Takin' Over the Asylum

Takin' Over the Asylum: Royal Lyceum Theatre Company

By Donna Franceschild
Based on the scripts for the BBC television serial written by Donna Franceschild
Directed by Mark Thomson
A co-production with the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow

You don't have to be mad to work here. But it helps...
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 wannabe DJ meets his match among patients who include the 19-year-old bipolar Campbell; the schizophrenic, electronic genius Fergus; the obsessive compulsive Rosalie and the elusive, self-harming Francine.

Fighting against mental illness and perceptions of those with mental health problems, Eddie and the patients of St Jude's strive for their dreams in a struggle to be accepted and celebrated for who they are and what they might be.

Hope and joy in the fragile power and beauty of the human heart wash over Donna Franceschild's hilarious and heartfelt adaptation of her own classic 90s TV series set in Glasgow. Features a fantastic R&B soundtrack including Soul Man, Rainy Night in Georgia and Can't Get Next To You.