Ovalhouse – until 13 July 2019
Reviewed by Claire Roderick
4****
Koko Brown’s brutally honest show about depression is an emotional and heartfelt reminder that attitudes and reactions to mental health issues are still problematic.
Brown uses spoken word and vocal looping to present a series of sketches that link together in a non-linear, fragmented way to draw a recognisable and relatable picture of the frustrating and tormented journey sufferers go through in their fight to just be OK.
Accompanied onstage by Sapphire Joy, using BSL and wonderfully choreographed movement to share the narration, Brown takes the audience on a devastating trip through the anger “What have I got to be sad about?”, the excuses and diversions used to explain her behaviour, and the well-meaning advice that bombards her when friends and colleagues notice she is feeling low. Brown performs a piercingly insightful and inspiring dissection of the strong, black, independent woman image that millionaire celebrities are held up to be. In just a few minutes she lays bare the prejudice and misogyny that black women face but ends with an affirmation of strength and hope. Depression being a “white, middle class” affliction, and the strength of religious faith feature in a light-hearted way to partly explain the low numbers of black women seeking treatment for mental health issues, but Brown’s writing, although universal, focusses on one woman’s struggle to live with depression.
Joy’s exact role as Brown’s interpreter, and what she actually represents, becomes more and more clear as the story evolves, with her musical and jolly distractions taking Brown to “The Clubhouse” in a pastiche of children’s TV introducing our new friends – sadness, and to her obvious disgust, the drug citalopram and all of its side effects.
The lighting, sound and set design all work brilliantly together, and Brown and Joy’s movement around the stage set up their relationship wonderfully, leading to the final acceptance that Brown’s depression is a part of her that she needs to find a way to recognise and live with, with or without medication, and the hope that she will have more good days than bad.
A brave and beautiful depiction of depression that shines a light on an illness that is still misunderstood.