Herald Young Critic Review by Scott Clair

"Touch me, rescue me, love me watch me vanish" TR Warszawa's phenomenal adaptation of Sarah Kane's moving and extremely powerful 4.48 Psychosis is a frank and all-too-true insight into the desperation of a tragically tortured mind. This production also proves itself in terms of acting, direction, staging and, above all, extraordinary realism. In Magdalena Cielecka's breathtaking and outstanding portrayal of a nameless girl suffering in the advanced stages of a solitary, mentally and physically debilitating bipolar disorder, we see an actress attacking a role as though she hadn't eaten for a month. In addition to the unparalleled acting of Cielecka and the supporting cast, the director's use of stage language really does astound. It is indeed a rarity for a play to end leaving the audience with no idea how to react, as the action seems too real to applaud as a drama. The absense of a curtain call from the cast leaves the viewer in desperation for some acknowledgement that what they had seen is indeed fiction. One particularly poignant scene near the end shows the main character attacking her own psyche with a self-loathing monologue, comparing herself to Nazis and paedophiles as a solitary, naked 80-year-old woman walked around the stage, juxtaposing the clear fragility of the character with the aggressive language. This performance really is an astounding experience, and a tragic, yet compelling epitaph to its playwright, the late Sarah Kane.