MADNESS IN VALENCIA

WEST END RUN

REVIEWS

"Special mention should be given to Laurence Fuller, whose crazed doctor Pisano will make your skin crawl... This show could play to 1,500 at the Globe Theatre, and be a success. Someone get Dominic Dromgoole on the phone.” - Lalayn Baluch, The Stage

"The watchful eye of that scheming "administrator", Pisano (Laurence Fuller)... The actors have also been infected with this improvisatory spirit, above all Fuller as Pisano. He anachronistically invents wordassociation analysis, but doubts that it will "catch on"; he diagnoses one patient with "delusions of grandeur", and once even exits the stage urging another to "text me"." Ollie Brock, The Times ****

“A stand out performance for me was Pisano (Laurence Fuller) the only real madman of the piece, who ironically is meant to be the doctor responsible for bringing sanity back to the apparent ’Looney’s’ of the madhouse. His crazy eyes, modern ad lib, and sometimes disturbing interaction with both his fellow actors and the audience had me laughing out loud throughout.” - Jenni Rymer, The Public Reviews ****

“The piece’s true madman Pisano – well realised by goosebump-inducing Laurence Fuller” - Jeremy Williams, Spoonfed ****

"Laurence Fuller is a faultless Pisano" - Lucy Powell, Time Out (Critics choice and Show of the week) ****

“Laurence Fuller gives a willfully eccentric performance as the jailer Pisano: excitingly unlikely” - Dominik Maxwell, The Times ***

"As asylum curator Pisano, Laurence Fuller stalks the stage with simian movements, scatters anachronisms and builds a superb rapport with the audience." Fringe Review ****

"“All the cast put in good performances. I particularly enjoyed Laurence Fuller as the asylum keeper, cleverly showing that the one character who may be mad is not an inmate, but the person designated to guard the insane.” Richard Woulfe, The Tribune ****

“This is a funny, bouncy play performed with enthusiasm and gusto” Louise Gooding, What’s On Stage****

"Laurence Fuller’s ad-libbing simian doctor has taken over the asylum" - Neil Dowden, Music OMH ****

"Laurence Fuller repeatedly stealing scenes as the half-mad jailer" - Gerald Berkowitz, Theatre Guide London****

"Evans’ direction and Fuller’s clowning leave the audience in no doubt who are the real insane characters in the madhouse." - Rivka Jacobson, Plays To See ****

“The talented cast weave through misunderstanding and intrigue to an apparently unsatisfying ending, which is resolved in a way that had the entire theatre in stitches." - The Audience Club ****

"Laurence Fuller’s creepy Pisano was able to break the fourth wall on many occasions by dint of being the only true lunatic in his own asylum, and in doing so snaffled some free beer and a handful of Revels from the front row" - Will's Coffee House ****

"Inside the asylum, murderers are free to fall in love; the insane speak with alarming clarity; Pisano, the Doctor of Physik (a Blackadderish Laurence Fuller) is clearly nuts; and frigid women free up their lust." - The Londonist***

"Led by arch clown Laurence Fuller playing Pisano, the mad madhouse keeper. Repeatedly, he does his own comic routine, much to the delight of his audience" - Philip Fisher, London Theatre Guide ***

"Joyously grotesque performances" - Sam Marlow, Time Out ***

"Make sure you go back early in the interval to see the fragile fourth wall tumble as Laurence Fuller’s leery psychiatrist Pisano, his own wits more than a little touched, ad-libs to the audience, seeking out tips for treatments and borrowing drinks." - The Audience Club ****

"David Johnston’s exuberant translation is enhanced here by a freewheeling, fun approach to the text and a charming willingness to engage the audience – those who return early from the interval, for instance, will find themselves roped into suggesting possible cures for one of Pisano’s (Laurence Fuller) patients, which are then worked into the play." The Metro [One To Watch] ***

“Lope himself once wrote that "tragedy mixed with comedy – Terence with Seneca – will cause much delight" Michael Billington, The Gaurdian ***

 

RUN AT THE WHITE BEAR

"Laurence Fuller is a faultless Pisano" - **** Time Out's No.1 Critic's Choice and Show of the week

Offered two West End transfers, accepted a four week run at Trafalgar Studios Feb 2010