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Mad To Be Normal

Dir. Robert Mullan
UK, 106 mins, 2017
Starring David Tennant, Michael Gambon, Elisabeth Moss

Showing Times

• Tue 11 Apr: 7.30pm
• Wed 12 Apr: 7.30pm

David Tennant plays pioneering Scottish psychologist RD Laing in this fascinating account of London’s Kingsley Hall community of the 1960s.

Charismatic and controversial, Laing was as famous as Dylan. In 1965, he established Kingsley Hall in East London as a medication-free community for those seriously affected by schizophrenia. His methods, which involved experimenting with LSD on his patients and practicing a form of self-healing known as metanoia, flew in the face of a medical establishment that considered Laing a dangerous radical.

Mad To Be Normal offers a powerful account of Laing’s Kingsley Hall experiment with a stunning performance from David Tennant that truly gets under the skin of an utterly compelling figure. Tennant’s nuanced, complex work conveys a sense of Laing’s immense personal charm and the combination of intelligence and arrogance that made him equally revered and reviled. The film also captures the darker side of a mercurial man who rarely made it easy for those who dared to get close to him, especially his lover Angie (Elisabeth Moss). A magnificent ensemble cast includes heartrending performances from Michael Gambon and Gabriel Byrne.

Venue: Studio 74, Exeter Phoenix

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