4:48 Psychosis

Sarah Kane’s 4:48 Psychosis, as adapted and directed by Grzegorz Jarzyna of the WR Warszawa and performed in Polish, I summarize in two words: hysterically overdramatized.  Since Kane’s text for this psychological exploration lacks stage direction of any kind, it is a play that lends itself to a wide variety of interpretations, and as such Jarzyna’s might be said to be just another one.  It is a striking contrast, nonetheless, to the French production from ten years ago which featured Isabelle Huppert, under the direction of Claude Régy, with just Gérard Watkins as her foil as opposed to Jarzyna’s stage populated with with six actors.  Perhaps underdramatized by comparison, it was, in my view, much more successful because it was replete with pain expressed in silences rather than in wailing.