'We could not, in that place, just lead peaceful and uncomplicated lives, ignoring the fact of our longing. To ignore it, to pretend, to divert ourselves with a thousand trivialities - this would be worse than death itself.'

 

Allegory, symbolism and unflinching spiritual enquiry are all interwoven here in a many-layered, enigmatic and haunting story. A man - we never know his name - is made captive in a strange house, where he is neither free nor fully imprisoned. His early attempts at escape all fail, perhaps because he does not understand his own circumstances well enough. Punished cruelly for his transgressions, he makes friends with others whose combined talents promise the outcome he strives for. Despite many obstacles, his efforts, forged in the crucible of self-enquiry and struggle, do suggest the possibility of freedom.

The Madhouse is a genre-defying adventure of archetypal quest which explores the problematic reconciliation of spiritual and worldly attainment, the many paradoxes of human freedom, and the potential marriage of the intuitive, rational and instinctive sides of selfhood in the search for authentic spiritual awakening.