HYSTERIA

HYSTERIA was a play commission funded by National Lottery via Creative Scotland and supported in kind by Lyth Arts Centre and Eden Court.

Written by Annie MacDonald, the play explores contemporary gender inequality in medicine through the lens of hysteria.

We have worked with nine emerging theatre-makers on this project. The play A Wound, The Rag and the In-Between premiered to a live public audience in Inverness on 4th May 2024. Read more about the performance here.

Synopsis

Dip a rag in the spring,
Knot it to the tree,
And in its decay,
Comes the remedy.

The flowing waters of the Clootie Well connects people with one shared hope: to heal.

Two Highlanders, Lubna and Niamh, are drawn into a mystery from over a century ago. In a place meant for wellbeing and recovery lies a grave. A death at the clootie well.

Whilst unravelling the tragedy of this sacred site, they must contend with modern mythologies of medicine which have inextricably transformed their lives. Together, they unpick the oppressive structures in healthcare that have shaped the treatment of different bodies and minds across the centuries.

HYSTERIA deals with two narratives; one which explores the devastating mistreatment of women’s mental health during the Victorian era, another which interrogates those same attitudes towards women’s health and medicine today.

In a study, published in January 2022, it was stated that women are 32% more likely to die after surgery by a male surgeon than a female surgeon. We were amazed that, even now, male-centric medicine has such profound and devastating impacts on contemporary women. Annie has been commissioned to write a full-length play exploring these inequalities.

Content warnings: death, mental illness, medical abuse, suicide.

Play Commission

Annie MacDonald was commissioned to write the play.

Annie is being supported by two Creative Mentors: Sara Shaarawi and Matthew Zajac as part of our aim to create opportunities for Highland-based emerging artists.

Rehearsed Reading

Eden Court Theatre kindly hosted the rehearsed reading of Annie’s first draft on Friday the 20th January, 2023. A reading of the play was performed to an in-person and online audience of emerging artists, industry professionals, and educational representatives from UHI and Inverness secondary schools.

The performers for this reading were recruited from applicants who were successful to audition and interview for the HYSTERIA commission and R&D, and UHI students.

Research and Development

The HYSTERIA R&D ran from the 12th-16th September 2022 at Lyth Arts Centre. The R&D was run solely by emerging artists, most of whom were Highland-based. Matthew Zajac of Dogstar Theatre also supported the R&D as a creative mentor.

The purpose of the R&D was to explore the themes of HYSTERIA through play and improvisations, producing live stimuli for the commissioned playwright.