WOMEN'S HOUR // Sh!t Theatre

This fast-paced sketch cabaret charts the multitude of ridiculous, contradictory and impossible-to-escape media messages focused on women: their body, their behaviour, their health and more. Sh!t Theatre’s take-no-prisoners approach is relentless in its pace, its volume, and in its critique of an inequitable world. The evils exposed in Women’s Hour range from serious large-scales injustices (looking at rape culture, near-universal pay inequality and the sexualisation of children) to tiny injustices (gendered kinder eggs, for example) with equal fervour, demonstrating how the structures of sexism work on wildly divergent scales, and with a consistency which is frightening. The effects on women are both specific and political (calling out the ‘luxury tax’ on tampons) and emotionally, and universally overwhelming. The pace and the humour and the noise are but one of the results of the mixed messages, gender policing and pandemic inequity, and Sh!t captures it without apology.  (BL)

WOMEN'S HOUR, Sh!t Theatre, Summerhall, 21, 23, 24, 26, 28, 30 August. Level Access. Contact venue for further information on accessibility.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/women-s-hour  

She’s a princess.

Bryony Kimmings on the sexualisation of young girls:

http://www.bryonykimmings.com/clsrm.html

Adrienne Truscott’s Asking for It:

http://www.adriennetruscott.com/asking-for-it/

On sexism and Nigella Lawson

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/womens-blog/2013/dec/05/nigella-lawson-trial-media-appearance-charles-saatchi

Debate around FEMEN’s activism from 2013-2014:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/05/put-your-shirts-back-on-why-femen-is-wrong/275582/

Because we couldn’t believe it either: information on mink eyelashes

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2144681/Celebrity-trend-REAL-mink-eyelashes-sweeps-UK-salons.html

THE HIDDEN WORLD OF FUNCTIONAL DISORDERS // Dr Jon Stone at the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas

Dr Stone introduces this ‘hidden world’ with this quandary: the symptoms of some functional neurological disorders (FNDs) resemble someone pretending to suffer from those symptoms. A patient might lose their tremor in one hand when they are preoccupied with a task for the other, for example – impossible for someone with MS, but symptomatic of both people with neurological disorders, and anyone consciously trembling their hand. The physical symptoms originate from the nervous symptom, thus might be alleviated when the limb is responding to reflex alone. However, this fact of the disorder presents several issues, with diagnostic practice, social stigma, and the divide between psychiatry and neurology.

Dr Stone’s presentation highlighted a range of overlapping debates around fraudulence, disability allowance, and the stigmatisation of people living with conditions that don’t outwardly present in ways recognisable to the general public.  Stone raises our society’s current fixation with benefit fraud, and the danger of people with FNDs being refused treatment if they are thought to be ‘faking it’ (if not for benefits, then as ‘drug-seeking behaviour’ – an experience illustrated in Mel Moon’s autobiographical Fringe show Sick Girl). His professional diagnostic experience renders him confident in distinguishing between people with a disorder and possible frauds, but the separation is still very reliant on the discretion of clinicians. The talk also featured a guest outpatient of Dr Stone’s, who suffers from dissociative seizures. Her story prompted discussion of the importance of educating employers about managing staff with FNDs, although the plaudits given her for being in work had the potential to undermine the destigmatisation of benefits claimants.

The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas offers an interesting format for public engagement and discussion with frontline science, and continues with a programme of expert speakers from myriad fields. (HM)

THE CABARET OF DANGEROUS IDEAS, different speakers every day until August 30th, Stand in the Square. Wheelchair Access, Level Access, Wheelchair-accessible toilets available.

Full programme here: http://codi.beltanenetwork.org/codi-2015/the-shows/

Website for Functional and Dissociative Neurological Symptoms: http://www.neurosymptoms.org

Suzanna O’Sullivan in The Guardian on functional neurological disorders and the stigma of ‘faking it’: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/may/16/you-think-im-mad-the-truth-about-psychosomatic-illness

Dr Jon Stone on functional neurological disorders, delivered to the North British Pain Association, 2014: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4obwKD8JLU

Access All Areas,: Live Art and Diability, NYC, from the Live Art Development Agency (LADA): http://www.thisisliveart.co.uk/projects/access-all-areas-live-art-and-disability-nyc-edition/

The Eye of the Storm Symposium, culmination of artist Catherine Long’s residency with UCL’s Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, investigating connections between the body, movement and neurology: http://expectationviolation.com

TSOTF Diagnosis of Sick Girl by Mel Moon, who was accused of drug-seeking behaviour and reflects on rare conditions: http://thesickofthefringe.com/diagnoses/2015/8/9/sick-girl-mel-moon

CRUSOE Gavin Robertson

Finding meaning in a world which is seemingly disconnected, unfair and often impossible to negotiate is at the backbone of Gavin Robertson’s solo performance. Crusoe draws upon scientific theory about the universe and looking at the physical effects of both loneliness and illness, with Robertson flipping before four distinct, but interconnected men. The interconnectedness of the characters is resonant of themes also discussed by Simon McBurney, both in his Open Meeting with Sick of the Fringe last week, and currently in The Encounter, which looks at the impossibility of one man being an island. The piece’s title (not referred to by name in the work) recalls the journey of the stranded Robinson Crusoe, one man finding meaning amongst the solitude – and here Robertson mines the quiet and the isolation for a greater understanding of how we connect and disconnect in a contemporary age, and the political and transformative potential for connecting with others (and with ourselves). While Alzheimer’s plays a pivotal role in one of the character’s lives, the work is less about forgetting and the difficulty of forgetting (as might be seen in Still Alice, out last year), and more about larger philosophical questions about both what exists in place of memory, and how we must look closer in order to see connection between ideas and people which may not be obvious at first glance. (BL) 

CRUSOE, Gavin Robertson, 8-28 August, ZOO. Venue is not wheelchair accessible. Check with venue about other access requirements. https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/crusoe

More about Gavin Robertson: http://www.gavinrobertson.com/

Simon McBurney in The Encounter: http://www.eif.co.uk/blog/2015/close-encounters-herald-theatre-critic-neil-cooper-complicite%E2%80%99s-encounter#.VdR7p1xVikp

Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner’s The Search For Signs of Intelligent Life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oiPbr2V30NQ

ABNORMALLY FUNNY PEOPLE

Founded and produced by a disabled and non-disabled duo, this is the tenth anniversary show by Abnormally Funny People; a group of disabled comedians, all of whom are regulars on the comedy circuit. They always have a 'token' non-disabled comedian who is never allowed to fulfil their role and is only invited to be involved in small, minor and fairly insignificant ways, which refers to the way many disabled people are asked to participate in society. For the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the token non-disabled comics comprise of well-known acts. The standard announcements over the PA before the show, telling us to switch off mobile phones, and warnings about strobe lighting, are intentionally subversive, and we are told if we want soft, sentimental and inspirational stories about disability, then we should watch the Paralympics instead. This gives us the audience an idea of what is to follow, and from the beginning we are encouraged to laugh and find disability humorous (in the context of this show at least!). The song accompanying the entrance of the comics, is 'What's That Coming Over The Hill Is It A Monster' as they all take their places.

The three comedians sit on the stage throughout the show, with the token non-disabled one sitting off stage and only making appearances when invited. While the line-up for Abnormally Funny people is rolling, the line-up we saw was Steve Day, Laurence Clark and Tanyalee Davies, with Richard Vranch filling in as the token non-disabled comic. Steve Day, who has been with the company from the beginning, introduces himself as Britain's only deaf comedian... 'or if there are any others he hasn't heard.' This along with jokes that include misunderstandings occurring during lip-reading and wrongly written sub-titles, along with a couple of political gags, sets the tone for the evening. Next up is Laurence Clark who refers to his speech with the opening line 'no I'm not drunk', going on to tell anecdotes about people assuming that as a wheelchair user with Cerebral Palsy, people assume his children are there to look after him, rather than the other way around. Laurence uses a power point presentation as part of his act, with photos and other images to illustrate his jokes, some of which are about other instances of infantilisation, a common occurrence for many adults with visible impairments.  

An improv section takes place, compered by token non-disabled comic Vranch, who is welcomed onstage with comments such as 'you're so brave' and other patronising statements often experienced by disabled people. The improv involves a small amount of audience participation, and having one of the 3 people taking part being deaf, presented an authentic representation of the mis-understandings and pressures of time that can occur in daily life, when things are not heard accurately and people are impatient with repeating words (all managed with good humour in this situation!). The third and final act up is Tanyalee Davies, who refers to responses she gets from children, to her physicality as someone of small stature. Tanyalee's material centres around sexuality and desire, and she jokingly flirts with a young male member of the audience, labelling herself as a 'cougar'. There is plenty of amusing banter between the cast throughout the show, riffing off each other and jokingly insulting each other, particularly in relation to mis-translating on purpose or saying things they know Steve Day cannot hear. Abnormally Funny people is/are incisive and cutting, and has, for 10 years, been challenging stereotypes and expectations while delivery high-quality comedy. Happy Anniversary. (CL)

ABNORMALLY FUNNY PEOPLE, Stand in the Square, 6-30 August

Palantyped Shows: (live subtitling) on 11th, 16th and 28th

Audio Description can be arranged upon request. Please contact: info@abnormallyfunnypeople.com

Wheelchair accessible (one accessible toilet behind the bar in the square)

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/abnormally-funny-people

More about Abnormally Funny People:

http://abnormallyfunnypeople.com/home

More about Laurence Clark

http://www.laurenceclark.co.uk/about/

A clip of Tanyalee Davis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXtZ_yxMl1k

A clip of Steve Day

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l57evUOE1e0

IDIOTS Caligula's Alibi

Idiots offers an absurdist retelling of the life of Dostoyevsky and the narrative of his novel The Idiot. It opens with the fictive setting of a council estate in purgatory where the epileptic writer has been claiming disability allowance for 150 years. The topicality of the ‘scroungers’ debate, with welfare reforms forcing disabled people to jump through more and more administrative hoops to ‘prove’ their disability, is here mined for comedy; the suited Bureaucrat tuts over his clipboard as the manic Fyodor attempts to feign seizures. Although this 21st century theme loses prominence as the piece continues, it does connect Idiots with the wider conversation on benefits and living with disability in modern Britain. These issues are at the heart of work by artists such as Romina Puma, Touretteshero and Lost Voice Guy, and taken up by disabled activists such as Liz Carr (part of TSOTF events programme). (HM)

IDIOTS, Caligula’s Alibi, Pleasance Courtyard (Beside), until August 31st. Wheelchair Access, Level Access, Hearing Loop available.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/idiots

More on Caligula’s Alibi

http://www.alibitheatre.com

In-depth analysis of Dostoyevsky’s epilepsy from ScienceBlogs

http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2007/07/04/diagnosing-dostoyevskys-epilep/

Diagnosis of Romina Puma’s Not Disabled… Enough

http://thesickofthefringe.com/diagnoses/2015/8/7/not-disabled-enough-romani-puma

Lost Voice Guy

http://lostvoiceguy.com

Touretteshero

http://www.touretteshero.com

On disability benefits and ‘proof’

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/disabled-people-are-trapped-in-assessment-nightmare-by-benefits-regime-says-dr-stephen-duckworth-9272423.html

Interview with Liz Carr in The Guardian. Liz’s talk ‘Rather Dead Than Disabled’ will be a TSOTF main event on Aug 28.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2006/jun/21/disability.socialcare

BACK TO BLACKBRICK Patch of Blue

In Patch of Blue’s adaptation of Sarah Moore Fitzgerald’s teen novel Back to Blackbrick, we follow Cosmo as he struggles to come to terms with his grandfather Kevin’s mental decline from Alzheimer’s disease. Cosmo’s reactions chime with a younger audience: amusement at his most comedic confusions (peeing in the dishwasher), anger at how others infantilise ‘the smartest man [he] knows’, and teary frustration at his inexorable decline – particularly the pain when he forgets Cosmo’s name. 

From this familial, topical, widely recognised foundation, Back to Blackbrick builds a fantastical structure of adventure and time-travel, as Cosmo meets and assists his 16-year-old granddad in Blackbrick Abbey. Though the piece entertains theatrically, Fitzgerald's plotline doesn’t offer an opportunity for either Cosmo or the audience to reconcile themselves medically with the reality of Alzheimer’s as an incurable, debilitating disease. Cosmo is (perhaps fantastically) able to cure his granddad’s dementia, thus saving him from the Doctor, who appears to be threatening to put Kevin in a home unnecessarily and/or without the family’s consent. 

Alzheimer’s has seen a lot of representation in theatre and the arts in recent years, yet all too often these portraits follow patterns of either the inevitable tragedy of decline, or the impossible happy-ending of cure. However, other projects, such as Magic Me's 'Cocktails in Care Homes', aimed at reconfiguring the arts’ relationship with people with dementia, use models of emotional engagement to change the perception of the disease from the purely, and reductively, tragic. (HM)

BACK TO BLACKBRICK, Patch of Blue, Pleasance Courtyard (Cellar), until August 31st. Hearing Loop available. Unfortunately, this venue is not Wheelchair Accessible. Please contact venue for further details. 

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/back-to-blackbrick

More on Patch of Blue:

http://patchofblue.webs.com

Josh Lacey in The Guardian reviews original novel by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/mar/15/back-blackbrick-moore-fitzgerald-review

Info on Magic Me’s ‘Cocktails in Care Homes’ project

http://www.nesta.org.uk/magic-me-cocktails-care-homes

The Lion’s Face opera about Alzheimer’s (2010)

https://thelionsface.wordpress.com

Info on forthcoming Magic Me artist residencies in Anchor Care Homes, feat. Punchdrunk, Upswing, Duckie & Lois Weaver

http://www.carehome.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1569732/arts-and-care-homes-collaboration

THE COLOURS OF KENNY ROACH Peppermint Muse

This two-handed drama charts the descent of art lecturer Kenny Roach from being a lad who likes a drink at the pub, to being an alcoholic whose family, career and life are ruined through addiction. The story makes a tenuous link between creativity and the potential for substance abuse, mapping the career of an artist which can be financially unstable, filled with ego, and pursuant of something beyond reality. Such territory has been very insightfully covered by Bryony Kimmings (7 Day Drunk), Paper Birds (Thirsty) and by Duckie’s Slaughterhouse Club (their project with Vauxhall-based homeless and vulnerable men). Still holding firmly to a male protagonist, the effects of alcoholism on friends and family are startling clear from his female partner, a role (in life) which is often thankless and uneasy. (BL/SG)

THE COLOURS OF KENNY ROACH, Peppermint Muse, 7-29 August, theSpace@ Niddry St. Venue is wheelchair accessible, please contact venue for other accessibility needs.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/colours-of-kenny-roach

On 7 Day Drunk – Bryony Kimmings

https://vimeo.com/29004032

The Paper Birds’ Thirsty

http://www.thepaperbirds.com/

Duckie’s Slaughterhouse Project

http://www.duckie.co.uk/events/the-slaughterhouse-club

NORMALLY ABNORMAL Dave Chawner

Normally Abnormal is a prime example of the fascinating (if sometimes uneasy) overlapping of highly personal, vulnerable, issue-based comedy with the young white male stereotype of stand-up. Chawner guides his audience through his past nine years’ experience of anorexia with a charmingly atypical ‘laddishness’ which invites interrogation of our cultural discomfiture with the sick, skinny, or ‘weak’ male. 

Chawner defies the stereotype of the anorexic – the skeletal teenage girl – whilst his comedy remains grounded in conventional expectations for the male body. Although he wants us to laugh at the reactions people have had to his illness – parents, friends, colleagues – the piece still works to highlight how we struggle to open dialogue around male sickness. Do cultural pressures – around male emotionality, physicality, self-confidence – deny men the space to talk about mental illness, eating disorders, self-harm or self-hate? As Chawner relays, so long as suicide is the most common cause of death for men under forty, it remains crucial that we make room for such conversations. (HM)

NORMALLY ABNORMAL, Dave Chawner, Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, until Aug 30th. Unfortunately, this venue is not wheelchair accessible. 

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/normally-abnormal

More on Dave Chawner

http://davechawner.co.uk

Men Get Eating Disorders Too, UK charity

http://mengetedstoo.co.uk

beat, eating disorder charity

http://www.b-eat.co.uk

the vacuum cleaner, artist working with lived experience of mental health

http://www.thevacuumcleaner.co.uk

Bryony Kimmings and Tim Grayburn’s latest piece Fake It ‘Til You Make It, exploring Grayburn’s experience of clinical depression

http://www.bryonyandtim.com

BLIND MAN'S SONG Theatre Re

When we close our eyes, what do we see? Theatre Re propose that closing our eyes makes it ‘seem that everything becomes possible’. In their beautifully crafted Blind Man’s Song, narrated wordlessly with physical theatre and dance, the blind protagonist conjures an epic love story through his music – either from memory or imagination. 

The piece is beautifully constructed through the technical skill and restraint of performers Guillaume Pigé and Selma Roth, and the moving live solo-symphony from Alex Judd. The storyline relies on tropes about living without sight: the protagonist’s tale of romance juxtaposes his apparent bitter solitude, moving from bed to piano in a single room, a prime example of the amplification of the idea of the blind person’s ‘dark isolation’ into the archetype of the blind musical savant, only able to live through his talent. How can we expand our representations of blind people beyond the super-auditory ‘supercrip’, the black-glasses pianist? 

The piece creates sensations for the audience intended to conjure some aspects of the experience of blindness. Sounds from the moving set or scraping walking-stick are looped and repeated beyond the visual stimuli, creating a sensory dissonance. Darkness and haze abound. This aesthetic begs the politic: how do those of us who can see mythologise the experience of blindness? And how might we allow for such issues around representation in the face of pieces such as Blind Man's Song, the skill and aesthetic of which casts a spell of such undeniable affect and intensity. (HM)

BLIND MAN’S SONG, Theatre Re, until August 30th, Pleasance Dome, King Dome. Wheelchair Access, Level Access, Hearing Loop available.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/blind-man-s-song

More on Theatre Re:

http://www.retheatre.com/theatre_re/About_us.html

TED talks on assistive technology for blind people:

http://blog.ted.com/how-technology-is-changing-blindness/

Theatre Re’s dance practice hails from the work of

DV8 https://www.dv8.co.uk

and Complicite – whose The Enounter is at Edinburgh International Festival

http://www.eif.co.uk/2015/encounter#.VczVR87_C20

Comic Jamie Macdonald, at EdFringe this year, on life as a blind person

http://94.136.40.103/~jamie-macdonald.co.uk/

HAIR PEACE Victoria Melody

Hair extensions are a painful undertaking, Victoria Melody informs us in the opening of Hair Peace. They are heavy, and pull at your scalp. The glue hardens and pricks you, making it impossible to sleep. More discomfiting still, is the insight Melody offers us into the human hair industry itself. As a completely unregulated business, it is worth millions – Britain (as the 3rd biggest importer of human hair in the world) offers easy import, as hair is considered a beauty accessory, rather than human remains.

Using her self-effacing onstage persona and a Louis Theroux-esque transnational video-diary of her research missions to Russia and India (two of the world’s biggest human hair exporters), Melody unweaves the dodgy practices of this severely-overlooked industry. She identifies the profiteering middlemen – and they are wholly men – who are exploiting the vulnerability of women as suppliers (ignorant of either the selling of their hair when cut for religious reasons, or the price it can go for in the West) and the vanity of women as consumers, ignorant (often by choice) of the source of their extensions. Indeed, hair extensions have received a fraction of the ethical attention as food, clothing, or other parts of the cosmetic industry Though we worry about animal testing, FairTrade, and conditions of labour, we seem able to forget entirely about the circumstances of the anonymous individual who donates years worth of a (potentially core) part of their aesthetic identity for our three months of vanity.

Melody, however, is careful to avoid judgment. Her performed research (a form echoed by the duo Sh!t Theatre) provokes audible shock from the audience: the Indian temple which makes £22m in selling on its tonsured hair, or the woman who sells her dead mother’s plait for £5. However, as Melody introduces herself as a nationwide beauty pageant contestant, she embraces the self-obsessed, ‘dumb blonde’ stereotype as the vehicle for Hair Peace’s exploration. Although her wigs change color, length and style, her persona stays the same. (SPOILER ALERT AHEAD) In the end, her video interviews with friend Neeharika (whose head was shaved at the aforementioned temple), and sister Beverley (long-time hair extension connoisseur) defy the archetypes of the ethnic victim and the ignorant Western consumer. Neeharika feels stronger without her long hair – knowing people are only seeing her; Beverley doesn’t feel herself without the extensions, despite them not being a part of her. Melody reconciles both these women’s experiences as consensual participants on either side of an exploitative industry that connects one individual to another in the most literal sense. (HM/EW)

HAIR PEACE, Victoria Melody, Pleasance Courtyard (Below), AUG 12-16, 18-23, 25-31. Wheelchair Access, Level Access, Hearing Loop available.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/hair-peace

More on Victoria Melody

http://www.victoriamelody.co.uk

See Sh!t Theatre for similar mix of live art/comedy/issue-based research, inc. Guinea Pigs on Trial, looking into Phase One medical trials

http://www.shittheatre.co.uk/home.html

Homa Khaleeli in The Guardian on the hair trade

http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2012/oct/28/hair-extension-global-trade-secrets

JUST A FEW WORDS Nye Russell-Thompson

Set in the basement bar of a stylish restaurant, this performance space is intimate and inviting. Otis Redding sings softly from the turntable on stage, sometimes getting stuck on and repeating the word 'I'. The disc is left spinning after the song has ended, providing a soundtrack for the performance; a soft, repetitive, regular sound of a needle resting on circling vinyl.

Nye Russell-Thompson enters the stage with a huge pile of large cards which he puts down, then begins to try to speak to us,  except his word seems to be 'stuck'. His persistent, repetitive efforts to push this word out, again and again, don't succeed. Ruseell-Thompson stops attempting to speak and turns to the cards, holding up the first one, on which is written a word in large black marker pen. The cards become his 'other' voice, his internal voice, often witty and like-able, which he shares with us, the audience.  He invites us to help him articulate the word he is struggling with, and we join him, fleetingly and momentarily in his struggle to speak, with an un-co-operative mouth. His invitation to experience the physical processes involved in stammering, is a confident act, in contrast to the inner voices that later insult and strip him bare of his ability to hold on to his integrity. We see the words on the cards spiral into a self-attacking, demoralising stripping away of dignity and self-confidence, having increasing effect on the confidence and self-esteem of this young man standing before us in a sea of words at his feet.

This performance offers an opportunity for reflection on the disruptions of social structures and we are faced with the question of how we might personally respond to situations when more time is required than we might be 'familiar' with for activities that many of us take for granted. A card reading ‘DOESN’T MATTER’ quietly, but devastatingly, demonstrates what happens when someone’s voice takes longer or sounds different from the norm: they can feel disempowered in their own voice, convinced that the content of their (perhaps slow) conversation doesn’t matter. Who takes responsibility and who allows for the structures around communication to be altered? In parallel with Sue MacLaine and Selma Nadarajah’s Can I Start Again Please, and Lost Voice Guy’s Disability for Dunces, issues of being heard and being silenced, being allowed a voice, are powerfully addressed. There is less need to coax voices from those who are mostly-silent (they are already out there, and they are powerful), and more of a need to teach everyone to listen better. (CL)

JUST A FEW WORDS, Nye Russell-Thompson, 8-29 August (Except Wednesdays)Clouds and Soil - Compass Room (Venue 71). Unfortunately the venue is not wheelchair accessible. Performance space is down a flight of aprox 20 stairs with a rail on the right hand side (descending) http://freefringe.org.uk/edinburgh-fringe-festival/just-a-few-words/2015-08-15/

More about the show from the British Stammering Association: http://www.stammering.org/speaking-out/article/just-few-words

About Can I Start Again Please?: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/can-i-start-again-please

About Lost Voice Guy: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/lost-voice-guy-disability-for-dunces

EVERYTHING THAT’S WRONG WITH THE UNIVERSE Gemma Arrowsmith

Arrowsmith’s sketch comedy show hits a number of targets - body and behaviour policing, the rise of homeopathy, beauty pageants, homophobia and natural disasters – but is particularly effective at highlighting the misogyny, hypocrisy and confusion involved in health messaging, and its effects on women.  The unending cycle Arrowsmith describes is not necessarily new, but definitely unfamiliar territory in the world of comedy: she talks about how media and marketing create a particular problem – a body part which doesn’t look right , for example – creates a marketable solution – a new product to solve this previously unproblematic problem – and then shames people into consuming. Once consumers, the cycle can start all over again, with new undiscovered problems, and new products to cure them. Unrelenting in her cynicism, Arrowsmith is focused in her critique and puts her characters in situations which, as happens with many consumers, it is nearly impossible to escape from. Everything That’s Wrong with the Universe promotes a more informed consumer, and a more questioning health advocate. (BL) 

EVERYTHING THAT’S WRONG WITH THE UNIVERSE, Gemma Arrowsmith, 5-31 August, Underbelly Med Quad. Venue is wheelchair accessible. Contact venue for other access questions. https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/everything-that-s-wrong-with-the-universe

More on Gemma Arrowsmith: http://gemmaarrowsmith.com/

On Women and Vitamin-Shaming: http://www.elle.com/beauty/health-fitness/news/a16962/multi-vitamins-dont-work/

On Homeopathy and the NHS: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2010/feb/25/homeopathy-nhs-costs-parliament

GARDEN Lucy Grace

Anxiety and specific mental health issues remain in the backdrop of this solo meditation about the effects of contemporary society on the human body. Lucy is an office worker at the soulless Insignia Assessment Management who, after a seemingly-innocent decision to take on the role of the company Green Officer, awakens to more natural rhythms of the world, and the deeply uncomfortable reality of office and urban life. There are a number of films and theatre shows that have dealt with this territory, particularly Todd Haynes’ film SAFE (which will have a visual art exhibition dedicated to its themes at HOME Manchester in November), and Grace’s addition to the discourse is both charming and alarming.   Abigail Conway’s new work An Evening with Primrose - which presents an audience with the blooming of a single bud of primrose – also asks an audience what is missed when we live exclusively on company time. There are no simple solutions, and Grace’s GARDEN presents an ambivalent and open-ended ending – it is not as simple as throwing it all away and starting again, but it also might be. (BL) 

GARDEN, Lucy Grace, 7-31 August. Pleasance Below. Please contact venue for accessibility: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/garden

More on Lucy Grace: http://www.thepublicreviews.com/five-fast-fringe-questions-with-lucy-grace-from-garden/

On caring for a Dracaena: http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/houseplants/dracaena/dracaena-houseplant-care.htm

On SAFE Exhibition at HOME Manchester: http://homemcr.org/exhibition/safe/

On Abigail Conway’s Evening with Primrose: http://abigailconway.org.uk/An-evening-with-Primrose

On Pigeons: http://www.pigeoncontrolresourcecentre.org/html/the-pigeon-in-history.html

THE TEMPTATION OF ST ANTHONY The Mechanical Animal Corporation

The old veterinary college setting of The Temptation of St Anthony creates an atmosphere of 'ritual' with a formality yet a sense of something 'out of the ordinary' from the outset. This devised performance responds to the legend of St Anthony, a man who went into the Egyptian desert 1700 years ago and experienced 'spirit possession' throughout his life.

We meet and get to know something of the very individual and idiosyncratic performers as each of the five actors enter, three of them wearing torn and burnt clothing. There is chaos and calm, powerful vocal sounds along with stones, healing bowls and drums, starkly contrasted at times with discord, hysteria and wailing.the acoustics of the building are highly beneficial for this piece and the musical talents of this group of people.

The research for the show (supported by The Wellcome Trust, amongst others) was influenced by case studies but these were not dramatized, instead the performers illustrate narrative aspects of possession, created by imaginative engagement in the experience of possession based on their research findings.  These elements of narrative are an articulate illustration of the way in which possession and/or psychiatrically diagnosed conditions, are hugely complex, multi-layered and difficult to describe (Put something in about Petra's work here?) The ensemble comprises performers from Egypt, New Zealand, The UK, Sweden and Japan; which provides a rich cultural representation and contribution of differing voices which have the capacity for harmony as well as each retaining their very distinct individuality. The theme of possession was researched from psychiatric, anthropological and religious angles, with the input from experts in each field. 

The printed programme accompanying the show provides a detailed and thorough description of the research process, which attends to the delicate nature of the subject matter and its need for respect and care. For someone who does not read the programme, questions may be raised about the potential problems involved in portraying people with mental health issues, and the appropriateness of this in performance (or not). This show refers to the form of spirit possession that in many cultures is regarded as a form of mental illness, rather than it being a possible mode of healing. It refers to the various cultural stereotypes associated with it, such as labels like 'insane' 'deranged' 'mad' and 'hysterical' This conflict of how possession is perceived and 'treated' within different cultures, underpins the show, with questions being raised about it being 'indefinable' and the spiritual aspect not being regarded as something treatable by psychiatrists, only the medical aspect is diagnosable and treatable. (CL)

THE TEMPTATION OF ST ANTHONY, The Mechanical Animal Corporation, 13-30 August. Summerhall Demonstration Room. This venue is not wheelchair accessible, other accessibility may be available, please check with venue. https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/temptation-of-st-anthony

More about The Mechanical Animal Corporation, one of our Partners in Sickness and Health: http://thesickofthefringe.com/partners/mechanimal

On exorcisms and psychology: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/jul/09/pope-francis-psychology-exorcism-possession

Links provided by The Mechanical Animal Corporation.

Spiritual Crisis Network: http://spiritualcrisisnetwork.uk/

Royal College of Psychiatrists: http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/mentalhealthinformation/therapies/spiritualityandmentalhealth.aspx

ABACUS Early Morning Opera

This TED-talk inspired performance finds Paul Abacus, a white, American male 'presenting' to the audience, accompanied by two Stedicam camera operators, with a huge screen as backdrop. The content of the presentation is informed by the work of 20th century inventor and visionary, R. Buckminster Fuller, who worked as a 'comprehensive anticipatory design scientist' to solve global problems, towards the creation of a sustainable planet.

A performance is an unsettlingly polished journey through a researched set of statistics of how things have changed in relation to the planet and population over the past 250 years, with highly produced visuals on screen illustrating the facts and figures enthusiastically being fed to us covering a broad range of topics: from organic gardening, to attendance in Catholic schools, to who owns how many shares of the moon and the north pole. We are told that screens are the new religion and asked questions about the implications of that; how does our screen obsession affect our future as a human race? We as audience are included in the potential consequences of what is taking place on a global and Universal level, and forced to take responsibility for our part in what is happening. 'Do we want another dark age', Abacus asks, because apparently we could be heading towards one.

Abacus confronts us, and includes us in his existential questioning about life and freedom, believing that the planet is approaching a seismic shift. The images on the screen change constantly, alternating between the polished graphics and live feeds coming from the Steadicams, which Abacus speaks directly to, so his projection is both addressing the audience and then he switches into directly talking to us, so we see him from all angles, both virtually and in the flesh. As the outcome of the research is delivered continually in this manner, the pace of the presentation builds to what is either a crescendo or a rollercoaster ride, and we are given the option to climb aboard and scream with Abacus. This is the age of the screen. And we are left wondering what the implications of all the Age of the Screen on national borders, immigration crises, natural disasters, governments, and the way are bodies are, or are not, prepared to deal with this age. There will be something post-Screen, certainly, but this remains uncertain. And just as we never know the irony or genuineness of Abacus’ presentation, as audience members we embody that uncertainty – wowed by the speed and the graphics and the movement and also questioning their reality. (CL)

ABACUS, Early Morning Opera, 7-30 August (various dates). Summerhall. Please contact venue for accessibility. https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/abacus

More from Early Morning Opera: earlymorningopera.com

On R. Buckminster Fuller: https://bfi.org/about-fuller

TED Talk by Nicholas Negroponte on The Future: http://www.ted.com/talks/nicholas_negroponte_a_30_year_history_of_the_future?language=en

CAN I START AGAIN PLEASE? Sue MacLaine and Nadia Nadarajah

This rigourous and challenging hour examines both the very literal and very philosophical implications of translation and interpretation. Two performers, Sue MacLaine and Nadia Nadarajah tell parallel narratives in two parallel languages (spoken English and BSL) which intersect, diverge and build on each other to make a whole greater than its parts. Can I Start Again Please? uses reflections of listening and speaking (initially presumed to be about hearing and deaf communication, but quickly spinning out to be about much more) to look critically at why and how one remains silent after trauma and, specifically, sexual abuse.  How can one speak about the unspeakable? And why would one speak if they know that others will not hear? While lesser works have used physical difference as the stuff of metaphor, MacLaine and Nadarajah’s relationship is textured and rich, providing a visual and aural landscape of communication to consider.

The speed of the work is steady, without gigantic leaps or crescendos, and the using of Wittgenstein’s philosophy as both pacing device and philosophical framework forces the audience to re-engage over and over again with how their brain works, and consciously consider how they are taking in the performance and the text. In this way, Can I Start Again Please intervenes into discourse around sexual assault and trauma, forcing audiences to think about how they receive the stories which are around us all the time yet still swept under carpets, or withheld until victims/survivors feel able to say anything (which is inevitably beyond the time that our inequitable world believes is the appropriate/acceptable). The work’s stately simplicity is an act of non-apology – there will be no appeals to your sympathy, but an appeal to make you hear, and understand.

CAN I START AGAIN PLEASE? Sue MacLaine and Nadia Nadarajah, 7-30 August, Summerhall. Venue is not wheelchair accessible. The performance is variously BSL interpreted, audio described and relaxed performance is available. https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/can-i-start-again-please

More on Sue MacLaine’s work: http://www.suemaclaine.com/

Wittgensteins’ Tractatus: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/5740/5740-pdf.pdf

CELL Smoking Apples and Dogfish

This puppetry and physical theatre piece looks at the life of Ted, a man with Motor Neuron Disease, who begins to come to terms with life in a changed body. Just as Romina Puma discusses in Not Disabled…Enough, there is a great tension between medical models of understanding disability and social models, and neither of which are fully comfortable as homes for people with degenerative chronic conditions. Ted’s story embraces the See the Person, Not the Disability kind of campaign which encourages people to look beyond disability to see ashared humanity. Such a campaign or narrative, however, is not universally embraced, with disability activists saying that one must embrace the whole in order to make people feel fully human and empowered as members of society. What is wrong with seeing the wheelchair? What is wrong with a change in health? Of course debilitating, currently-uncurable illnesses must be researched and supported, medically, with the same vigorousness as society treats things like cancer, but they must also be charted as something which happens to the body which has implications on health care, social services and accessibility. 

Puppets and puppetry have often been used as metaphors for individuals or societies being controlled, and such a metaphor is uncomfortable when used with a body which transitions between nondisabled and disabled. The body being carried around and cared for – while also being silent – does not seemingly project the most empowered of stances. But would a performer without MND do justice to the work? Such controversies swirled with the casting of Eddie Redmayne in The Theory of Everything, and the inclusion of more disabled performers in both disabled and non-disabled roles is a conversation happening throughout the UK. Disability activists are fighting for greater representation in their stories not only because they want empowered stories to be told, but because they want the political implications of these works to be fully realised: when one creates a character with Motor Neuron Disease and asks an audience (who will have their own relationship with MND, illness and disability)  to engage in their story, one must also fight against the cuts to the Independent Living Fund and the Access to Work scheme, one must demand not only medical research but social equality, and one must engage with a politics which embraces humanity, regardless of, but not ignoring of, disability.

CELL, Smoking Apples & Dogfish, 7-30 August, Underbelly Cowgate. Venue is not wheelchair accessible, hearing loop available. https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/cell

More on Smoking Apples: http://smokingapplestheatre.com/

More on Dogfish: http://www.dogfishtheatre.com/

On Romina Puma: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/not-disabled-enough

On Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything and Disability: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/01/20/the_theory_of_everything_and_disability_why_eddie_redmayne_shouldn_t_get.html

A Response to “See the Body, Not the Disability”: http://thebodyisnotanapology.com/magazine/the-problem-with-person-first-language/

Touretteshero and changes to Access to Work scheme: http://www.touretteshero.com/2015/01/24/access-to-tears/

MY BEAUTIFUL BLACK DOG Brigitte Aphrodite

My Beautiful Black Dog is a rock gig: it is hardcore, it is loud, it is messy, it is an incredibly meaningful meditation on mental health and how we talk about it, don’t talk about it, and carry it with us at all time. While Winston Churchill famously described his depression as a black dog that followed him everywhere he went, Aphrodite calls her dog Crescendorious, explicitly mixing the worlds of music (and its inevitable crescendo) and the gloriousness of a life honestly lived. Aphrodite’s performance is a mental health survival tale without a clear, start to finish narrative, and without ever calling herself a survivor: the piece is most successful when it recognises the form it might be shoe-horned into, and rejecting it: My Beautiful Black Dog is not an inspirational tale of someone being diagnosed with a mental illness and then coming out better in the end. The start of the piece (and her illness) is quite usefully ambiguous, very few illnesses have a single trigger, or a definitive starting point – and here it seems as though one day the anxiety she had been feeling for a while becomes overwhelming. Aphrodite describes this as a creeping sensation, not unlike Black (Le Gateau Chocolat, diagnosed below) whose work, at the end, finds the audience understanding that mental illness is not discreet, or neat, or over even when one thinks its over. It’s a process, and can be a very long and arduous one. 

The form of the music gig makes My Beautiful Black Dog accessible, emotional and enjoyable to watch, but also allows her to play with music and musicality in meaningful ways. Co-performer Quiet Boy’s strange microphone addition makes music sound distant and strange – a metaphor for the disconnect between reality and a reality lived inside depression – and the flight case (normally used for transporting amps and other equipment) provides a provocative and problematic sanctuary for Aphrodite in her lowest of times. As she plays a large number of voice messages from concerned friends and family, the flight case becomes a hiding place, a bank vault, a grave, in quick succession, making her silence even more profoundly felt. 

My Beautiful Black Dog excitingly talks honestly about the connection, or the relationship between mental health and drugs and alcohol without being alarmist and judgemental. For Aphrodite, alcohol exasperated her anxiety, and was overall quite dangerous, but she doesn’t seem to make a blanket critique of all drug or alcohol culture. Such a thoughtful approach feels similar to the venues such as Let’s Talk About Gay Sex & Drugs, which support empowering conversation with gay men in London talking about health, drugs, sex and mental health.  Aphrodite’s work also expressly links the physical activity of the body with mental health, creating a performance that is incredibly physically taxing and resonant with how the body and mind are deeply intertwined. The show is sweaty for her and her co-performer Quiet Boy, but she thankfully passes us glitter to make ourselves a mess as well. Wearing glitter for the rest of the day was a perfect physical reminder of the reflection on mental health – it’s both annoying (now one has this glitter on them that is hard to get off) and inspiring, knowing that life might be messy and unpredictable, but in and amongst all the drama, one can shine. (BL)

MY BEAUTIFUL BLACK DOG, Brigitte Aphrodite, 7-16 August, Underbelly Cowgate. This venue is not wheelchair accessible.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/my-beautiful-black-dog

More about Brigitte Aphrodite:

brigitteaphrodite.co.uk

On Winston Churchill’s Black Dog:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/good-to-share/10568933/How-to-deal-with-the-black-dog-of-depression.html

On Let’s Talk About Gay Sex and Drugs:

http://attitude.co.uk/lets-talk-gay-sex-drugs/

Le Gateau Chocolat:

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/le-gateau-chocolat-black

FUNNY AS CANCER Beth Vyse

Funny As Cancer is a stand-up/storytelling performance which charts Beth Vyse’s adventurous and eccentric life as an up-and-coming actor which takes a strange and unpleasant turn as she deals with breast cancer at the age of 28. Vyse demonstrates the absurdities of diagnosis and surgery, particularly focusing on the inability for families and loved ones to talk about cancer and illness, and the pressure it puts on romantic relationships. Vyse’s work shares commonalities with many stories about cancer – discussed by Jackie Stacey in Teratologies – which change irrevocably and quickly after a diagnosis: life was normal and exciting and funny and then…. Cancer.  Such a trajectory feels quite similar to films like 50/50 or Terms of Endearment, which is meant not as a criticism, but as, perhaps, a moment in which the biology of the illness affects the form of the story. For people with cancer, the word, the diagnosis changes ones perspective in a moment, pulls all focus, and can become quite overwhelming.

Vyse pulls audience members in as participants in her story, forcing people to enact sex, sperm banks, egg deposits, and more. While audience members might flinch at such participation, this mode of storytelling forces us to engage not as passive audience members, but as people who are part of the community which is sharing this story. Because cancer is as much defined by the biology as by the cultural stigma and misconceptions around it, asking us to participate in telling her story lets us think about how we would think about the situation, what we might say to our boyfriend/girlfriend or daughter, or mother etc. In this way, Vyse’s story asks us to shake off the notion that cancer is only experienced by a singular body at a time – it is all about relationships and how we can talk about these issues more, and better. (BL)

FUNNY AS CANCER, Beth Vyse, Heroes @ The Hive, 7-30 August. This venue is not currently accessible for wheelchairs, but may have an accessible option. Please contact the venue.

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/beth-vyse-as-funny-as-cancer

More about Beth Vyse:

http://www.bethvyse.com/www.bethvyse.com/Welcome.html

Jackie Stacey’s Teratologies

https://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/news/the-unspeakable-spectre-of-big-c/105435.article

Stupid Cancer and Fertility

http://stupidcancer.org/support/fertility.shtml

Everything Changes, Kairol Rosenthal

http://everythingchangesbook.com/

GOODSTOCK Lost Watch

To know or not to know is the question that happens well before Goodstock begins: Olivia Hirst does know, and she knows that she tested positive for BRCA1, the gene which predisposes a person to breast and ovarian cancer. Lost Watch’s play, set to a live soundtrack, mines the ethics of genetic testing, and particularly the financial, emotional, sexual and (of course) surgical implications for young women. While such surgical and physical effects have been increasingly understood (in part due to people like Angelina Jolie and her highly-publicised double mastectomy) questions of guilt (and anger and ambivalence) linked to hereditary conditions is freshly considered.  

Probably the most significant contribution of Goodstock’s writing is the introduction of the term “Cancer Avoider” to the lexicon of cancer understanding. While so so so much energy is foisted upon those who survive, and so so so many memorials are laid out for those who die due to the disease, there is little space in current cancer discourse for those who don’t fit neatly into these two categories. As Hirst so rightly points out, after her mastectomy she will have the battle scars from cancer, but no battle. This is not at all a personal failing on Hirst’s and more of a failing of the current cancer world to think beyond survival/death and to think beyond simple, fundraise/marketing friendly language. As previous diagnoses will mention, the biggest problem here is that cancer is still far disconnected from disability discourses, which would positively add a dimension of understanding health/well-being and bodies as inherently growing, shifting, working, not working, etc, over time. As S. Lachlann Jain writes about in “Living in Prognosis” the entirety of the world and its understanding of time, pressure, and embodiment changes with a cancer diagnosis, and Hirst’s writing adds a new dimension to this body of social research. 

The work also usefully throws up the different generational struggles to understand science. While Hirst’s grandmother feels guilty about the passing on of the BRCA1 gene, how could she have ever known? And would knowing that she carries the BRCA1 gene prevent Hirst from having a child if she so desires? This intergenerational cast deals thoughtfully with these questions, reminiscent of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home, which looks at sexuality and how it is understood generationally – when these different generations necessarily speak to each other about these questions, there may be both unique fights and unique moments of understanding and reflection.

GOOD STOCK, Lost Watch, Pleasance Dome Attic, 7-31 August. This venue is not wheelchair accessible.https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/goodstock

More on Lost Watch: http://www.lostwatchtheatre.co.uk/goodstock/4588691819

Jonny Pelham (below) who also discusses surgery and necessity, but in different ways: http://www.chortle.co.uk/comics/j/33921/jonny_pelham

Breast Cancer Action: http://www.bcaction.org/

Angelina Jolie and BRCA1: http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/angelina-jolie-ovaries-removed-what-is-the-brca1-gene-should-i-get-tested-and-does-it-mean-ill-get-cancer-10129378.html

S. Lachlann Jain and Living in Prognosis: http://www.malignant.us/essay_links_files/Living%20in%20Prognosis.pdf

On generational understandings in Fun Home: https://otherwomenswords.wordpress.com/2014/03/18/from-one-generation-to-another-oppression-in-and-of-fun-home/