SCENE IT: THIS BRA’S A PSYCHO needs punch

Barbara Loots

---

One can see the potential in THIS BRA’S A PSYCHO (written and directed by Zubayr Charles, starring James Stoffberg and Anzio September), currently onstage at the Artscape until 2 August 2025. But it may need a bit more fine-tuning to hit its intended thrilling theatre mark.

The premise of the play is as follows: “After waking up delirious in an unknown apartment, THE BRA grapples with the trauma of being sexually assaulted. As the narrative unfolds, THE BRA attempts to navigate life through various encounters with men that he meets on dating apps. Despite the hopes of building a connection and falling in love to make sense of his trauma, THE BRA gets triggered and eventually goes on a killing spree; however, little does THE BRA know that he is being followed and is the subject of an undercover police investigation that aims to bring him to justice.”

This blurb hits the mark in getting you to want to see the show. This premise could easily serve as the bones for an entertaining psychological crime thriller. Sadly, THIS BRA’S A PSYCHO over promises and under delivers, which makes me wonder if it would not have benefited from more percolation time.

I walked into the theatre thinking that suspense awaited me, but realised as hushed giggles rippled through the audience at various intervals that the end product was not as edge-of-your-seat as expected. That realisation usually means that the structure of the play does not serve its purpose.

The narrative here sets up the event that spurs on the actions of THE BRA, then jumps through four vignettes of the encounters with supposedly random men and proceeds to sprint to the end reveal. The (psycho informed) troubled relationship at the centre of it all, that which should drive the story, is not properly established in any way or form to produce a true twist or make the ending feel earned. The structure of the play does not entice the audience to care about the fate of the characters. The text also early on reveals its hand as to the ultimate twist, thereby negating the ending’s dramatic impact.

Staging wise, the play falls into the traps of design tricks associated with festival shows. The use of a cell phone with projected messenger prompts being read out loud by a character is a gimmick that immediately breaks any form of connection with an audience –they don’t need to be read at, they need to feel engaged with. Another trap is the stage dressing: As soon as you hang clothing items or arrange these around a performer on the floor (as is the case here), you are signally the various phases the play will go through. Doing so, you run the risk of your audience rather counting how many characters/scenarios there have been instead of getting them to actually engage with the substance of the play. This is especially true if the play sprints through the connecting dots without giving the audience any moment of true suspense or drama to focus on.

The other trick that ensnares this production is the need for an actor to turn to face the audience whenever they say something important or revealing, while staring out in the distance. It’s a bad habit taught at varsity, and it does nothing to make the audience believe a character’s sentiment: The play will be better served if the actors speak to each other in a meaningful manner, instead of staring out across the audience. That only amounts to dramatic posturing, instead of doing the work to elevate the dialogue. Absent true character engagement (especially in a play with a short run time where every moment must hit its mark) you sacrifice any sense of authenticity that would make the audience invest in the characters.

Sadly, these trappings are not all that work against this play: The stage manager calling the show also does this production no favours. On opening night, they were speaking so loudly from the tech box that at times it really distracted audience members from following the dialogue onstage.

Overall, I can see where the creative team wants to go with THIS BRA’S A PSYCHO, and I applaud their bravery for putting their vision out there. But I think it will serve them and the play best if they take a step back, weigh all the moving parts, and consider what serves the story best and what builds the suspense (if they want to maintain its identity as a thriller) in getting the audience to emotionally connect with the play. There’s a psychological crime thriller in there somewhere, it just needs to be coaxed out.

THIS BRA’S A PSYCHO is onstage at the Artscape Theatre’s Arena until 2 August 2025. It runs at 70 minutes (no interval). Please note it carries an age restriction of no under 16s. Tickets can be booked online through Webtickets.