Next To Normal

I would love to direct is Next to Normal, a musical by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt. It follows a family as they navigate through the mother’s struggle with bipolar disorder and depicts the various ways mental health affects us all, directly or indirectly. I am attracted to this piece for several reasons, the main one being how each character reacts and approaches their mental health.
If I were to direct this piece I would use Gabe as a manifestation of mental illness and use his interactions with the other characters to illustrate some of the ways people address, coop, and struggle with their mental health. In order to achieve this I would be very particular with the blocking and staging of the piece especially when it comes to Gabe. Gabe, the …show more content…
Gabe’s sister, Natalie, is sixteen, an honors student, looking to go to an Ivy League college, and is under a lot of pressure; because of this we see her struggle with anxiety for most of the show. Natalie recognizes that she is unwell like her mother but does not seek the proper help. Instead she begins to self-medicate by partying and experimenting with drugs. In staging this part of the show, I would have Gabe lead Natalie to the pills she experiments with and to parties. Additionally, I would have him present in some way whenever Natalie’s anxiety spikes. Dan, Gabe’s father, is in denial of his mental health for the bulk of the show. He spends his energy repressing his own feelings in order to focus on helping Diana, but his repression leads to his own mental health worsening. I would reinforce this idea of Dan repressing his feelings by having him be the driving force that causes Gabe to exit. Each time Gabe reappears however, Dan will have to be more forceful in getting Gabe to exit as repression only works for so long. Eventually Dan is no longer able to force Gabe off the