I went to see another STC production last night, The wonderful world of Dissocia. I’m extraordinarily glad that I did.
Lisa wakes up one ordinary day to discover that she’s lost an hour of her life whilst on a flight home from New York: and she embarks on a journey to Dissocia to find her hour. Nothing in Dissocia is as it seems, but it’s wonderfully entertaining, and everyone is a little twisted. She meets all sorts of funny characters, twists on real characters we meet in real life: security guards, council workers all leading her away from her quest for her hour. The whole thing is hilarious, and feels like an adventure through wonderland. Indeed, it’s an adult cocktail mixing The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland;
Lisa’s adventures around Dissocia take her to the most amazing places and get ever stranger. What starts off as reasonable, becomes ever more fantastic and yet you still find some grounding, some background of reality. Finally, everything culminates and you find out what Lisa is really looking for, and what her quest really means.
I’m really torn not to reveal anything in here; I could tell you a lot more of the plot, but part of the fun is that you don’t know what the next turn will be, and the absurdity of the whole play makes it even more hilarious if you don’t know what happens.
The cast is an excellent ensemble, led by Justine Clarke as Lisa, are wonderful: they move really well as a team and move effortlessly to bring so much energy to the play when it’s needed. Justin Smith and Matt Day team up really well together throughout the play as a duo with hilarious effect. The set by Alice Babidge is really appropriate and makes perfect use of the space, whilst lighting is really appropriate too (Nick Schlieper).
Really worth seeing, and lets you get a good insight into what really makes us human.
Robert Schönberger
robert strudel schonberger dot org
