Maladjusted isn’t a usual kind of play.
For one thing, it was created and is performed by mental health patients and caregivers — the performance centres on scenarios where the medical system fails patients.
For another thing, it is interactive. The actual play takes about half an hour, then it is performed again with people in the audience asked to replace the characters. The remaining audience contributes ways to humanize the care played out on stage.
“The play builds to a crisis and then stops. It offers no solutions,” said David Diamond, the play’s director. It is up to the audience to supply possible solutions.
Maladjusted is making a one-night stop in Squamish on its 26-city tour through the province this January.
A community action report for the Sea to Sky Corridor will come out of what is learned at the Squamish event.
“We will have a person in the audience who is taking the notes,” said Sea to Sky Community Services’ Nicole McRae.
“The idea being that each community gets a chance to state what the hoped policy change could be that would effect change in our specific community.”
The event is open to everyone, but it is adult-themed, appropriate for those 14 years and older, according to McRae.
Diamond said this play, and plays in general, are a more powerful medium for dealing with complex social issues than simple discussions because audiences relate better to theatre performances.
“Theatre is a symbolic language and we humans think in symbols, and theatre is also an emotional language and what motivates us isn’t intellectualized ideas, but how we feel,” he said.
The issues raised in the performance have an impact on everyone, to some degree or another.
“All of us are somehow affected by the mechanization of the medical system,” he said.
According to Diamond, a lot of learning and sharing of issues goes on throughout the play.
“In the mental health world, inside families, much like with other issues, what happens in the family stays within the family and so there are lots of things inside the play that lots of different audience members actually share, but don’t talk about,” he said.
The hope is audience members come away realizing they are not alone with whatever problems they may have, that no one needs to be ashamed of having a problem and that there are ways to humanize care, Diamond said.
Diamond said while the event sounds very heavy, the audience has a lot of fun too.
“There is a tremendous amount of laughter inside the event, even though the issues are very serious,” he said.
The Sea to Sky Suicide Prevention Working group is sponsoring the play, with support from Squamish Rotary and the Squamish Nation.
Proceeds from ticket sales will go towards suicide prevention training in the Sea to Sky corridor.
Maladjusted will be in Squamish on Jan. 27 at Totem Hall. Doors open at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 through EventBrite.ca or at the door. For more information call 604-892-5796 ext. 404.
