Nanette - No Laughing Matter

As I awkwardly rushed into the Soho Theatre I had no idea what to expect of the nights performance, and little did I care. All I had in mind was running back to see my visiting American friends that I had abandoned at a near by bar. I was pleasantly surprised to figure out that what was about to transpire on stage was a comedy show, being that I am a huge comedy nerd. As the show commenced I was half listening to the material and half watching the time on my phone. Hannah Gadsby was doing the typical stand-up routine I had seen a million times before and although I enjoyed it I can't say that my attention was diverted from my stranded group of friends, but then the energy of the room changed and grew more tense as the jokes began to lessen in regularity. Gadsby did something I had only seen the very best stand-ups do before; she sacrificed getting a laugh and winning the audience over in order to speak honestly about her life and views. I've always heard that most comedians deal with depression in their lives, and this for some reason made sense to me, since I always felt that comedy wasn't a line of work for the mediocre or normal. You have to be a little fucked up to get on an empty stage and try to make strangers laugh. However, Gadsby is very unique from that cliche depressed comedian persona because she lay bear that side of herself that most comedians try so hard to hide. By the end of the show I was in tears, not from laughter but from pure catharsis. I was moved by the sincere retelling of her life story and by the vigor in which she exposed the hypocrisy and fraud in our society. It is safe to say that I will never look at a Picasso painting the same way again, or in that case any art. She opened my eyes to so many things about culture, depression, womanhood, and made me realize the potential power stand-up comedy has as a medium for change. Life isn't always funny, sometimes we have to be serious and I think that same should go for stand-up.

Disability and Discomfort: A Series of Questions

Martin O'Brien - If It Were The Apocalypse I'd Eat You To Stay Alive, A recording.
Why do we have such a difficult relationship with pain?
What is the language of pain?
How can the control of pain over the body engender self-ownership?
Why are we afraid of illness?
Can the disgusting become beautiful?

Hannah Gadsby - Nanette @ Soho Theatre
Why is comedy often about self-deprecation?
What are the consequences of humiliating yourself for the sake of comedy?
Is stand up rich enough for a range of emotions?
Why is it strange for a woman to get angry on stage?
Where are all of the good stories?
Do we really care about victims of sexual assault?
How do we get out of this patriarchal society?
Why is comedy insufficient?


Candoco Dance Company - Double Bill @ Sadler's Wells
Is it problematic to have disabled dancers alongside non-disabled dancers in a performance?
Is contemporary dance for all body kinds?
How does movement tell a story?
What happens when you have half a dance show without dialogue and the second half with speech?
What is the language of dance? Can it be verbal?

Apocalypse Wow!

Martin O'Brien's performance art was both engrossing and just plain gross, yet I can't say that I was ever truly repulsed or disgusted by it. Unlike my fellow students that were covering their eyes and vocally making their levels of discomfort known as they witnessed O'Brien's sadomasochistic behavior, I sat at the back of the lecture room eating an apple, noticeably unfazed about what was happening on the screen in front of me. It's not that I am desensitized to acts of gore and violence, but rather I understood that O'Brien derived a twisted sort of pleasure and fulfillment from what he was doing to himself on stage. If I was made to watch somebody being unwillingly put through that level of pain and torture my reaction would have been very different. Ultimately, I found O'Brien's performance to be a very fitting metaphor for the disease he is living with and found his way of coping with his pain beguiling. He is truly inspiring and the high levels of pain he puts himself through during his performance just go to show the strength and resilience inside of him.