Content Warning : representations of mental illness, discussions of eating disorders, and mentioned self-harm and sexual abuse
Misery doesn’t always love company, especially when the company is an unwanted roommate. ROOMIES is a one-woman play written and performed by Julia Stephens and directed by Ryan Dobrin. It is a jaggedly funny and charming tale of two women finding unlikely friendship, in confinement.
We meet our protagonist Sophie at her absolute worst. She is stuck in a mental facility by a therapist trying to avoid liability, exiled from her movie-star friends and glittering LA “it-girl” lifestyle, and her 30th birthday is drawing ever nearer. She’s forced to share her space with Molly, an 18-year-old with schizophrenia and severe delusions, who is determined to become Sophie’s new best friend. At rock bottom, Sophie comforts herself by the fact that at least the mental facility was once the home of Elizabeth Taylor. Stephens’ voice is darkly comedic, and vivid — she injects the character of Sophie with just enough superficiality of a former LA “it-girl” without eclipsing the characters’ heart. Sophie’s loneliness and the tragedy of growing out of her star-studded life is the show’s emotional anchor, and what pushes her closer towards Molly. As Sophie and Molly get more used to each other’s company, we see a softer side to the protagonist as both the prescription drugs and her hunger for fame and grandeur wear off. The result is something that feels like My Year of Rest and Relaxation meets Clueless.
Stephens wonderfully uses the space to portray the differences in timelines as well as in the multiple characters she portrays. She changes between different personalities seamlessly, and captures the sterile mental facility with no props except her stage presence, two fold-out beds, and scattered bedroom mess dressing the stage. The stage is set out to represent Sophie and Molly’s shared room, with the performer often switching sides of the stage when stepping into the characters, inventively making use of every corner of the space.
Overall, combined with its tender message of unlikely friendship, the play makes several hard-hitting points, some told more effectively than others. The commentary on the American “business” of mental illness and drugs being irresponsibly overprescribed especially to young women, comes across sharply and without preaching. However, some of the heavy subjects around mental health and trauma are brought up without being explored or touched on further, this is especially potent when we learn about Molly’s background and diagnosis, which is presented in an ambiguous way to make the audience concerned and frustrated but is never addressed fully. The timeline is at times difficult to follow as the narrative moves through several months throughout the hour, and the friendship at the heart of the story sometimes struggles to develop organically.
Still, the show’s final moment is beautifully cyclical, and a reminder to anyone that connection can be found even in the deepest end.
Roomies is on until August 31 at Jersey at Underbelly Bristo Square. Buy tickets here.
Image by Jonny Woolley, provided to The Student by Underbelly for press use
