The Wonderful World of Dissocia

The Adelaide University Theatre Guild and director Thomas Filsell are to be congratulated for mounting The Wonderful World of Dissocia, a play highlighting mental illness, what it feels like to be mentally ill, and what it feels like when someone you love is mentally ill.

Anthony Neilson’s 2004 drama about dissociative identity disorder was partially created while Neilson was working with a theatre group. It toys with the idea that mental illness is a world for the person who has it. It was then rewritten by a theatre company collaborating with Neilson.

This production is a reminder to never judge a play at the interval. It is certainly tempting to think that mental illness is being trivialised during the irrational and kooky first half. Then everything changes in the short, stark, second half and radically transforms our experience.

Based around Lisa, a young woman battling with a dissociative disorder, the story takes us to the topsy turvy world of Dissocia, populated with surreal creatures, ranging from a sexually violent goat to a bear singing about brain death and the Black Dog King who looms like a dark cloud over the otherwise beautiful country. To her it is a brilliant place of wonder but to her friends, a place of escape they would rather she avoid in favour of medication and deprivation. Dissocia is filled with both the darkest places and the most eccentric of people Lisa has managed to stay away from, until now. Everything hangs in the balance both for Lisa, and Dissocia.

In real life, everything is quite different. Lisa’s boyfriend, her sister, and a team of doctors and nurses struggle to keep Lisa away from her imaginary world. There, Lisa is the decider of her own fate. Back at home, she’s not.

The Wonderful World of Dissocia is a personal play for director Thomas Filsell who outlines his own vulnerabilities in the program. He has kept the production simple allowing the audience to ‘fill in’ some of the details. Lisa’s real world is bleak and barren while Dissocia is colourful and fast moving.

Filsell has moulded his actors into a cohesive whole. They change characters at an alarming rate, imbuing each character with a convincing life of their own. No mean feat for such a young cast.

As Lisa, Nadia Talotta gives a memorable performance. Barely off stage, she takes us on an amazing journey which leaves us wondering who is ‘sane’ and who isn’t. Her hospital scenes in act two are frighteningly real for those of us who have friends with a mental illness. At the end of the play, we are left wondering if medical intervention is the right choice for her and will it ‘cure’ her or take away what is left of her emotional stability?

Paul Pacillo plays Lisa’s boyfriend with sincerity but excels as the goat in Dissocia who is looking to be blamed, because, “What’s the point of being a scapegoat if you’re not blamed for anything?”

Chris Gun and Nick Launchbury are the comic sidekicks of the piece, reminiscent of Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There. I particularly enjoyed their scene as two guards near the start of Lisa’s adventures in Dissocia.

Robert Baulderstone excels in his first character, the German watchmaker who introduces Lisa to Dissocia. He is equally convincing in his other roles.

Jessica Carroll arrives looking uncannily like the bride of Frankenstein (with a mask) as the Oathtaker (amongst other roles), trolleyed into Dissocia. She is a commanding presence to be reckoned with.

Marni Russo, Chelsea Fernandez and Callum Hill round out the talented cast creating ten characters between them.

The Wonderful World of Dissocia delivers a serious message, often through the medium of comedy, and the flying car and the lost property scenes are skilfully played, drawing an enthusiastic audience response.

Watching this production, especially the multiple blackouts, I could not help but wonder if the scene changes could have been handled differently. Blackouts slow the pace of any play, and it takes the audience a little while to recover.

My only slight reservation with the production is the lack of projection at times, especially when the actors had their back to their audience. This could be opening night nerves and should right itself as the season progresses.

“Dissocia” is not a play for the timid. Its storytelling can be relentless, and one of the violent crimes to which Jane submits, while not graphically depicted, registers in a deliberate and horrifying way.

Having said that, The Wonderful World of Dissocia is thought provoking, funny and sends you home with a great many questions to ponder. Bravo Adelaide Theatre Guild and Thomas Filsell!

Barry Hill OAM

Photographer: Sailesh Sharma