Outsider. Artist. Romantic. Ultimately fucked up.

SYNOPSIS:

A multi-media play which uses sections of film as part of it.

"Compulsion" is a full-length play about a fictional outsider artist (Thomas), based on biographies of Henry Darger, Richard Dadd, Basquiat and the work of Hans Prinzhorn. I am currently writing a huge non-fiction book that looks at outsider artists from cave painters onwards, and it was whilst researching that that I decided that the artists I was reading about would be perfect material for a play.

"Compulsion" watches Thomas create with anything that comes to hands. He suffers from hallucinations that come via a TV screen in his one-room flat, and they often influence his work. Alongside his artwork, performance poetry and even shadow puppet shows, Thomas is also obsessed with one woman: Bella. As the play moves on it is the mystery of Bella that provides the suspense. It is evident that Bella had a major role in causing Thomas to become the mess that he is now.

The audience goes through a phase of thinking that Bella was a lover of Thomas who either broke up with him or died. However it is eventually revealed that the disturbing truth is that Bella was never born. Bella and Thomas were twins, and whilst in the womb Thomas' umbilical cord wrapped around Bella's neck and strangled her to death. As a result Thomas' mother always blamed him for his sisters death. Thomas developed the mental illness and compulsion to be creative as a consequence.

Brief character breakdown:

Thomas

Thomas is a mess of a man, who rapidly produces artwork throughout the play. His character is based on several historic outsider artists who compulsively created art as a response to their mental illness (for example Richard Dadd, Henry Darger, Adolf Wolfli).

He is in his mid-twenties and is painfully thin.

Bella

Bella is a mysterious character, although it is clear that Thomas loves her. She appears in Thomas’ hallucinations on the TV screen as herself. She is dressed up like one of his drawings whilst on the TV screen (see Appendix One). Onstage the bits seen of her should fit in with the pale complexion of her TV character.

Policeman/The Law

There is one main policeman used throughout the play, although he is never directly named. He appears on the TV screen as ‘The Law’, a warped version of the character that appears on stage (See Appendix One).

Dr. Davieson

Dr Davieson is a female psychologist (played by the same actress as Bella- Dr Davieson is a real character and not a hallucination so she doesn’t have the make-up or costume of Bella). She is self-assured and manipulative.

The Narrator

The Narrator is the only character who appears on the TV screen and not on stage. Using make-up she should appear at various stages creepy or evil. She is the one character who is pure hallucination, and so should appear especially warped. The Narrator is a symbol for Thomas’ mother, although she is not particularly motherly.

COMPULSION