The Wonderful World of Dissocia | Stratford East

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© Marc Brenner

Who didn't feel, at least once, the urge to bring balance back to their life? That's the primary goal of Lisa Jones, the protagonist of The Wonderful World of Dissocia. When the solution to her problems (literally) comes knocking at her door, Lisa is so desperate to leave the state she's been in - one that has distanced her from the people she loves most and made her life feel slow and detached - that she agrees to embark on a journey to the land of Dissocia. 

The absurd, whimsical realm is a pastiched version of Lewis Carrol's Wonderland and C.S. Lewis's Narnia; amid an army of colourful, savage characters, I found the highlight to be a pair of "Insecurity Guards" played by Tomi Ogbaro and Michael Grady-Hall with great chemistry and comedic timing. Leah Harvey also gives an equilibrated performance as Lisa, keeping herself - and the audience - both excited and grounded. 

Despite relentless turns of phrase, and fable-like moments of grotesque wonder (most remarkably, the performance of a somber, elegant polar bear who sings the song "Who Will Hold Your Paw When You Die?"), the writing presents some issues that make for an uncomfortable experience. When dealing with the sensitive subject of rape, for example, the play bears the weight of a man's pen, and no amount of tomfoolery can really salvage it. 

Act 2 takes place in a psychiatric ward where Lisa was hospitalized after her dissociative episode. While breaking away from the erraticness and contradictions of the world of Dissocia may have the potential to make us face the starkness of reality, there's an absence of true awareness in the writing, which only offers, instead, a vague indication of the low tolerance and pain experienced by Lisa's dear ones. While the lighting work by Lucía Sánchez Roldán puts us in touch with the dispassionate environment of mental institutions, there's not a lot more to this act that justifies, at least to my eyes, its existence. 

Most importantly, instead of gradually juxtaposing the world of Dissocia and the real one, completing a much-needed reciprocal infiltration, Act 2 breaks away from Lisa's experience entirely. While it's certainly good to leave some freedom of interpretation to the audience, the relationship between elements in the two acts is poorly signposted, leaving us with a lot of guesswork to do. If we are put in the position of making a lot of assumptions about what has been going on, we risk falling into morbidity, drawing on personal biases, projections, and prejudice - things I find damaging when approaching a topic as faceted and complex as mental health. 

Ultimately, the show doesn't offer us the tools to find the story's nuances, forcing us to draw simplistic conclusions. Despite the work put in by the creative team to make the production both entertaining and relatable, the writing feels dated and out of touch, portraying mental ill health in a way that could perhaps be excused in 2004 (when the play was written), but has no place on today's stage, where compassion, kindness, and a willingness to embrace internal conflicts are more needed than ever. 

© Greta Rilletti Zaltieri, 2022
Location: Gerry Raffles Square, Theatre Square, London E15 1BN, UK

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