ACTING mentally ill can quickly become melodrama – so how do you make it seem real?
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That’s something Greg Balcombe, who plays Robert in Proof, is acutely aware of.
“We see him when he’s lucid, but we also see him when he’s degenerating into this terrible period of mental health,” Mr Balcombe said.
“He has this nine months of clarity, but unfortunately in some ways people can do things that appear normal, but inside them there’s this chaos.
“Ultimately what he produces, what he writes is garbage, and it breaks him when he realises that.”
Playing the father of Catherine and Claire, Mr Balcombe said a large part of his process involves trusting the lines and the director.
Playing it for real and just letting it happen is how Mr Balcombe avoids melodramatising mental illness.
“One of the things that I’m really worried about is that it could come across as melodramatic, and then it crosses into comedy,” he said.
“It has to be a partnership of all the talent that’s involved in the scene, including the director so that you know you’re acting believably and you’re not crossing into some other dreadful space.”
The play has been transformative for many of the actors, including Sarah Watson who plays Claire.
Among the family breakdown in Proof, Ms Watson said it’s something she has dealt with personally, and her reaction was the opposite of her character.
“You have to be able to find where you’re similar and where you’re different,” Ms Watson said.
“To me this play is all about family dynamics, what’s important, why we need to communicate with each other and why it’s so important that we don’t let things slide.
“Some stuff that happens in the play is very familiar to me.”
Ms Watson said her character plays a side that she doesn’t agree with – but that hasn’t changed her perspective.
“It made me at least contemplate an empathetic view,” she said.
“It’s the idea of having an absentee child who then comes back with a whole bunch of guilt.
“It has made me think about what happened in our family, but I don’t think it’s going to change my opinion.”
Actress Amy Roff plays Claire’s sister in the play, Catherine.
“This play deals with a lot of serious mental health issues that are often overlooked in theatre,” Ms Roff said.
“I think this play especially focuses on the humanity and mental health, what is means to have people around you watch you suffer.
“It shows the repercussions of living with someone with severe mental illness.”