Award-winning Australian writer Kendall Feaver spoke to more than 30 people on or quitting medication to create her debut play The Almighty Sometimes.
The confronting play, which comes to Geelong in September, is the story of a young woman trying to understand where her illness ends and her identity begins.
Anna has been on medication for mood and behavioural disorders for as long as she can remember.
Now she wants to know what life would be like without pills and prescriptions.
More fulfilling? More exciting? More real?
As Anna tries to find out who she really is, her mother Renee remains determined to protect her.
She can’t bear to watch her daughter go through the anguish all over again, to throw it all away for a personal experiment.
But Anna’s treatment is no longer Renee’s decision.
Along with the 30 dealing with medications, Feaver, who now lives in England, also interviewed their parents and psychiatrists for The Almighty Sometimes.
The play recently won the Judges’ Award in the prestigious Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting (UK).
Helpmann Award-winner Lee Lewis directs The Almighty Sometimes, which features a cast including Hannah Waterman, Penny Cook, Shiv Paler and Brenna Harding.
The play opens at the Geelong Performing Arts Centre Drama Theatre on 13 September for four performances.
The show contains coarse language and content dealing with mental illness, which might be confronting for some.
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