Bringing the psych ward to the stage
She was manic and behaving strangely in public when police locked her in a jail cell.
At the time Clarissa Chandrahasen felt powerful, like she could do anything, and while in jail she was convinced that she was about to meet United States president Barack Obama.
Even when she was moved by ambulance from the cell to a hospital emergency ward, to the most secure room in her psych ward, she was convinced a meeting with the world leader was imminent.
This mental escape tactic is just one of the stories told in her play Committed, which opens on Tuesday at BATS Theatre.
Committed won the Parkin Development Award and was nominated for most promising emerging artist at the 2018 NZ Fringe Festival Awards.
All the events in the play came after Chandrahasen, then 24, was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a hypomanic episode after surgery for cutting a nerve in her hand with a scalpel in a workplace accident.
She wasn’t sleeping or eating and her GP recommended she recover at Te Whare Ahuru acute inpatient mental health unit in Lower Hutt. After her diagnosis, she was ‘‘in and out’’ of psych wards over the next few years as her mental health fluctuated. Seven years ago, during her first stay in hospital, she decided she would turn her experiences into a play. It’s taken until now for her to be healthy enough to follow her ambition.
She said the overarching theme of the play was that recovery was possible. Chandrahasen, now 32, said she felt she was recovered, living her best life, and drew strength from her experience. The solo show would have comedy woven in it, but wouldn’t shy away from Chandrahasen’s low moments.
Despite it being a solo show, the team that produced it, including director Tabitha Arthur and producer Sabrina Martin, had supported each other hugely in the typically stressful lead-up to opening night.
They acknowledged it was a play about mental health, and had shown each other more care and support because of it.
Chandrahasen was an ‘‘open book’’ about her recovery, and she hoped the play would help others going through similar mental health struggles.