Erin Siobhan Hutching on her role in  4.48 PSYCHOSIS

“I had a night in which everything was revealed to me.

How can I speak again?”

Following a sell-out run in 2018, Director Paula Garfield brings Deafinitely Theatre’s celebrated bilingual approach to Sarah Kane’s lyrical and haunting final play about mental health back for two weeks only.  

The production opens at New Diorama Theatre on 31 October, with previews from 29 October, until 6 November, and then tours to Derby Theatre from 8– 10 November, and Wales Millennium Centre from 20 – 23 November.

The play was nominated for the 2018 Broadway World UK Award for Best Direction of a New Production of a Play and the 2018 Off West End Theatre Award for Best Set Designer (Paul Burgess).

Its the early hours of the morning. You’re alone, with only your thoughts. How did you get here? And how do you get out?

The Artiscape spoke to Erin Siobhan Hutching about her role in the play;

Erin Hutching‘s previous theatre credits include Boy in a Dress, Peeling (UK tours) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (German tour). For television her credits include Deaf Funny; and for film The Ballad of Des & Mo. 

We asked Erin what attracted her to the script?

Erin: I’m fascinated by this okay because of how Sarah Kane plays with theatrical form, using a mix of styles including poetic language, scenes which appear to be more realistic dialogues and even scenes which are only numbers. She leaves it up to the director to decide on number of actors involved and to allocate the lines which allows every production to be vastly different. I was really keen to work with Deafinitely Theatre and see how this beautiful play could be translated into British Sign Language.

We asked her how, as an actor does she prepare for a role like this?

Erin: We have met a number of different doctors, including psychologists and psychiatrists who have given us a lot of information about mental health and their roles. This has been incredibly useful as we want to show the complexity of mental health care and hint at the restrictions doctors are working within as well as telling the story from the perspective of a Deaf patient.

What about the character she plays?

Erin: I play a series of different doctors with different backgrounds and opinions about treatment, but we have chosen to show only subtle differences in physicality and keep the same costume throughout in line with the fluidity of Sarah Kane’s text, suggesting that perhaps the characters are different or perhaps it’s all one character but the patient’s fragmented mental state is making them seem very different from scene to scene.

What are the challenges in playing this character?

Erin: As an actor, I’ve had to make strong choices about character for myself but at the same time we want to allow the audience the freedom to interpret the show how they choose so we don’t want to present an entirely realistic portrayal of character.

It has also been challenging to play characters who are in some way oppressive to the patients – there have been a lot of hugs after the scenes!

What does she think the audience will take away this production?

Erin: I hope they will take away an understanding of how important it is that we address mental health care as a society.