Opening night was a success for the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society's (BMDS) production of Sam Shephard's play, A Lie of the Mind, performed at the Daylesford Theatre Monday night.

A Lie of the Mind depicted the disturbing behaviours exhibited by two households trying to cope with the aftermath of an abusive spousal relationship. Hotheaded Jake believes he has killed Beth, his wife.

While his brother Frankie travels to Montana to investigate, Jake returns to his home in California to live with his mother, Lorraine, and sister, Sally. Beth survived the attack also returns home to be cared for by her parents, Meg and Baylor and her brother, Mike.

Directed by Robbie Godfrey, the eight-member cast presented Shepard's neurotic characters well.

Jonathon Saul, cast as the hotheaded Jake, shifted his eyes and directed taunt index fingers at cast member while delivering lines of paranoid disillusions.

Jon Legere, who plays Beth's brother Mike, seemed to remain hunched over in anger for most of the play.

His voice and his movements retained the frantic pitch of a man on the warpath. Jeanette Donahue, acting as the brain-damaged Beth, weaves and bobs, her feet slightly turned in while she stood in place.

Ms Donahue stuttered almost too precisely Beth's garbled, often insightful thoughts as she waved her hands above her head.

Cotty Outerbridge, played the chauvinistic, down to earth Baylor, who lounged like a royal in a wing back chair while he barked at his wife to pick up his socks or oil his feet.

Mr. Godfrey capitalised on the humorous lines infused throughout Shepard's dramatic script. The cast delivered them with paunch and accent. The audience chuckled after Jake said the small leather box which contained his father's ashes was heavy, and Jane Lee, cast as Lorraine, drawled: "He's a lot lighter than he was."

This tension was eased and juxtaposed against the fade out music of several country ballads, one of which included the line "He's in the jailhouse now".

And, attention was given to the slightest detail, from the mounted antlers that hung on the wall in Beth's Montana home to Baylor's grimy socks, his wife's practical black shoes, and Lorraine's blue eye shadow.

The make-up was artfully applied and even careful consideration was given to Mr. Outerbridge's hands, lined with streaks of blood that never drip though they glisten so believably after he finished carving a deer off sage.

A Lie of the Mind exposed a human concept we have come to realise - no family is normal. The BMDS's production delivered this unfortunate reality with passion and verve.

The play closes on Saturday night.