Review: (Toronto) One Legged Dancer (Fringe)
Brave New Show
by Lisa McKeown
@lisammckeown
Written and performed by Ardith Irvine, this is a one-woman mini-musical about learning to adapt to life with Multiple Sclerosis. This brave show consisted of some anecdotes about how she's had to adapt to her disease, along with some dancing and a couple of musical numbers.
The show certainly gave the audience some insight into the life of someone dealing with MS, and the only thing I would say is that I wanted more - more of her experiences, the kinds of trials that she has to endure on a daily basis, things that most of us take for granted and things we are oblivious to.
Irvine finishes the show saying that she does still have hope, but for that to bite down, we needed a better sense of the darkness. I'm not sure if she shied away from that because she didn't want to overwhelm her audience, but I think that the show needs to go there before it will draw a really satisfying narrative arc.
July 2 - 13
Sometimes I think people who dwell too long in the world of Stephen King or even Lord of the Rings may find the truly heroic struggles people engage in in real life somehow trivial or uninspiring. This depletion of empathy in modern culture no doubt also plagues some critics today.
ReplyDelete