WOMAN IN MIND
Luckily, this annoyingly Joycean symptom clears quickly, only to be replaced by a second more persistent one: Susan begins to have periodic hallucinations, which we also see. Married to a stodgy, selfish, and bullying vicar named Gerald, she dreams she has another younger, wealthier, more handsome husband named Andy. And instead of having a “cranky” son (who belongs to a weird religious cult that won’t let him speak to his parents) Susan believes she has a delightful, dutiful daughter who cares about Susan’s well-being almost as much as Andy.
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The hallucinations, which had never completely gone away, return with a vengeance. One of the figments of Susan’s imagination–her dream brother Tony–seems to have killed the neighbor’s dog and threatens to do the same to Gerald.
Caitlin Hart was quite good as Susan, capable of winning the audience’s sympathy and empathy. Equally good at being unsympathetic were Roger Mueller as her hidebound husband, Gerald, and Sharon Phillips as Susan’s ill-tempered sister-in-law. Patrick Clear, Bruce Barsanti, and Kerr are quite charming as Susan’s hallucinated family. Kerr in particular really shines. The real scene-stealer had to be Peter Van Wagner, whose portrayal of the ever-bumbling doctor Bill Windsor–a man “eager to reassure, quick to apologize”–was hilarious from first to last.
