The Maladies by Carmen Nasr

Accessible and pertinent, and an excellent addition to teaching resources

In 2019, British-Lebanese writer Carmen Nasr gathered with the Almeida Young Theatre Company to create a show. Their ideas began with a set of true historical incidents of ‘mass hysteria’ almost exclusively affecting young women, especially those in institutions where they were almost powerless. This led to the company asking themselves what such an outbreak would look like today.

The Maladies crosses time and we find ourselves led through the action by Susan and Christina to France in the 1500s where women are contracting a dancing disease, some dancing themselves to death. The women in the bakery suspect there is something in the bread. In Tanzania in 1962, there is an outbreak of abnormal emotional behaviour in schoolgirls causing attacks of laughing and crying lasting from a few minutes to a few hours. Parents are advised to avoid talking to their girls about their future hopes and dreams, to busy them with chores and not to let them drink the water. In the USA in 2011 high school girls start to twitch. No one knows why. In London in 2023 women are falling silent, some suspect it to be chemicals in the water.