THE DIVIDED LAING, or THE TWO RONNIES
Arcola Theatre, London E8

Opened 23 November, 2015
**

In Patrick Marmion’s play, radical psychiatrist R.D. Laing faces a dual crisis.  Externally, it involves the imminent dissolution of his Kingsley Hall community where the mentally ill could have free behavioural rein and in effect treat themselves by letting it all out. Inwardly, Laing also confronts the implications of this for his general philosophy that what is called mental illness is in fact a coping mechanism amid a disordered society. It being the fag-end of the ’60s, this set-to occurs through the medium of an almighty acid trip, which in part sends him to 2015 to argue with an alternative Laing who has seen the error of his ways. (The real Laing remained an alternative figure until his death in 1989.)

Marmion knows his theatre (he is the junior drama critic of the Daily Mail), and knows what he wants here. The trouble is that he goes for it too hard. Most fatally, the Ronnie Laing of the play isn’t really divided at all. The RDL of 2015 may offer the tripping Ronnie a Mephistophelean deal of wealth and continuing prominence if he recants, but it is plain that the real temptation is that of staying true to his unorthodox views. Marmion presents Laing with a number of choruses who egg him on in cod-Shakespearean which is overdone even by its own deliberately overdone standards. The most charitable interpretation the piece allows is that Laing is dangerously naïve; other figures, including colleagues who leave the community at the end of the play, incline more towards his being – as his future self puts it – a narcissistic sociopath.

Not even a characteristically dedicated performance from the excellent Alan Cox (in his best Bill Paterson accent) can instil the necessary credibility into Laing the maverick to make this a real dramatic debate. Nor, in Michael Kingsbury’s production, can the contrast with the palpably lesser lights around him; one might expect the supporting performances to be in a different league, but one or two of the five here are virtually in a different sport altogether. It feels as if Marmion has started from his conclusion and worked backwards, but has been unable plausibly to pretend that he might ever have ended up anywhere else.

Written for the Financial Times.

Copyright © Ian Shuttleworth; all rights reserved.

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