OCD, or Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, is something that we have come to accept in our everyday lives; it’s commonly recognised now. But in 1838, no-one knew what it was. That is until Jean Etienne Dominique Esquirol studied the very first patient to be recorded as having OCD, Mademoiselle F, in a room at Charenton Asylum in Saint-Maurice, Val-de-Marne, Paris.

Miriam Edwards takes the title role of Mademoiselle F, a woman who became convinced aged 18 that she had taken something from her Aunt’s house and began a checking routine that spiralled out of control further and further for many years to come. 

The frustration and anger she feels with herself is apparent and sensed by the audience. The empathy we feel for her not knowing the reasons for her behaviour and how she can be helped. Her coping mechanism seems to be conjuring up Polar Bear, played imaginatively by Tyrone Huggins, whom she is able to talk to and swap stories of the asylum she is trapped in with his tales of the zoo that is his prison.

The similarities between the two locations are food for thought. With the question of society’s perceptions, as to what is acceptable and what is a problem, is enlightening. It is seen to be a problem with mental health to continuously look for something we believe to have lost, but totally acceptable to continually check our phones for social media updates that aren’t there.

Written by Vanessa Oakes, the production sways the audience’s feelings between sympathy, empathy, horror, guilt, regret, it’s all there, with the message that only we can change the future and only we can change our perceptions.

Absorbing and compassionate.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Rachel Louise Martin

Mademoiselle F plays at The Belgrade Theatre, Coventry until 8 October, with tickets available here.