Running from 19 to 21 September in The Pearse Centre as part of Dublin Fringe Festival, THIS TOO SHALL PASS is the debut production of FILTH!, a brand new theatre company composed entirely of Trinity students and alumni. Lead actor Lucy Holmes plays Erin, a young woman who has spent her teenage and young adult life attempting to access professional mental health services in a system ill equipped to deal with the ailments of its people.
“The audience is forced to occupy the troubled realm of Erin’s mind as she questions how it is that she is supposed to get better in the face of a system that repeatedly fails to provide her with the professional services necessary for her recovery”
The immersive performance first places the audience in a psychiatrist’s waiting room, forcing us to witness up close the struggles of a young woman attempting, and failing, to get an appointment with her psychiatrist. Following this uncomfortable and distressing exchange we are ushered into Erin’s bedroom, a depression cave strewn with clothes, Diet Coke cans, empty medicine packets and letters from the Health Service Executive. The audience is forced to occupy the troubled realm of Erin’s mind as she questions how it is that she is supposed to get better in the face of a system that repeatedly fails to provide her with the professional services necessary for her recovery. We see Erin’s teenage years pass by until she is 21 and attempting to live in the adult world without any better a grasp on how it is that she is supposed to live. The production ends in the confusion of a disco rave, the room made heavy by the pounding bass and the palpable frustration of all the characters.
“The best art, I think, has the power to make us deeply uncomfortable, and to the extent that this production managed to achieve that, it is exceptional art”
THIS TOO SHALL PASS offers people the chance to glimpse the challenges of attempting to get mentally well in Ireland when the system in place is not adequate to facilitate healing. The show’s relatively short run time of 50 minutes was not proportionate to the power of the performance. The best art, I think, has the power to make us deeply uncomfortable, and to the extent that this production managed to achieve that, it is exceptional art. With a debut of this calibre, I am excited to see where the FILTH! theatre company goes.
