MYSTERIOUS MAUD’S CHAMBERS OF FANTASTICAL TRUTH | STAGE REVIEW
Insole Court, Llandaff, Cardiff, Wed 24 Oct
When you attend a Caroline Sabin live art event, you know you will be seeing something far removed from the realms of the ordinary world, and this enchanting haunted house experience certainly does not disappoint. The setting for this eerie adventure through the doors of perception is the gothic Victorian mansion, Insole Court, whose faded glamour and rambling corridors reflect the tortured mind of the main protagonist, the mad scientist Maud, whose mind has been warped by her experiments into the nature of reality.
Through her research into the realm of the senses, Maud has discovered the terrifying fact that reality does not exist, and all of us are completely alone within our own minds, like bubbles floating aimlessly through the universe. The remnants of her research are scattered through the house for us to explore.
On entering the mansion, the cast make their entrances in a magical, mysterious and quite unsettling opening sequence on the main staircase and then disperse silently into the house. Following this, the audience are free to meander through the rooms as they please, observing and participating in Maud’s existential experiments, interacting with the cast and perusing the intricate decoration of the rooms.
A cast of spooky, surreal and strange characters accompanies Maud on her wanderings around the mansion, including the eloquent and dashing psychiatrist (Gerald Tyler), her demented and lovelorn sidekick Igor (Rowan Talbot), the ghost of Juliet Capulet (Maddie Smedley) and Frankenstein’s butler (Jon Gower). Each of these has their own perception of what has happened to their mistress, which they explain in vignettes in different areas of the house.
We also meet dancing partners the Groundsman and the Werewolf, played by Kim Noble and Hugh Stanier: their choreography is sublime, effortless and completely mesmerising, alternately holding each other close, then pushing themselves away. The psychiatrist explains that these tortured souls are a nymphomaniac and a psychopath in an eternal love-hate relationship.
Sabin herself takes the role of the Aunt, playing a variety of instruments in the haunting musical interludes and generally looking ethereal and otherworldly. The singing is enchanting, particularly the duet of Juliet and Maud. The performance culminates in a final scene in the drawing room featuring the whole cast, which Maud confronts and accepts her fears.
If you are lucky enough to be attending this event, prepare to be entertained, amused, moved and frightened, usually simultaneously. I didn’t want it to end.
words SARAH EDWARDS