Preview: All You Need is LSD

Staged by the acclaimed Told By An Idiot, this darkly humorous new play illuminates the drugs debate that won’t go away – and examines the freedom we have to make our own choices in life, and death.

In 2015, acclaimed British playwright Leo Butler accepted an invitation from former Government drugs tsar, Professor David Nutt, to be a guinea pig in the world’s first LSD medical trials since the 1960s.

Monty Python, Being John Malkovich and Alice in Wonderland all resonate in this exhilarating and original comedy as we watch Leo jump down the rabbit-hole of a medical trial in search of enlightenment – and a good story. Along the way he meets an array of characters whose own stories in the history of LSD are hilariously and poignantly uncovered.

Here’s Leo to tell us more.

Well, Leo: without giving too much away, tell us about your own experience of taking LSD: your sensations, visions, and whether it changed shifted your own stance on the drugs.
There are wonderfully entertaining visual changes – walls melting, furniture and objects breathing, people looking like animals – accompanied by a feeling of tranquility and bliss. Closing your eyes and listening to music takes you on amazing journeys. But the most striking effects are the sensations of losing sense of time. Hours can pass in what feel like moments and vice versa, but you never feel lost or forget who you are. The most overwhelming sensation, though, is the feeling of connection you have with other human beings and nature.

Playwright Leo Butler

What were your impressions of Professor Nutt?
He’s had to put up with a lot of backlash (even being sacked by the government), so I was impressed by his fighting spirit and sense of humour. He’s a clever, charismatic and down-to-earth fella.

Is there a narrative arc to the show, or is it a series of (LSD-fuelled) vignettes from your own and other lives?
I wanted the play to reflect the the experience of an LSD trip – non-linear, full of surprises and sudden revelations. I was also inspired by famous ‘acid’ films and literature like The Monkees’ Head and Hunter S Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. That said, there is a very conventional three-act structure hidden under the surface – essentially, my own journey trying to discover the play in the LSD tests, and to get home safely.

Tell us about the parts of the play that relate to your own life story (and experiences with drugs?)
Most of what you see of my character in the play is accurate and true. I wanted to write a play about LSD (and other drugs) because they helped put me on the right road in life when I was a teenager. Not many people like to hear that, and many people are surprised if I say that. I’m not suggesting that everyone should take psychedelics, but my experience with drugs has been (mostly) very positive, and I’d never seen a play or a film with a positive attitude towards drugs.

As the play’s major protagonist, how does LSD come across in this play? As a force for good in the right hands? 
It’s a tool for unlocking parts of the self that have, perhaps, sat dormant, or for exposing yourself to a very different reality. It could have been, as one of the characters in the play says, the most important scientific discovery of all time. It’s interesting that both LSD and Ecstasy arrived at times in history which saw society going through major transitions – the turmoil of the sixties, and the end of the Cold War in the late eighties. Both drugs enabled or assisted a youth rebellion that opened up new possibilities in art and in society – the Green movement, feminism, the fight for greater civil rights.
I’m not sure it’s the main protagonist, though: I suspect that’s me. The LSD’s a bit like the wardrobe in CS Lewis’s stories.

It looks to have been a fun play – to create, to stage (the set looks great!), to perform, to watch. Is that sense of fun and joy pretty integral to the experience?
Yes, definitely. I’d hate to write or watch a really serious, earnest play about LSD. It’s a celebration of unlocking the doors of reality and imagination, and of tearing down the walls – it’s got to be fun. And working with Told by an Idiot, with Paul and Stephen and the brilliant cast, has been lots of fun. There’s been a lot of laughter and love in the rehearsal room, so I think that seeps onto the stage.

What thoughts and feelings would you like to send audiences away with?
I want the audience to have had a really different, entertaining night out, with a few laughs and maybe a tear. And if they come away thinking about drugs like LSD differently – not just related to those stories from the Sixties, but in the therapeutic potential of these drugs – that’s good too.
I also think there’s a message about fighting to keep an open mind, about rekindling a childlike imagination, that seems important in these dark, divisive times.

All You Need is LSD Tobacco Factory Theatres, November 1-3. For more info, visit www.tobaccofactorytheatres.com/shows/all-you-need-is-lsd

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