A brilliant intersection of queerness, emotional connections, and OCD
Suitable for ages 18+.
UnTethered is an autobiographical comedy about Tana Sirois, a queer, demisexual woman battling her obsessive compulsive disorder to experience love and safety. This play, featuring audience participation, dance sequences, and moments that are both comedic and serious, is a daring display of vulnerability. Treating the audience members as prospective partners, Sirois reveals the darkest parts of her mind and invites us to open up as well, using a ‘trauma bingo’ card and a slip or paper for us to write down our ‘core fear’.
There was a moment, in the show I attended last night (May 22), where Sirois invited a member of the audience onto the stage to engage in two minutes of eye contact. When asked to describe each other using one word, the audience member said ‘vibrant’ – and I wholeheartedly agree. Sirois is full of vibrance. Despite her mental health struggles, she seems to genuinely enjoy being around people and learning about them. Her energy is infectious, and her eye contact with her viewers is welcoming rather than intense. Demisexuality is defined by experiencing a romantic/sexual connection only after establishing a strong emotional connection, and Sirois refreshingly allows her emotional maturity and zest for human interaction to shine through.
Despite Sirois’s initial joking insistence that her OCD does not affect the other aspects of her life, UnTethered is a significant exploration of just how volatile mental health can be. Sirois’s fears are represented by an overwhelming bunch of plastic bags (including an eerie-looking puppet made rather creatively!), worn by a masked man who threatens to beat and smother her in dance sequences that interrupt the comedy of the show. Sirois expertly weaves these scenes into UnTethered so that they are alarming, as intrusive thoughts – and the need to curb them with bizarre compulsions such as reassurance-seeking, constant checking, and avoidance – can be, without them being off-putting to the audience.
Sirois makes it clear that while OCD can cause a person to be consumed by their obsessive thoughts, it is not a ‘cleaning disorder’. In a very interesting scene, Sirois worries that rubbing her hand on the floor after accidentally cutting her finger will cause her to contract hepatitis, which she may then unwittingly pass on to a sexual partner. Love and mental illness are absolutely intertwined. They can seemingly come out of nowhere and cut right into our happiness. Sirois is incredibly self-aware, and this is reflected throughout her show.
The title of the play is incredibly meaningful. It is a comedic way of describing Sirois’s mental state, while also expressing her wish to be ‘untethered’ from her fears and allow herself to experience true liberty and joy. UnTethered is truly an enjoyable show, and Sirois is such fun to watch on stage!