Taipei-based, English-language theater company, Phoenix Theatre, will be
performing its latest production over the following two weekends, when
amateur thespians Maurice Harrington, Paul Jackson, Melanie Micco and Norman
Szabo take to the stage of the Tien Cultural Center to perform Terry
Johnson's disturbing and deranged comedy, Hysteria.
Since its founding in 1999, Phoenix's director, Catherine Diamond, has been
responsible for bringing some of the finest and most professionally produced
amateur, English-language theater to venues thoughout Taipei.
Its performances of Birth and Afterbirth, by Tina Howe, Universal Language,
by David Ives, Metamorphosis, and Yasmina Rez's Art have all received rave
reviews for both their direction and acting.
Set in London in 1939, on the eve of Sigmund Freud's death from cancer,
Hysteria is a fast-paced verbal comedy that sees Freud assailed by Salvador
Dali, his doctor and a mysterious woman and forced to defend his theories.
Under the influence of morphine, Freud begins to let loose the many demons
from deep within his long-repressed unconscious and in turn is forced to
talk about his attempt to undermine the Biblical and religious myths of his
Jewish faith.
The Phoenix Theatre will perform "Hysteria" at the Tien Cultural Center, B2,
24 Hsinhai Rd., Sec. 1, Taipei (臺北市辛亥路一段24號B2) at 7:30pm tomorrow,
Sunday and again on June 8 and 9. Tickets cost NT$250 at the door. The play
contains mature themes and is not appropriate for children.
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