Solitary Things

Humans were never meant to be solitary creatures. We need human connections to make sense of the world around us. Sam Taylor (writer/director/producer) explores this in his play Solitary Things. It’s set in a medical facility whose residents have all experienced mental ill health in some way, and the characters we meet have all experienced loneliness in some way.

As we enter the theatre we’re met with Dr Jane (Lauren Koster), centre stage in one of the facility’s bedrooms, busily writing notes. The play opens with an encounter between Jane and Dr Nelson (Perry Brookes) who is clearly set up as the senior figure in the facility, although he is leaving Jane in charge for the day.

It’s not the strongest of starts, but Koster has an endearing quality about her character which remains throughout. Ewan (Ted Walliker) enters, dressed in a grey tracksuit, looking very institutionalised. He takes his place at the easel and begins painting silently, (for what seems like an age), while breathing deeply to calm himself. We learn that this is his room, away from the rest of the facility. That leaves a little confusion – why would Jane be sat in his room at the beginning?

I understand what the director is trying to do here – show us Ewan alone with his thoughts, wearing headphones to drown the noise of the world out. But in my mind it would have made more sense to enter the space with Ewan painting in his room, and then show the encounter between the two doctors seemingly in another space.  Having said that, Walliker holds the space well and we are safe in his hands as the action unfolds in his room.

The facility has experienced a power cut in every space but Ewan’s. Ewan is a very private character, so it is with utter dismay to hear Jane suggest that she brings some of the other residents into Ewan’s room until the situation is sorted. And this is where we learn the stories of each of the characters and see the power of human connection.

Enter May (Isabel Lea) who is silent. She has withdrawn into her own world having had the companionship of books removed from her. They’re joined by fantasist Polly (Jessica Garton) and Howard (Oliver Sebastian) who shows traits of OCD. As each of their stories unfold we learn how they have ended up in the facility and what their particular experience of loneliness has been.

The final piece in the puzzle is Patrick (Rufus Hunt) who is the antithesis of Ewan. He is wild, unpredictable, and quite annoyed that someone else is in the room that was his.

The cast handle the script well, giving authenticity to their characters, but there is a disconnect between the stories and the casting. The experiences they describe suggest a much older cast with the weight of an age of experience on their shoulders.

The story descends as Patrick provokes reaction from Ewan, just as Dr Nelson walks back in. This is where the play loses its edge and becomes a little moralistic in the obviously wrong approach of the director. The script seems to jar at this point. Dr Nelson should be a character that (although unlikeable) should attract some sympathy as he battles with a system of funding for results.

At the heart of the story is an important message that people with mental health conditions are exactly that – people. The over-medicalisation and treating of symptoms for results, rather than treating people leads to further isolation and exacerbates the feelings of loneliness that led to the people being in the facility in the first place.

I’m left wanting this piece to do well given its material, grateful for the cast for treating it with sensitivity – especially in the week that’s dedicated to loneliness awareness, but feeling that it doesn’t quite achieve what it sets out to do.