David Harbour and Bill Pullman explore mental illness, family dynamics with humour in West End play

Record ID: 1678494

  • Title: David Harbour and Bill Pullman explore mental illness, family dynamics with humour in West End play
  • Date: 23rd June 2022
  • Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (JUNE 22, 2022) (REUTERS) CAST OF "MAD HOUSE" ON STAGE FOR CURTAIN CALL ACTORS (SCREEN LEFT TO RIGHT) AKIYA HENRY, DAVID HARBOUR AND BILL PULLMAN ON STAGE FOR CURTAIN CALL HARBOUR LOOKING ON AS PULLMAN TAKES A BOW / HARBOUR TAKING A BOW / CAST ON STAGE FOR CURTAIN CALL VARIOUS OF HARBOUR SPEAKING WITH REPORTER AHEAD OF PERFORMANCE (SOUNDBITE
  • Embargoed: 7th July 2022 15:06
  • Keywords: Bill Pullman Bill Pullman play Bill Pullman theatre David Harbour David Harbour theatre London West End Mad House Ambassadors Theatre Mad House London West End Mad House play Sinead Matthews Stephen Wight Theresa Rebeck
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATION
  • City: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM / UNIDENTIFIED FILMING LOCATION
  • Country: UK
  • Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Theatre
  • Reuters ID: LVA001689123062022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text:"Stranger Things" star David Harbour says his own experiences with mental illness inspired his new play "Mad House", which is written by acclaimed author Theresa Rebeck.
    The 47-year-old actor, who recently told Big Issue magazine he was institutionalised and diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 26, said his conversations with the American playwright helped shape the script.
    "People talk a lot about wanting to have a conversation about mental illness but I always feel like the discussions are either trite or they're about how mentally ill people are monsters and I think it's neither of those things," Harbour told Reuters ahead of a preview performance of the play in London's West End.
    "I wanted to have some true expression of what that is, because I've had some experience with that myself and so she wrote a play over the pandemic based on a lot of stuff I talked about with her. It's very much her play but I definitely contributed a piece of myself into it, so to do it, it feels like a very personal expression for me," he said.
    The dark comedy stars Harbour opposite veteran theatre and Hollywood actor Bill Pullman, who plays dying family patriarch, Daniel. Harbour plays his son and primary caregiver, Michael, who has struggled with mental health issues throughout his life. With Daniel's health ailing, Michael's sister and brother also return home, and sibling rivalry, underlying trauma and family issues and the preparation for Daniel's death turn the home into a mad house.
    "What I really am proud of is that it's a really messy discussion of all these issues, which is like death and hospice care and taking care of someone who's dying and mental illness and someone who is unstable but also may just be too sensitive and lucid to live in a world of hypocrisy," said Harbour.
    "And it does it in a very messy way where there is no right and wrong and you can just go and live with these questions and hopefully you'll come out of the theatre having more questions as opposed to having...and deeper questions and wanting to answer those for yourself."
    Pullman makes his West End return some three years after appearing in Old Vic's "All My Sons". The "Independence Day" and "The Sinner" star said the appeal of Rebeck's previously unperformed play and its timeliness brought him back to London.
    "This play particularly feels like a play of our time too, because it's a family which theoretically, you know, we're all part of a family but they say such horrible things to each other, you know, and you can't believe that. How can this ever get into any moment of reconciliation or redemption or something? And, you know, which is kind of the state of the States, you know, I mean, the world, really. So it feels like a good project to have at this time," he told Reuters.
    The 68-year-old said playing the sharp-tongued, advanced emphysema sufferer, who torments his children, was liberating.
    "I get to lean into some things that are just so outrageous that, you know, that feeling of being kind of like free, you know, just totally untethered by any sense of conscience, it's a pretty lovely place to live, you know?" he told Reuters.
    "I think I love theatre because of that, I think I do come to the theatre to find freedom, you know. With theatre you can realise a dynamic for a character that is, you know, just you can go as far as your imagination can take you."
    Harbour echoed his sentiment, saying he felt he was "doing as creative work as I possibly have ever done in my whole life", but admitted performing on stage was taking some getting used to.
    "I haven't been on stage in like ten years and I forgot how athletically exhausting it is. So, my body and my voice is still getting used to that. I'm really tired," he said, laughing.
    "Mad House", which is directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel and also stars Hanako Footman, Akiya Henry, Sinead Matthews, Stephen Wight and Charlie Oscar, opens on June 26 at Ambassadors Theatre and runs until September 4.
    (Production: Gerhard Mey, Hanna Rantala)
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