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The 47-year-old actor, who recently told
Britain's Big Issue magazine he was institutionalised and
diagnosed with bipolar disorder at 26, said his conversations
with the U.S. playwright helped shape the script.
"People talk a lot about wanting to have a conversation about
mental illness, but I always feel like the discussions are
either trite or they're about how mentally ill people are
monsters and I think it's neither of those things," Harbour told
Reuters ahead of a preview performance.
"I wanted to have some true expression of what that is because
I've had some experience with that myself and so she wrote a
play over the pandemic based on a lot of stuff I talked about
with her. It's very much her play but I definitely contributed a
piece of myself into it, so to do it, it feels like a very
personal expression for me."
The play stars Harbour opposite veteran theatre and Hollywood
actor Bill Pullman, who plays a dying family patriarch.
Harbour plays his son and primary caregiver Michael, who has
struggled with mental health issues throughout his life.
With the father's health ailing, Michael's sister and brother
also return home and the ensuing sibling rivalry, underlying
trauma and preparation for his death turn the home into a mad
house.
"What I really am proud of is that it's a really messy
discussion of all these issues, which is death and hospice care
and taking care of someone who's dying and mental illness,”
Harbour said.
"It does it in a very messy way where there is no right and
wrong and you can just go and live with these questions and
hopefully you'll come out of the theatre having more questions,
deeper questions.”
"Mad House" runs at London's Ambassadors Theatre from June 26 to
September 4.
(Reporting by Hanna Rantala, Editing by William Maclean)
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