Next to Normal is a contemporary family drama, about a woman’s struggle with mental illness, and the effects of her illness on her family.
At the opening of the show, Diana seems to have an ideal life – she is educated, well-off, and happily married with two teenage children. But it soon becomes clear that all is not as it seems.
Diana has bipolar disorder, plagued with anxieties, mood swings and delusions that trace back to a family tragedy 16 years earlier and are growing worse with time. During the course of the show, Diana attends a series of doctors appointments and treatments, in response to and sometimes triggering the ups and downs of her illness.
Under the care of her primary doctor, Dr. Madden, Diana takes medication, talks through her issues and problems, and undergoes the more controversial option of electroconvulsive therapy.
Meanwhile, her husband Dan confronts his own confusion and depression; daughter Natalie deals with isolation and a budding romance with a fellow music student, Henry; and son Gabe serves as Diana’s confidante and link to a happier past.
Though the family strives to establish some sort of normality, and each character seeks his or her own peace and happiness, the ties that bind slowly and inexorably unravel around them.
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