The Yellow Wallpaper *****

The Yellow Wallpaper was a short story written in the nineteenth century, whose underlying themes continue to resonate 130 years later.

A couple have rented a mansion for the summer, with Jane having recently given birth. Her husband John - a doctor – diagnoses her with depression and prescribes a ‘rest cure’.

She takes up enforced residence in the attic room, and has various drugs administered to her. She is not permitted reading or writing materials. Stripped of her voice, Jane is effectively in solitary confinement in a room designed to reinforce the diagnosis of mental instability: bars on the windows, a bed bolted to the floor.

With little to occupy her beyond the peeling yellow wallpaper, the narrator gradually descends into mental disintegration. She becomes convinced that the wallpaper is mutating, especially by moonlight, seeing a woman behind the pattern, whom she must liberate by tearing the paper from the wall.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s themes of gothic, horror, and feminism were groundbreaking. It depicts mental illness, gendered expectations, and the struggle for agency. John’s language itself is intended to corner her, labelling her ‘hysterical’. The themes resonate all too readily with the present day.

At the story’s heart is a crushing condemnation of misogyny. Male control, marital expectations, the biased use of the medical establishment are placed under the spotlight, revealing a system intent on taming and silencing rebellious women, forcing them to conform to societal roles.

This is a bold adaptation. The setting remains rooted in its original period, but the staging introduces a strikingly modern interpretation – ranging from the use of sound to dynamic dance movement and transitions. The mood, established from the outset by the haunting strains of Billie Eilish’s “Bury A Friend”, never lets up.

The narrative is both punctuated and driven by an ensemble of three characters, seemingly a manifestation of Jane’s inner thoughts and emotions – frustration, fury, hurt, and so much more. By turns, they dance, move, and react to events unfolding in the room. Yet, it is those moments of stillness that Jane is most exposed – defensive, introspective, seething rage, but always vulnerable.

This directorial choice makes for a breathtaking and innovative spectacle, the pace relentless, juxtaposing with - and somehow belying - the static confines of the attic bedroom. The quite excellent ensemble (Megan Ort, Olivia Helaine, Maya Musial, Claire van Bever, Morgan Blanchard and Paloma D’Auria) bring a visceral physicality to the production, with Ort consistently catching the eye as Jane.

Huge credit, therefore, to the creative vision of director and choreographer Caitlin Ort. The production blends drama, storytelling, movement and dance, which at times feel balletic and operatic.

The over-riding theme of The Yellow Wallpaper remains the pursuit of agency. However, the creativity of the staging and the spellbinding performances will live long in the memory.

A spitfire of a production – beg, steal or borrow a ticket.

Greenside George Street, until 29^th August.