In this touching new play, Ed’s journey battling anxiety gives men’s mental a much-needed space to be discussed

Written and starring Keelan Kember as Ed, February Face explores how we negotiate and talk about mental health with a thoughtfully laid out and sentimental narrative. Ed is a young man struggling with anxiety, a panic disorder in particular. Thinking himself to be alone in his battle, he attempts to ignore it, placating his symptoms by boozing at the pub with his friends. He meets Lily (Olivia Mills) with whom he is quickly smitten. As their relationship grows and they learn more about each other, anguish and heartbreak seem bound to follow. 

Keelan Kember approaches the widely hushed topic of men’s mental health with care and dexterity. Throughout the course of the play, we come across a comprehensive set of typified comments and fears people, and men in particular, often experience while suffering from mental health disorders. Ed fears what his friends might say about his experiences, worries that they will think him to be weak. He fears ridicule, and as a result turns to familiar, decidedly less helpful habits as a crutch. We hear him trying to open up to his mother, who quickly brushes him off, citing how much he has to be grateful for as an indicator that he couldn’t possibly have anything to feel anxious about. We witness the bravado of ‘bro mentality’ and how this discourages Ed from opening up. We watch him navigate his options, considering therapy but not quite feeling brave enough to commit. 

The catalyst in Ed’s life comes in the form of his girlfriend, Lily. Lily’s presence affords Ed the kind of grounding comfort that enables him, with her encouragement, to consider getting help. Lily is not without her own battles, and soon Ed and Lily find themselves in a turbulent point within their relationship. 

Ed and Lily are both written with complexity and nuance. There are many characters in addition to these two that feature within this piece, heard but unseen. A consistent technical and narrative feature of this show is a persistent use of voice over. The voice within Lily and Ed’s head frequently rears its oft troubling head, interjecting their dialogue with their inner concerns. This voice over also plays the parts of the other characters that form as much a part of this play as Ed and Lily do. This voice over chronically influences Ed and Lily’s actions, overtly to their demise. While the unfailing use of voice over occasionally proved to be distracting, it was certainly a unique means of character development and narrative pursuit.