4.48 Psychosis, Part 1 Summary

"4.48 Psychosis" has no dramatis personae or stage directions. It is a lyrical text intended to be performed for the stage, and individual directors are tasked with determining how many performers are involved in speaking the text and how the work is staged.

The play begins with statements of comfort offered the suicidal protagonist, phrases that assure her she will get better and people care about her. She describes her room at 4:48 in the morning, which seems crawling with unease. She expresses in clear and precise language the nature of her depression: she is sad and cannot foresee life improving. She wants to kill herself. This depression renders her unable to do anything, even writing or sex.

The protagonist clarifies that she does not desire death. She simply desires the end of life. She pictures her lover waking to find her dead...