The Dissociates takes a darkly comic look at life and death, memory and healing. It is the story of Alex, a 50ish lesbian who finds herself dealing with the aftermath of a recent crisis. While working in her garden, following the advice of her well-meaning psychiatrist, she tries to assess and reassess sometimes with heartbreaking clarity, often with broad strokes of gallows humour, how she got where she is. As she works to repair her garden, six dissociated aspects of her personality come and join her to comment, help, sometimes to hinder her progress. Together Alex’s “voices” weave a rich tapestry of a life that has been fragmented and compartmentalized, a life that Alex must "remember" to move forward. It’s a premise that injects considerable theatricality and humour into the story of a small essentially internal step. It is also a premise that allows the telling of a history specific to the lesbian community. While the story is specific it tells a universal story about all of us. The Dissociates is a play about courage, strength and facing life.
Produced by Sea Theatre, Vancouver BC, August 2006