4.48 PSYCHOSIS

Name: 4.48 PSYCHOSIS — Erasmus Mackenna | Frascati Producties
Start: 2026-04-22T20:15:00+02:00
Location: Theater aan het Spui

Erasmus Mackenna | Frascati Producties

Wed 22 Apr 20:15

Wed 22 Apr 2026

20:15

Wed 22 Apr 2026

20:15

Theater aan het Spui, Den Haag

Hall 2

Tickets

Sarah Kane wrote 4.48 PSYCHOSIS at the close of the twentieth century, when the Western values that had shaped a generation started to collapse. This is her last, and most vulnerable text – a web of intimate fragments in which someone’s life manically unravels, while simultaneously blossoming.

Erasmus Mackenna stages this infamous classic in the chaos of our present moment: through their lens of its social confusion, angst, revulsion and horror, fed by personal experiences, hauntological theory, the history of genocide and apocalyptic noise and drone music.

4.48 PSYCHOSIS exposes an individual’s struggle as they try to create a coherent self-image while existence collapses around them. How can you build a life as a human being when the other members of the human race seem hell-bent on bringing about their own ruin? Is it possible to live in this world without lying about who you are? Where can love be found when you are turning to ashes?

In a lonely, manic monologue, surrounded by a violent landscape of love and loss, a person is searching obsessively for tenderness and lucidity. Plagued by physical, psychological and social dysphoria, pursued by ghosts and crippled by shame and rage, they mourn for the past, the present and, above all, the lost future.

THEATERKRANT over Anatomy of a Suicide
"Intergenerationeel trauma grijpt je bij de keel. [...] Maar de levendige enscenering van regisseur Erasmus Mackenna laat ook lichtpuntjes zien."

DE VOLKSKRANT over Anatomy of a Suicide
"scherpe studie van moederschap, mentale gezondheid en suïcide."

DE VOLKSKRANT ★★★★ over HAUNTOLOGY
"Het geheel oogt cinematisch en de aandacht voor detail is bewonderenswaardig.”

THEATERKRANT over Sheath and Knife (Keuze van de criticus)
"De voorstelling omarmt de duisternis op een bijzondere, mooie manier, inhoudelijk, visueel en op muzikaal niveau."

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About Erasmus Mackenna

Erasmus Mackenna (they/their) is a director, lighting designer, scenographer and musician who graduated in Directing from Amsterdam’s Academy of Theatre and Dance in 2021. They are based in Glasgow, Scotland, work and perform internationally and have been affiliated to the production house of Frascati since 2021.

In 4.48 PSYCHOSIS, Erasmus expands upon an oeuvre that probes the lives of outsiders – people struggling to navigate the extremes of their lives, as the threat of personal and societal collapse draws ever closer.

For Frascati Producties, Erasmus previously wrote and presented Sheath and Knife (2021) as well as LENZ (2022), and with the LENZ collective Katie Cruel (2023), Hauntology (2024) and Anatomy of a Suicide (2025).

Italian food at Theater aan het Spui

Enjoy delicious Italian food at Theater aan het Spui, in collaboration with our friends from Pazze e Pizze.

Credits

regie, scenografie, lichtontwerp, muziek, geluidsontwerp Erasmus Mackenna tekst Sarah Kane spel Sabine van Kuipers kostuumontwerp Sanne Vermij vertaling Han van Wieringen