Under the Influence

How can love and care be united in a relationship where one partner is struggling with severe emotional and physical instability?

Theatre makers and lovers Colette Goossens and Stan Martens were moved by the film A Woman Under the Influence by John Cassavetes (1974). The film takes the viewer inside the lives of the couple Mabel and Nick. Mabel is housebound and tied to the many household chores she does, a situation that slowly but surely drags her into a downwards spiral. At the same time, Nick’s inability to cope with Mabel’s mental breakdown is expressed in passive aggression. 

Along with director Laurens Aneca, Goossens and Martens draw inspiration from this film. The key to their creative process was the question of how love and care can be united in a relationship where one partner is struggling with severe emometional and physical instability.