The Diary Of A Madman

The Diary of a Madman in its
US Premiere By Nikolai Gogol Adapted by David Holman with Neil Armfield & Geoffrey Rush
Belvoir Directed by Neil Armfield

A burnt-out paper-pusher who ekes out a meager living in czarist St. Petersburg, Poprischin spends his days doing menial tasks, anxious and teetering on the brink of lunacy. Or is it lucidity? Immobilized by a rigid social hierarchy, Poprischin cuts adrift from reality: hallucinating a canine love affair, imagining himself well above his station, and conjuring entire realms both incredible and terrifying. Deeper and deeper he sinks into delusion, and–thanks to astonishing performances of Rush and breakthrough Australian actress Yael Stone (2011 Sydney Theater Award for Best Supporting Actress in The Diary of a Madman)–we, too, are eventually subsumed by a world in which reality is, at best, relative.