Performing rituals

摘要

Asmall grey room. Three bare light bulbs. White boxes of letters. A woman calmly relates a clinical checklist. This Room is an autobiographical one-woman play about obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), written and performed by Laura Jane Dean and part-supported by the Wellcome Trust. OCD affects 1-2% of UK and US people, and can devastate lives. As the play's scientific adviser, neuroscientist Trevor Robbins, told me: "Sufferers can spend half their waking hours performing a useless activity, such as compulsively washing their hands, confined to their home."