HYSTERICAL! A HILARIOUS HISTORY OF HYSTERIA (Theatre Royal Stratford East)****

  

By Sophie

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0Tp1nYqSZw

With audio description: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBmv98RxZjc

With BSL interpretation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oE-MUHcGfo

With captions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2pGJ0_ekH4 

Available until: Unknown

There are many ways in which Hysterical! A Hilarious History of Hysteria might be described. It could be described as ‘hilarious’ though it resonated so personally with my own emotional and physical pain, I personally didn’t find it amusing, though it is undeniably witty.

It is certainly a history of the ways in which the word ‘hysteria’ has been used; the ways in which so-called hysteria has been treated, and the many physical diagnoses which have previously, and in some cases still are, dismissed as hysteria (or a more fashionable modern equivalent of the word, like ‘depression’ or ‘anxiety’).

It’s also a lecture of sorts, only considerably more interesting. Usually, nothing turns me off a subject quite like a lecture, but this lecture is fascinating. Of course, it does focus on three of my favourite subjects, biology, psychology and myself. My university lecturers have always been far more interested in imposing their beliefs on unsuspecting students and asking us to write essays on what sound disturbingly like my lecturers’ sexual fantasies, but Rebecca Buckle’s upbeat and witty delivery, not to mention her complete commitment to and impressive knowledge of her subject and her sincere eagerness to share it with her audience are also very big reasons for this lecture’s success.

Although it’s presented by the Theatre Royal Stratford East, it could not realistically be called a play, though there is certainly an element of performance. The research is genuine and so are Rebecca’s thoughts and experiences, but she has considerable talent as a performer, playing a few different roles including, memorably, Sigmund Freud. (I’ve only ever met one person who had never heard of Freud. I wouldn’t have minded, but they had a first class honours degree in psychology.)

But perhaps most of all, Hysterical! is a validation. Rebecca’s re-enactions of conversations she’s had with doctors are heartbreaking and disgusting, but they are also something of a relief because I always thought I was the only person doctors didn’t believe. I thought there was something really nasty about me which made it look as though I was telling lies (of course, I do sound like I’m exaggerating even on the rare occasions when I’m not, which probably doesn’t help). I wondered if there was something evil inside my head making me imagine pain, nausea and dizziness where none existed. But Rebecca is really lovely and clever and they still treat her like faeces so maybe it isn’t completely my fault that I can’t make myself understood at the doctor’s. If anything, they treat Rebecca even worse than they treat me and it’s despicable. I might deserve it, but she doesn’t. At all.

Our symptoms are so strikingly similar. The breathing difficulties, dismissed as panic attacks, which always happened when I wasn’t panicking and ‘coincidentally’ always happened after exposure to a particular smell. The nausea, the dizziness, the fatigue and the physical pain, all of it debilitating yet, in the opinions of many, none of it real. My hypermobile hips, which I’ve actually always been rather proud of. And of course, the complete refusal of the doctors to show any interest in my physical problems, preferring to put it down to imagination, stupidity and, of course, mental health. I always was the ‘hysterical’ type, but I wonder how many patients have developed mental health problems as a direct result of their doctors’ refusal to believe there was anything physically wrong with them. It would be entirely understandable if they did.

Hysterical! feels too real to be hilarious, but it’s interesting and it’s illuminating. It’s clever and quirky. It’s witty and wonderful. (The only thing I didn’t like was the vomit noise whenever syphilis is mentioned, especially as it’s not even a symptom of syphilis. But as an emetophobe, I probably can’t be relied upom to be objective on such matters.) There’s probably little point in shoving this video down a doctor’s throat at this stage as the only result is likely to be an assault charge, but there is an abundance of intelligence, expertise and good sense in Hysterical!, none of which are commonly to be found in a doctor’s surgery.

The piece seems to be aimed at women rather than men and the statistics certainly suggest that more women are suffering than men, but as someone who feels rather genderfluid and often identifies more with men, I do believe this video could prove validating for men too. Everyone’s pain is important and real. Whatever the idiot doctors say.