Dissolve
Well, I’m certainly feeling affected right now. I just came out of “Dissolve” at the Dorothy — a one-woman play written and performed by UBC alumna Meghan Gardiner. It was amazing, powerful, and inspiring. And on top of that: free.
And so I cannot help but lament that only an entire row of chairs had to be added to the theatre at the last minute to accommodate all the people who came — I cannot help but wish a call for a larger auditorium was needed.
Once again a beautiful theatrical jem went unnoticed by the larger campus population — I myself only heard about it about five hours before I went. It was put on by the UBC Sexual Assault Awareness Initiative rather that Theatre UBC, and unfortunately not well advertised in advance. But talking to one of the organizers after the play, she hinted it may return again next year.
But anyway. What is this play about, you may wonder? It is a play about drugs and rape. Together — it is the story of about the use of drugs like Rohypnol and GHB in sexual assault (never heard of GHB? Look it up. It’s bloody frightening.). It is the story about victimization, and about the countless bystanders who stand by and do nothing to do stop it. And, in the talkback, we learned something more: it is the story of Meghan Gardiner herself.
Gardiner did an excellent job of acting. Every character she took on was excellently done — especially the bouncer at the beginning. It was a beautiful job, with every switch between characters going between wordless the “everygirl” character that she starts and ends the play with. There is humour. Rage. Wistfulness. Insight. Distress.
It’s not a light topic that this play centres around. But it’s an important one, and I feel this play addresses them in a great way. I’m sick of the stereotype of men as assaulter, and sick of the women-are-victims-men-are-evil mentality that many of these plays have (*cough*Eve Ensler*cough*). It did not take this approach. This was a play that mentioned sexual assault of men. This was a play that purposeful did not ever show the perpetrator of the rape, nor ever fill in any details about him. It was a play about any person — be it you, me, your brother, your best friend — who is drugged with (presumably) GHB — and then raped, by just about any other person. And as Gardiner described in the talkback — most effectively of all, it is a play, not a safety brochure.
It does not pander to the stereotype of rapists hiding behind bushes, or of nobody being able to stop it. Instead, it depicts a harsh reality of blaming the victim: acquaintances taking photos of the drugged victim, not understanding what’s going on; the victim waking up in the morning confused, not remembering what happened to her; the neighbours calling for her to get evicted for her immoral; her friend not believing her tale on the phone, playing down her concerns and telling her that she wasn’t raped and it was a good thing. It shows a world of what shouldn’t be and is.
Normally I absolutely hate it when a play lacks catharsis. This one did on purpose, and it should. We don’t deserve catharsis when we live in this world. The play begins and ends with a person getting ready for a party. This is a play that reminds you: let’s make this a world a better place for them. Only then can we get that release.
