Thoughts on "Next to Normal" - A Play Most Extraordinaire

At times we are confronted with something so powerful, it takes us by storm, an experience so demanding, it forces us to listen and absorb it without choice. Such is the performance of, “Next to Normal,” a play I recently saw. Whether it is the driving beat of the music, crystal clear vocals that capture us, or the message it sends about mental illness, “Next to Normal,” confronts its audience with the issue of stigma.

It is difficult to know where to begin a discussion of this play; there are so many facets it brings to mind. It is an honest portrayal of bipolar disorder and what the illness does to a family. As others besides the individual with the illness are affected, there is the devastation it reins down on loved ones and the feelings of calm frustration it brings to the professionals who treat it.

As a consumer who has the illness, and as well, a mental health professional who treats it, “Next to Normal,” offered me a slice of life rarely seen outside of the treatment center. Where to begin critiquing this musical montage dedicated to mental illness comes hard to me. Perhaps it is with its lively and “right on” portrayal of the players.

The play begins in a light enough way, as the principals interact in the tangential and scattered way a family would who revolve around the skittish, disordered manners and habits of a bipolar family member--- the mother. It gives way to doubts, fears, and frustrations; as they attempt to steer a course around her mania and try to lead a normal life in the midst of abnormality.

Poignant is the mother’s endeavor to get treatment, the genuine confusion she has over trying to understand herself, and how treatment leaves her questioning the success of its outcome. The hopeful, ever upbeat patter of the father, is reminiscent of many family members caught in their loved one’s web of unmet needs and desire for normalcy, bringing the audience closer to the desperation they feel more than any book or lecture on mental illness could.

The daughter is another portrait that convincingly shows a teenager trying to connect with a mother who is so scattered, the daughter finds herself looking for connection outside the chaos, which is her family.

Seeing this play, was to come to terms with my own demons and dread of inadequate outcomes in my professional life. I saw myself as the treatment professional, removed and analytical as the emotional themes of the family portrait jumped out at me from the stage. I am reminded of those I see in a clinical setting, being the consummate, detached professional I am, even though I have spent most of my adult life personally with the shock and grandiosity of bipolar disorder. Reminded of my own need for authenticity in the treatment setting, and how through repetition and fear I lose that intensity of the wounded healer, I step back from the pain I am immersed in at those times.

This play represented, for me, a mirror of seeing myself and not liking what I see. How easy it is to detach, to lose the depth of pain my clients are going through. “Next to Normal,” has challenged me to be a better therapist, to care more, and to confront my own numbness. How easy it is to forget!

Educational information was delivered about mental illness in the treatment sequence, information I could give to new clients. This gave the production a ring of truth, as I saw a mirror of my own flatness, the persona of the psychotherapist as an uninvolved bystander. What became a lesson for me as I watched this play, was a technique that works for the non-professional, educating oneself about bipolar disorder. A precious commodity, openness to new ideas, was achieved.

I found myself captured by the driving beat of the music, carried along through issues of family, dysfunction, treatment, and pathology. I was compelled to listen to the music, which made this production believable in a way words alone could not. A genre often accused of lightness and fluff, in this play, the opposite was true. In the genius of lyrics set to music, a heavy subject was able to be put forth in a way the theater goer could accept.

Although I do not recommend this play for everyone, it is a reminder of the havoc mental illness brings to a family; it is not for the feint of heart. A powerful expression and honest statement, it bangs a fist against a door, which holds behind it stigma and shows us what we must accept: mental illness may live next door to us in our own community and work station. For those troubled by unvarnished truth, it may be difficult to take. Yet, “Next to Normal,” speaks volumes about having shut mental illness away behind a screen of darkness. It is time we opened it up to the light of day.

It isn’t easy, but it is also not without its charm and the ability to take a hard subject and make it palatable to be addressed. We all have our trials and travails. In that way we are no strangers to trauma and suffering. We wish for the strength to see our way through our struggles and problems that keep us divided from others. In this way, we are all, “Next to Normal.”