REVIEW: BIPOLAR EXPRESS - Mind The Gap

Within the confines of Flight Path Theatre, Bianca Yeung's BiPolar Express transforms an imaginary train carriage into a journey through the complexities of living a bipolar condition. This debut collaboration between writer/performer Yeung, director Isabella Milkovitsch, and choreographer Avalon Ormiston creates a multidisciplinary exploration that balances artistic ambition with an authentic representation of mental health challenges.

The production opens in the carriage, with chairs upholstered in Sydney's familiar public transport fabric providing a clever touch that grounds the metaphorical journey into a recognisable reality. From this launching point, we follow protagonist Antonia as a manic episode transforms an ordinary commute into an extraordinary voyage through inner landscapes, both terrifying and revelatory.

Yeung's approach to represent bipolar disorder through movement proves particularly effective. Where dialogue might falter in capturing the experience of mental health episodes, choreography fills the gaps with visceral honesty. The frantic nature of sleepless mania emerges through restless physicality, while the overwhelming cascade of racing thoughts finds expression in the ensemble work that mirrors the mind's inability to focus or filter.

The production's strength lies in its refusal to romanticise mental illness while avoiding clinical detachment. Injections of humour provide necessary relief without trivialising the subject matter, creating space for the audience to breathe within what amounts to the representation of a debilitating condition. In this, the cast demonstrates obvious talent, competently portraying the dramatic swings between mental states that define the bipolar experience.

Particularly compelling is the production's exploration of consequences: how manic episodes affect not only the individual but ripple outward to damage relationships and sabotage carefully constructed lives. Yeung captures the devastating realisation that emerges during lucid moments: "I don't know who I am during an episode. It's terrifying." This acknowledgment of lost agency and damaged connections provides the work's emotional core.

The scene changes deserve special mention, transporting audiences between Antonia's inner and outer worlds without breaking the production's carefully maintained momentum. Avalon Ormiston's choreography successfully dramatises abstract mental processes through concrete physical expression. The "motley crew of characters both real and imagined" who populate Antonia's subconscious provide variety while maintaining coherence. The production oscillates effectively between heightened and muted states, mirroring the bipolar experience itself.

Here, director Isabella Milkovitsch demonstrates mature sensitivity in handling material that could easily veer toward exploitation or oversimplification. The production maintains artistic integrity while remaining accessible, achieving the delicate balance necessary when representing the lived experience of mental illness on stage.

The work's central insight, to "see the world through the things we encounter," provides a philosophical framework for understanding how external circumstances trigger internal responses. This perspective allows the production to explore bipolar disorder as both an individual experience and a social phenomenon, examining how community understanding becomes essential for recovery and relationship repair.

The exhaustion following manic episodes receives particular attention, capturing the crash that inevitably follows unsustainable highs. This portrayal adds a necessary dimension to representations of mental health that often focus exclusively on dramatic symptoms while ignoring their aftermath.

BiPolar Express succeeds in its stated mission to challenge stereotyped representations of mental illness through curiosity rather than judgement. The production offers a truthful exploration that occasionally achieves comedic results without minimising the genuine torment involved.

The train metaphor ultimately bookends the performance, suggesting that while mental health journeys may feel circular or repetitive, mere movement itself offers the possibility for growth and understanding.

Tickets and more info: https://sydneyfringe.com/events/bipolar-express/