Go See This: PSY at the Cutler Majestic Theatre


Photograph by David Poulin

Montreal-based troupe Les 7 doigts de la main (“The 7 fingers of the hand”) is back in Boston performing PSY at the Cutler Majestic Theatre through July 24, after a successful run earlier this year.

The show cracks into the inner workings of the human mind, following a cast of characters experiencing some sort of mental illness or disorder. A dichotomy between therapist and patient is set from the very beginning, and from there, an exploration of the psyche is combined with jaw-dropping circus arts.

Think: an obsessive compulsive, an insomniac, a hypochondriac, an addict, a paranoiac, an agoraphobic, a man with multiple-personality disorder, an amnesiac, a manic, an amnesiac, and a woman with intermittent explosive disorder divulge their neuroses using flying trapeze, corde lisse (rope), hand balancing, juggling, a German wheel, knife throwing, teeterboard, Chinese pole, choreography, and music that wavers from beat-heavy to dreamy. The agoraphobe breaks through her fear by performing on the aerial trapeze over a crowd, while Mr. OCD navigates crowded city streets with an acrobatic flair. Triple backflips, gravity-defying body work, and creepy masks are but some of the eye candy that will have you rapt and gasping for two hours.

PSY deftly merges the mental and physical trappings of the human predicament — proving that we all have issues. Your main issue at the moment, however, is snapping up tickets before they’re gone.

Starting at $15 and running through July 24, Cutler Majestic Theatre, 219 Tremont St., Boston, 617-824-8000, artsemerson.org, buy tickets here.