Review: The Disassociation of Shirley Mason, Bristol Old Vic

Awkward, shy and nervous, Shirley Mason (played by Karla Kaucky) is made jarringly conspicuous by her bright mustard dress. I’m reminded of the urban myth that Van Gogh ate yellow paint to have happiness inside him when the ensemble circle her and reveal the matching mustard paint concealed within their clothing. They are her interiority, her subconscious. They signify what The Disassociation of Shirley Mason is about: interiority, art, psychoanalysis, mental health, abuse, truth, and childhood.

Based on the true story of Shirley Ardell Mason (an American psychiatric patient and art teacher who was reputed to have dissociative identity disorder) and staged as part of Bristol Old Vic’s New Plays in Rep strand, this sinister and twisty original play by Isabella Culver tells Shirley’s tragic tale with style and flair. We see her difficult childhood in a small Seventh-day Adventist town, her move to art school in New York and her inevitable psychotic breakdown. As we grow to know her, we begin to pity and lament for a girl we initially found peculiar and unlikeable.

A Bristol Old Vic Theatre School production, curated by Bristol Old Vic Writers Department, the play centres on Freudian theory which parallels religion with neurosis, and looks into childhood abuse patterns and Dissociative Identity Disorder. Culver looks deeply into psychiatry and ethical conduct in what feels like a culmination of thorough research and the playwright’s interests. The figure of her psychiatrist, Cornelia B. Wilbur, cleverly blurs the lines between friend and foe, in a complex and changeable relationship.

This thematically distressing play has moments of arresting beauty. A particularly compelling stage-image features the ensemble cast depicting one of Shirley’s own abstract paintings – and the play is stuffed with similarly clever movement and sophisticated direction. We are seamlessly transported through time, location and character in what is testimony to the cast’s prowess and Peter Leslie Wild’s directorial skill. It feels like the medium of theatre used to its full potential.

The script also deserves mention for its speed and sharp meta-theatrical references. Shirley’s simultaneous peculiarity and likeability is brought to the fore both by Culver’s shaping of her character. We are unanimously drawn to her embodiment of otherness.

The strong acting, outstanding direction and gripping narrative work in tandem to create a truly impressive and moving piece of theatre. Thought perhaps not for the faint-hearted, The Disassociation of Shirley Mason is gripping, dark and fantastically staged.

The Disassociation of Shirley Mason continues at Bristol Old Vic’s Weston Studio until Saturday, March 16, as part of BOV’s New Plays in Rep strand. For more info and to book tickets, visit bristololdvic.org.uk/whats-on/mini-series/new-plays-in-rep