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‘He never does what he sets out to do’ remarks Bobby (Barry Kinsella) as he accompanies a gorilla (Cyle Conley) watching black and white footage of Evel Knieval falling during his iconic jump at Caesar’s palace. ‘Never does what he sets out to do, but he does it anyway!’ The accompanying childlike grin tells the audience all they need to know that Bobby is merely a child growing up in a so-called ‘madhouse’ that makes dangerous stunts on the television look normal.

What does a Spanish speaking gorilla, ten thousand Euro and some paint have in common? Madhouse sets out to link them all together. Based on the real life childhood of co-writer Pj Gallagher, Madhouse is the story of six people with mental disabilities occupying one family home on the northside of Dublin. Right from the start, there is a 70’s/80’s vibe- down from the jazzy soundtrack (featuring classics such as Daddy Cool’ by Boney M) and the lack of knowledge about mental health that only the Irish during this time frame could have. The set is minimalistic, which allows it to be turned into several different places throughout the story such as a kitchen, a charity shop and a bank (to name a few). Everyday Bobby’s mother (Katherine Lynch) dishes out pills for the inhabitants, cuts their hair and feeds them all their meals. Throughout the play, the audience is able to eavesdrop on her calls from the hospital as they try and convince her to take on more patients. Patients such as a man who thinks that there is a dog in his stomach and another who is addicted to water all come to live in the house. The seriousness of the situation is avoided by the humour of the men’s conditions and it leaves the audience wondering if the same practice still happens today.

With the recent conversation about mental health in Ireland, I feel that Madhouse is the perfect play to continue this conversation. It shines a light on past practices and hopefully shows audiences that Ireland’s stance on mental health is improving as people become more informed. Long gone are the days where we sent our mental health patients out to the first unqualified nurse that would house them and medicate them daily. Instead, now we have proper health care and a deeper understanding of how to treat such patients. In the play, Bobby convinces the audience that there is no point of watching snooker if you are seeing it on a black and white television. He has also shown that there is no point in treating mental health if you are only seeing it in black and white either.