Royal Shakespeare Company actor Mark Lockyer first started to experience strange goings on while playing Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet in Stratford in 1995 during an idyllic day off in a field on the banks of the River Avon.  He met the devil. The devil wasn’t very orthodox in his demeanour or in what he said, but Mark didn’t really seem to notice.

Over subsequent months the devil took an increasing hold and Lockyer began behaving more erratically.  It was only when he finally crashed and burned on stage during a long speech when he grabbed a saxophone from one of the musicians and went off script that he was aware that something was seriously going awry.

In this highly charged and often hilarious one man show about an episode in his own life Mark Lockyer lets us into his head and allows us to watch the increasingly awful mess he was getting into.  Mark greets us with tea and biscuits and with the house lights remaining up he says that he is not going to be theatrical, but simply tell us a story.  It’s a real story and it is his, but it could equally be the story of many others who have suffered mental health issues.

Living With the Lights On deals with the ongoing confusion that surrounds an otherwise intelligent, successful actor who is on the way up and who can’t quite realise that his behaviour is both self-destructive and dangerous to others.  He needs help, but isn’t able to ask for it.

Twenty years on Lockyer is able to recreate his mind set and expertly impersonates an increasing cast of girlfriends, agents, theatre managers, policemen, judges and finally medical professionals.  It is of course the latter category that is able to save him as well as the friends, family and judicial authorities who cut him some slack.

In many ways mental illness seems a bit of a lark as we hear about one hilarious episode after another, with the devil popping up from time to time to tell Mark that he is looking out for him.  But then comes the increasingly desperate acts of arson and self-harm.  They are almost points of no return, but the devil doesn’t always have the best tunes. Mark avoids a jail sentence and with sensitive psychiatric help undergoes a long arduous journey back to mental health, and to once again perform Shakespeare at the Tobacco Factory and for the RSC.

Lockyer gives a brave warts and all performance about his life, sharing many laugh out loud and cringe making moments to demonstrate just how hard the illness took hold.  Ramin Gray’s sparsely dressed stage comprising the remnants of back stage paraphernalia bridges the gap between an actor’s story and reality, while the lack of any lighting changes, stage make up and music somehow exposes the audience as well.

Mental illness is all around us and exposing and then treating it is the only way to get back on script.     ★★★★☆     Bryan Mason      20^th September 2017