Several QGIS layers sharing single shapefile

Yes, you just need to add a filter (called a definition query in ArcGIS Desktop).

Say you have an attribute field "field_name" with values A, B, and C:

• Add the shapefile
• Open the shapefile's properties
• In the Source tab, at the bottom right click the Query Builder button
• Add the expression "field_name" = 'A'
• This layer will now be filtered to only show featrues from that shapefile which have that attribute
• Duplicate this layer and edit the filter as many times as you need to show the other attributes

Just note that any edits you make to one of those layers will affect the rest of the layers as you are editing the shared underlying data.