DEBS
"Things aren’t so bad. It’s just that sometimes, you just don’t like it, living, you don’t feel like living, you would like to hit snooze on yourself for a day and erase the you that exists between today’s and tomorrow’s alarm. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?"
Like all of the characters in this play, we don't know much about Debs. Here are a few clues:
1. She likes to watch movies with female protagonists and genres ranging from rom-coms to mystery thrillers. many of the films she references have realistic plotlines, but with touches of surrealism added in. The movies she references in the play are here: Click one!
2. She struggles with insomnia. At 5 AM, she takes an Advil PM to, which is effective for roughly 4-6 hours (sleepiness may last longer). It contains diphenhydramine, a sedating antihistamine. It blocks acetylcholine, a neurotransmitter in your brain that plays a role in REM sleep (the phase involving dreams). This increases phases of light sleep at the expense of deeper sleep, leading to higher chances of next-day sedation.
"the sleep train has left the station and it’s not stopping anytime soon. You’re not dreaming, your sleep is clinical, harsh and antiseptic, stripped of any neural activity."
- 7 AM
3. She has distorted self-image. In the play, Chapdelaine portrays this through visual and structural metaphors. For instance, Debs likes to look at herself in Photo Booth, which literally distorts her reflection. Plus, the playwright says it's possible that the 4 characters are all parts of the same person, raising psychological questions about personality and philosophical questions about parallelism and multiverses.
Based on what Debs says, she likely experiences dissociation, a psychological phenomenon.
Dissociation is a disconnection between a person's memories, feelings, behaviors, perceptions, and/or sense of self. It is completely out of the person's control. It's often described as an "out of body" experience , which connects to the play's different levels of reality.
Dissociation exists on a spectrum that ranges from mild everyday experiences to disorders that interfere with daily functioning. Nearly everyone experiences mild dissociation from time to time. In fact, daydreaming is a prime and common example of mild dissociation. However, long or persistent dissociative episodes can be a symptom of a larger mental health problem such as a dissociative disorder.
"What if maybe I am boring? Like, a lot boring? Find a lover who looks at you like maybe you are boring. Maybe you are not boring, but maybe you are, girl. Maybe you are. Bonjour, moi. Do you like what you see? Boooooorrrrrrring."
