Written by Asirah Abdul Kadir
4/5 stars
Celebrating its 85th year, the University of Adelaide Theatre Guild has presented a delectable line-up for the season. One I’ve had the pleasure of observing recently is Anthony Neilson’s The Wonderful World of Dissocia directed by Thomas Filsell.
The story follows a young woman named Lisa, who, from the outset, appears to have it all: a cool, confident, charismatic persona, a loving boyfriend, and funny friends. Oh, to be her! Careful not to speak too soon, though, because what goes on inside her mind is a different story. As we follow her journey into Dissocia, a world full of characters equally entertaining and repulsive, we learn that Lisa is struggling to balance her existence within the real world and the one she’s created inside her head.
Thomas Filsell invites us to venture beyond Lisa’s dissociative disorder and reflect on our own relationships with mental health, to sit in the discomfort of acknowledging our vulnerabilities. Certainly, the director has found that to be something “liberating and the best way for [him] to ensure [he] continues to stay mentally healthy and accountable for [his] state of mental health”.
Throughout the play, you’ll begin to find bits of yourself within the characters and realise that we’re all going through something – whether it’s dealing with insecurities or anxiety, or the tendency to blame oneself for everything. Filsell wants us to know that our mental health shouldn’t scare us out of talking about it, because even the paragons, like Lisa with her cool, confident, and charismatic persona, are trying to make sense of their psychological hardships.
“I hope audience members leave this feeling like there is nothing wrong with struggling mentally. You can be a good, successful, highly functioning individual and still have things in your head that are not good, successful, or well-functioning,” says Filsell.
Lisa was played by Nadia Talotta, whose booming presence need not require a gang of minions in royal robes to demonstrate its grandeur. She made it seem so easy to embody Lisa – nothing felt forced or out of place which I suspect is what drew the crowd to her every movement and every word. Other notable actors that night included stellar shapeshifters, Marni Russo playing the likes of a quirky, talkative mother and a serial bomber pilot, and Nick Launchbury with his highly entertaining characters the ‘insecurity guard’ and ‘argument’.
The ensemble did an exceptional job at portraying a complex and often embarrassing facet of our lives in a light and humorous way with their witty word plays and comical conducts. Where mental health issues are beginning to take place in the forefront of global and everyday discussions, I think being able to laugh about what we’re going through is just as important as having a serious conversation about it and this play made me feel comfortable doing so.
At first, I thought I wouldn’t survive a day in Dissocia but then I realised that I already am. We all have our own versions of Dissocia buried deep within our minds and our continued participation in this world, our ability to get out of bed every morning is a testament to our endurance and bravery. Embrace your messy side with the cast of The Wonderful of Dissocia before they leave on the 14th of May!
On Dit 