Kandinsky will bring their acclaimed production Still Ill – which tackles the contentious topic of psychosomatic illness and Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) – back to New Diorama Theatre in 2018 by popular demand for 10 performances only.
Like many young actors, Sophie earns extra money by playing a ‘patient’ for medical students to practise on. But as her career begins to take off and she gets the job of a lifetime in a TV medical drama, her body begins to betray her. This time, the symptoms are all too real.
Inspired by extensive research with FND sufferers and medical professionals, Still Ill employs testimony from experts on this surprisingly common, little-understood condition, to create a vivid, visceral and darkly comic exploration of how and why people suffer debilitating symptoms with no known medical cause.
Functional Neurological Disorder is a condition in which patients experience neurological symptoms such as weakness, movement disorders, sensory symptoms and blackouts, but with no discernible organic cause in their brain or nervous system. It is a controversial topic in the medical world due to the lack of certainty and competing theories surrounding its causes and best courses of treatment.
In order to create Still Ill, Kandinsky have employed the help of those living with the condition, support group FND Hope and medical experts such as Dr Timothy Nicholson from King’s Institute of Psychiatry.
Still Ill will be supported by visual storytelling giants Complicite – for whom James Yeatman works as an associate director.
Still Ill is at New Diorama from 16th – 27th January 2018.
