A closing montage of photographs and a recorded conversation with author / performer Harriet Madeley establishes Outpatient is autobiographical in that Madeley has a serious medical condition and Olive, the character she plays, is an exaggeration of her personality. One hopes the character is pushed to the point of parody as Olive is far from appealing, in fact close to repellent.
Journalist Olive is engaged but reluctant to commit to marriage until she can attain parity with the professional achievements of her partner. This will be tricky as said partner is an esteemed war correspondent while Olive writes showbiz gossip. In an effort to achieve respectability, Olive pitches the idea of interviewing people on a palliative care ward to tease out their opinions about death, blithely dismissing that her editor is in mourning for his late wife.
Olive’s approach to interviewing is far from successful, although she does make one contact. In order to gain access to the palliative care ward, she books for a medical examination which backfires when she is diagnosed with Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis (PSC). Typical of Olive’s casual attitude, she does not research her illness until pressed to do so by her partner and then discovers the disease is untreatable, terminal and she has already exceeded the probable life-expectancy.
Outpatient has a fatalistic atmosphere, a feeling anyone in Olive’s position can only hope for the best as there are no practical options. Cynically, one would have to say the efforts of Olive’s family and friends are intended to make themselves, not her, feel better. Olive is in an income bracket where she can seek advice from Harley Street doctors but is also attractive to new-age gurus who may be well-intentioned but do not even know the meaning of the abbreviation PSC. The illness strains the engagement, as her partner is driven to distraction by Olive’s apparently casual outlook and begins compulsively organising events to compensate. Olive baldy notes marriage is a plan for the future—and she hasn’t got one.
In most popular entertainment, adversity helps shallow characters gain depth. Olive, however, remains consistently trivial throughout. She may register to run the London Marathon for charity, but she prepares poorly and, in any case, seems more interested in fashionable running gear than any cause. Olive gains a sense of perspective by way of a friendship with the only person to respond to her request for an interview, a lady who, having spent her life caring for others, is determined to use her remaining time living for the moment and her own pleasure.
Director Madelaine Moore is clear, despite Olive’s blasé attitude, she is actually scared out of her wits. The stage is designed as a keep-fit studio, and Harriet Madeley is in constant motion, leaping onto running machines or stretching over yoga balls as if Olive is trying to flee, or distract herself, from the disease or her own anxiety.
Outpatient is darkly funny, and not just in terms of Madeley’s sparkling script. There is an exaggerated, cartoonish quality to Madeley’s physical movements; a possibility she might slip into a pratfall at any time.
Whilst never minimising the overwhelming impact of coping with serious illness, Outpatient is very funny and even manages to generate sympathy for an unlikable character.