THE ELEVATOR; "Double, Double Toil and Trouble" - The Faces of Dissociative Identity Disorder By Elisabeth McGowan

Elisabeth McGowan

               I’m sure you’ve heard about a “double personality,” “two sides to a person,” “split personality,” “Jekyll and Hyde,” etc, etc. 

We sometimes see it in movies, like with Shutter Island, or Fight Club. Leonardo Dicaprio’s character, Teddy Daniels, (spoiler alert in case you haven’t watched this) comes to realize that he isn’t who thinks he is; Teddy is assigned the case as a detective to find who the mysterious patient is from Shutter Island that escaped the asylum. Fight Club has Ed Norton’s unnamed character (beware, another spoiler alert) discover who Brad Pitt’s character Tyler Durden really is to him, and why he’s…well, everywhere basically. 

These films continue to just blow everyone’s mind and shock you to this day. I mean, who would guess that the answer to every problem in a story is a split-personality mindset? Didn’t see that coming in Shutter Island or Fight Club. I was heartbroken to find out that my Leonardo had the life-ruining, insane ending and that the extremely attractive Brad Pitt was a nonexistent,imaginary person.          

 

                                             

      In reality though, there actually are people who suffer from Dissociative Identity Disorder.  It’s hard to imagine what it would be like to have another person be your controller. Think about it this way – you’re struggling to deal with this other person you seriously believe is real; you don’t have a full grasp over your movements, your thoughts, your opinions, your statements, your likes and dislikes, your feelings, your desires, your needs. How frightening would that be? 
      Neil Wolfe's The Elevator gradually gave me the insight into why some people suffer from hallucinations, or high-intensity imaginations. When an elevator gets caught as one woman is on her way back from running an errand for her boss, she is forced to confront someone important to her – perhaps even disturbingly important to her.  

  What specifically would cause someone to have this disorder? Could it be from the way they grew up? Could it have been one innocent childhood imagination gone wild? A large percentage of us have had imaginary friends when we were young. That’s not a bad thing, so how would that unravel to be something dangerous? Or is this behavior something deeper? Could it be from something rather traumatic, something he or she can never forget?

 The Elevator has the answer behind the cause of this split personality. Who is really in this elevator? One woman? Two? If you enjoyed films like Shutter Island and Fight Club, you would undoubtedly be on the edge of your seat for this. Comment below!

  The Elevator will be playing at the Riant Theatre at the Theatre at St. Clement’s, 423 West 46^th St, for the Strawberry One-Act Festival July 15^th and 18^th at 9pm, and July 25^th at 7pm.