Scout might be dressed as a medieval nun, but tonight they are the one at confessional as they reveal the events of the worst night of their life: forgetting to pack their Seroquel medication on a trip in regional Victoria after 12 years of not missing a single dose. As the withdrawal mania sets in, in the middle of the night at a LARP venue – Scout slowly dresses in medieval nun regalia and reflects on what it means to be medicated and reflects on those saints and that strange relationship that mental illness and personality disorders have with this idea of “greatness” or “giftedness” in history.
As Scout tells us, there is a long history of glorified characters with serious mental illness. Isaac Newton, Vincent Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo, just to give a few examples, are all household names with either diagnosed or suspected bipolar disorder. There is an unshakeable idea that it was this illness that allowed them their focus, their inspiration and their greatness in the fields for which they are known, and Scout wonders if their life of compost bins and LARPing and stability doesn’t measure up to the potential they could have if they did not medicate.
Scout’s eyes carry a bizarre, maniacal glint that fits the tone of the story perfectly. While it is delivered as stand up, it is more cerebral than jam-packed with laughs. It definitely toes the line between stand up and a one-hand show as it breaks the expectations of stand up. The show doesn’t even end on a joke! Yet, Scout does an incredible job of turning what, on the surface, seems like a simple narrative—forgetting their meds and struggling to sleep as the antipsychotics wear off—into something far deeper and more reflective.
Scout handles their story masterfully, and is brilliantly funny when they need to be, but only when they need to be, as they allow the tension and unease to build in a very immersive experience about what it feels like to go into manic withdrawal. I do wish the tension went somewhere though. As it builds and builds I found it never coming to a satisfying climax, (insert joke about anti-depressants and orgasm), without giving too many spoilers, while Scout’s mind races at a thousand kilometres a minute, there is no big explosion, the relief comes almost as an anti-climax. Maybe that’s right and perhaps a healthy attitude towards mental health is that it shouldn’t feel intense and cathartic but rather just a gentle reminder that you are not the main character and that you don’t owe the world greatness, just peaceful existence is good enough.
Manic, witty and thought-provoking. A must see for anyone who’s ever been tempted to wonder if looking after their mental health has gotten in the way of reaching their “true” potential, whatever that it.
Recommended drink: A cocktail of Seroquel, diabetic jelly babies and some hydralyte.
Catch Scout Boxall – God’s Favourite at the Circulating Library (at State Library) @ The Courtyard of Curiosities at the Migration Museum at 9:20pm until March 2nd.
Tickets available on the Adelaide Fringe website.