Current shows:

Did You Used To Be R D Laing?

at Tartan Week, New York

American Theatre of Actors 314th W.54th Street NYC
from 30th March until 7th April at 8pm (2pm Sunday April 1st).

Tickets $20 from www.smarttix.com
telephone (212) 868-4444

Did You Used to be R.D.Laing? is a celebration of the life and work of the controversial and radical psychiatrist, R.D.Laing, presented by Mike Maran with a jazz score based on the music of Bill Evans, Chick Corea, Keith Jarrett, and Chopin arranged by virtuoso pianist, David Milligan.

More widely renowned than Timothy Leary, sixties icon, R.D.Laing, denounced normality for being mad, opened safe houses where schizophrenics could voyage safely through their madness, and then retreated to India.

Mike Maran Productions brings this wonderful show about an eminent Scot to midtown Manhattan and opens a door for New Yorkers into the Scottish psyche. R.D.Laing was a doctor who took his Hippocratic oath seriously. ‘Thou shalt not do your patients any harm,' and yet all around him he saw patients being giving ‘treatment’ that wasn’t doing anybody any good. He was outraged by the current theory and practice of psychiatric medicine and fought for the human rights and civil liberties of people who were mentally ill. Some psychiatrists feel their profession is still trying to recover from the damage he caused. Other carers feel that Ronnie’s influence is just beginning to be felt with the advent of a new humane psychiatry. There’s not much room ‘on the fence.’ It’s either one thing or the other. People loved him or hated him. Quintessentially Scottish, he preached, fought, drank, and suffered more than was good for him. He was a hugely sympathetic companion. Sympathy is ‘suffering with’ and a companion is 'someone with whom you share bread.’ And that’s what Ronnie did. He suffered with his patients at a time when other psychiatrists might not have shared a crust with them.

Mike Maran is a multiple Edinburgh Festival Fringe award winner. His adaptation of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin has sold out over 600 performances in the UK. His productions about the life and work of Gustav Mahler and R.D.Laing won prestigious Herald Angel awards for their’ outstanding contributions to the Edinburgh Festival.’ Mike Maran proudly presents this celebrated production about the life and work of R.D.Laing in mid-town Manhattan. When the dust has settled and the audience leave the theatre with their heads buzzing and their souls on fire there will be no room on the fence – New Yorkers will love it!

For more information on Tartan Week visit www.tartanweekny.com