★★★★
Disciples of Anatomy is a three-hander about two 19th-century doctors’ wives, Maud and Adelaide, and one soon to be, Cassandra. Maud and Adelaide are old friends catching up when Cassandra bursts into the parlour-room under the false-pretence of having a cut hand, triggering a descent into the dark family history the women share.
The script is well written, balancing endearing and often laugh-out-loud characterisation of the two friends with well-paced exposition of their circumstances and the backstory behind Cassandra’s intrusion. Throughout the play this backstory grows a little dense and hard to follow, and its emotional peaks and troughs are occasionally exaggerated; but the climactic reveal at the very end is a genuinely surprising and clever conclusion. The acting is engaging throughout, with Maud and Adelaide’s friendship coming across as relatable and real. Cassandra’s initial aloofness is skin crawling, and yet by the end the character becomes genuinely sympathetic, a testament to the great acting and nuanced writing.
As introduced in the play’s promotional material, the character of Maud is clearly depicted as autistic: blunt talking and unmasked with Adelaide, whilst deeply uncomfortable masking around Cassandra’s stereotypically snide society hostess mannerisms. Though explicitly politicised examinations of neurodivergence are relevant and necessary, the way in which autism is subtly interwoven into a story about something entirely different is both refreshing and well executed. Rather than being anachronistic, it feels like a necessary imagining of the lived experiences, lost to time, of those women that didn’t fit into the era’s strict social codes.
Disciples of Anatomy is on at Ivy Studio at Greenside @ George Street until August 22nd
