Friday 14 December 2018

Heating the Ink - Update

Dilemma: how does one make the invisible visible?

I’m seriously asking pals - thoughts on a postcard please.

This was the hurdle that we full-throttle flung ourselves into this week. How do we show what a character is experiencing internally? The pain, discomfort, the anxiety – everything. The whole point of invisible illness is that you can’t see it (clue’s in the name).

The problem with trying to show pain on stage is that it is, fundamentally, intangible. We never know how anyone else experiences pain, only how we ourselves do. And so how can we show a character’s pain to an audience? And more than that, how do we show that it’s not the same pain they saw represented earlier? That this is hurts where as before it ached. That it’s changed or developed or is actually just rooted in a completely different bit of the body? So we need to find a way to show it and explain it.

Pain is just one of the ways we’re looking to describe the experience of invisible illness but obviously it isn’t the only aspect. There’s a plethora of emotions too  – a tasty cocktail of frustration, fear, anxiety, not to mention the positive bits (I genuinely believe there are some!), the pride of doing what should un-doable, feeling cared for and looked after. But all of these are frustratingly personal and internal.

We’ve set ourselves a bit of a challenge in making this piece but hey – ain’t that the fun?

And of course we’ll be looking at healthcare as a whole – something that most people can relate to. From GP appointments, to extreme waiting lists, endless referrals. and the absolute heroism of medical professionals.We all know the NHS is a mixed bag, but aren't we all fecking grateful it exists?

I was thinking about this a bit and remembered a BBC questionnaire that did the rounds a few years ago where you could calculate how much you cost the NHS. I thought it was fascinating, and sobering – my total was easily in the hundreds of thousands – because it showed exactly how pricey this healthcare stuff is.

So, those are the thoughts that have been plaguing us this week.

More updates soon!

Sweeney x

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