Meeting of minds is a rollercoaster

SIGMUND Freud (Ged McKenna) listens to the troubles of intruder Jessica (Summer Strallen) in Terry Johnson's Hysteria, for London Classic Theatre, at Oldham Coliseum

HYSTERIA

London Classic Theatre,

Oldham Coliseum

to Saturday

LIKE Tom Stoppard, Terry Johnson isn't too concerned with the obvious surface matter of his plays.

What lies beneath the visible comedy is far more interesting, as he shows in several award-winning works, from Insignificance (about a meeting between Monroe, Joe DiMaggio, Einstein, and Senator McCarthy) to his Carry On film dissection Cleo, Camping, Emmanuelle and Dick.

In this one there is a meeting too, between Sigmund Freud (Oldham favourite Ged McKenna) in the last year of his life, and Salvador Dalí (John Dorney) at the height of his fame and self-love.

Though this seems unlikely, it really occurred, in London in 1938, and here both have fun with the idea of Dalí painting his dreams, much to Freud's disdain.

But Johnson goes deeper, for there are two more characters in the mix. One is Freud's doctor, Abraham Yahuda (Moray Treadwell), concerned for the ailing body and religion of his friend, and Jessica (Summer Strallen), indignant that 30 years before, Freud ruined his mother's life by insisting after the fact that his explanation for her emotional troubles, which he alleviated greatly, was erroneous, driving her into a downward spiral.

The play is as wild as the emotions discussed, veering rollercoaster-like from broad farce ­- and I mean naked girl in the washroom, slamming doors and people wandering around without their trousers ­- to sometimes desperate, sometimes calm discussions about the work of both men and problems of the troubled mind, including that of Jessica herself.

Ultimately the play pulls a little coup de theatre of its own and we wonder if any of it happened, since the play closes as it began, but we know a lot more about the scene.

London Classic Theatre director Michael Cabot again travels a middle way between comedy and intimacy, solid values and innovative performance, in this highly watchable production.

The male actors are very strong ­- even the wild and megalomaniacal behaviour of Dalí fits the character well, and there is a quiet dignity (in the midst of trouser-dropping comedy) from McKenna and Treadwell.

Summer Strallen ­- one of the dynasty of musicals-stars Strallen sisters ­- takes a rarer stab at straight drama and is perfectly watchable, even though there is more light and shade to the character than is revealed here.