconNo Comments
  • FacebookTweetLinkedInEmail

    Newsletter

    Enjoyed what you've read? Get even more great content directly to your inbox - Completely Free

    About Theatre Bubble

    Theatre Bubble is the news, review and blogging site created by Blue Pie Media and run by a dedicated team of outstanding editors and writers: we're always looking for new contributors - to find out more click here.

    Contact Us

    News: news@theatrebubble.com
    Reviews: reviews@theatrebubble.com
    Website: webmaster@theatrebubble.com

    Privacy Policy

    Copyright © 2022 · Blue Pie Media

     

    Loading Comments...
     

      Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

      Email sent!