Overview

Adapted for the stage by the author, Takin' Over the Asylum is a hilarious, updated and profoundly moving adaptation of Donna Franceschild's Bafta-winning BBC TV-series. Set in a Scottish mental institution, the play reveals hope and joy in the fragile beauty of the human heart. When Ready Eddie McKenna, Soul Survivor and double glazing salesman, arrives to reinvigorate St Jude’s defunct hospital radio station he turns more than the ramshackle station upside down. The whisky drinking would-be DJ meets the 19-year-old bipolar Campbell, schizophrenic electronic genius Fergus, OCD Rosalie and the elusive self-harming Francine. Fighting against illness and perception Eddie and the patients of St Jude’s strive for their dreams to be accepted.

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9781472507464

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Reviews

Donna Franceschild's bittersweet comedy, based on her own 1994 TV series, stands as a metaphor for authoritarian oppression ... touchingly, it illustrates the fragility of the human psyche ... behind Franceschild's brash, confrontational jokes is a plea for understanding of the damage done by circumstance. -- Mark Fisher Guardian 20130219 What is certain is that - in refashioning her screenplay as a contemporary, two-hour stage play - Franceschild has, while maintaining the comedy and humanity of the TV series, added a fascinating new dimension to her drama. -- Mark Brown Telegraph 20130219

Donna Franceschild's bittersweet comedy, based on her own 1994 TV series, stands as a metaphor for authoritarian oppression . . . Touchingly, it illustrates the fragility of the human psyche . . . Behind Franceschild's brash, confrontational jokes is a plea for understanding of the damage done by circumstance. -- Mark Fisher * Guardian * What is certain is that – in refashioning her screenplay as a contemporary, two-hour stage play – Franceschild has, while maintaining the comedy and humanity of the TV series, added a fascinating new dimension to her drama. -- Mark Brown * Telegraph * . . . great writing, good music, a collection of fabulous characters facing unenviable challenges and a well structured story. * What's On Stage *

Donna Franceschild's bittersweet comedy, based on her own 1994 TV series, stands as a metaphor for authoritarian oppression ... touchingly, it illustrates the fragility of the human psyche ... behind Franceschild's brash, confrontational jokes is a plea for understanding of the damage done by circumstance. -- Mark Fisher Guardian 20130219 What is certain is that - in refashioning her screenplay as a contemporary, two-hour stage play - Franceschild has, while maintaining the comedy and humanity of the TV series, added a fascinating new dimension to her drama. -- Mark Brown Telegraph 20130219 ... great writing, good music, a collection of fabulous characters facing unenviable challenges and a well structured story. What's On Stage 20130218

Author Information

Donna Franceschild is a British-based television writer and dramatist, originally from the US, whose 90's TV-series Takin' Over the Asylum won the 1995 BAFTA award for Best Serial and Best Editing, RTS Award for Best Writer, Mental Health in the Media Award and the Scottish BAFTA for Best Serial and for Best Writer.

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