Comedian-psychiatrist and bestselling author Dr Benji Waterhouse is aptly described as the “Adam Kay of mental health care” (The Times). He delivers on this promise in Maddening, a keen-witted, one-hour journey through the NHS’s crumbling psychiatric services.
Returning to the Fringe after a 2023 run, and now a fully qualified consultant psychiatrist, Waterhouse has a lot of material to lean on. The show blends unorthodox patient stories with discussion about Waterhouse’s own mental health and work–life balance. A sprinkle of ridiculous Google hospital reviews, and some Alexa health advice, keeps the pace up, while ambient noises and moody lighting during the storytelling help remind you whether it is appropriate or not to laugh about schizophrenia.
You will hear about how he prescribed a patient a spliff, saved a life by needing a wee, and had a close shave with a lemon drizzle cake. The result is often light-hearted, but thought-provoking, and reassuringly free from any crass or cheap jokes.
Waterhouse is comfortable on stage, despite working with the smaller crowd size of a preview showing. Once the room fills, his well-placed laughs and approachable demeanour will leave audiences relaxed and wanting more.
Speaking after the show, Waterhouse explained where his motivation to write the show arose. With the national conversation on mental health in society often focusing on comparatively mild mental health problems, “I wanted to give a bit more visibility to the severe end of the mental health spectrum we see in psychiatry,” he said.
Waterhouse is the author of Sunday Times bestseller You Don’t Have to Be Mad to Work Here. With a second book in the works, and possibly even a television show, he is one to watch. Plus, if you cannot get enough, he has another concurrent Fringe show, Second Opinion, at Just the Tonic at the Caves, testing new material for his next book.
Maddening is running until 25 August at Beneath at Pleasance Courtyard.
Buy tickets here.
Image courtesy of Rebecca Need-Menear, provided to The Student as press material.