ScotsGay Magazine

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My old dad always reckoned that when the NHS was set up there were things some doctors did that were sensible and others that could only be described as quackery. Someone in the Ministry of Health had to draw up two lists detailing the sensible and the bizarre. My dad reckoned somebody mixed up the two lists, so acupuncturists and osteopaths were out but psychiatrists were in. I was reminded of this when seeing this play by Eve Ensler, of Vagina Monologues fame. An American psychiatrist with 26 years experience is dispatched with a journalist to the Balkans to help the women. But do the women need help; can they as ordinary people come up with strategies for surviving without arrogant professionals "helping" them? Believe me this is such hard work it makes the Vagina Monologues look trite but is well worth the effort. A story about humans coping with what life throws at them.

Martin Powell

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