A Generous Lover

»A Generous Lover« tells the story of La JohnJoseph’s journey into the underworld: a secure psychiatric ward in a British healthcare system that has been systematically cash-starved and dismantled by the Tory party for many years. La JohnJoseph’s lost lover Orpheus is suffering a bipolar disorder and is in an acute manic phase in which he believes himself to be an invincible hero. He is only periodically capable of recognising his environment in the secure ward where the basins are missing taps, the toilets have no seats, the kitchen is without forks and nurses behind a perspex window are permanently glued to the TV. La JohnJoseph slips into various characters – doctor, patient, visitor, Katherine Hepburn, a working-class woman from the north of England – and attempts to navigate various challenges on this odyssey: how do you deal with the fact that because you are a gender queer person, the staff on the ward also view you as a patient? How can you help a partner suffering from a severe mental illness to find their way back into a world outside the psychiatric facility?

La JohnJoseph was born in England and educated in the USA. The works by La JohnJoseph are located at the interface between art film and live performance and explore topics like class, gender, identity, and religion. La JohnJoseph has appeared at venues including the Royal Opera House in London, the Bristol Old Vic, the Southbank Centre in London, MOMA in San Francisco and La Java in Paris.

Direction: Alexandra Spencer-Jones
Musical Direction: Helen Noir
Hair and Make-up: Sarah Hartgens
Costume Design: Max Allen
Production Manager: Pete Rickards