{"id":724,"date":"2016-11-27T18:55:28","date_gmt":"2016-11-27T18:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/?p=724"},"modified":"2016-11-27T19:03:18","modified_gmt":"2016-11-27T19:03:18","slug":"heres-a-question-why-dont-we-talk-about-illness-and-death-more-the-pacifists-guide-to-the-war-on-cancer-dorfman-theatre-at-the-national-london-23-11-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/?p=724","title":{"rendered":"‘Here’s a Question?…Why Don’t We Talk About Illness, and Death More?’ – The Pacifist’s Guide to the War on Cancer, Dorfman Theatre at the National, London 23.11.2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"15134601_10153840810440448_2520741200561376986_n\"<\/a>I would\u00a0have not known that a musical such like this existed had it not have been for my friend mentioning it to me one evening,\u00a0as her partner had\u00a0heard\u00a0a preview of a song on the radio, but it is not everyday that a musical\u00a0is involved with this particular subject. Myself and\u00a0my friend Jess were quite intrigued and as someone had a\u00a0birthday soon, my treat\u00a0was to share the experience together.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Pacifist\u00a0Guide to the War on Cancer<\/em>, written\u00a0and directed by Byrony Kimmings is an all-singing, all-dancing examination of life with a cancer diagnosis. Focussing on a mother with a new born baby journey through finding a black shadow in\u00a0an\u00a0x-ray, to diagnosis, we also see stories of five other Cancer patients, and their journey through treatment, and coming to terms with the condition they have along with love ones who are also affected.\u00a0This brand new musical confronts the highs and lows of the scariest word we know.<\/p>\n

Tonight’s performance was being performed at the Dorfman Theatre, one of three that make up the National\"15281023_10153849108940448_951972099_n\"<\/a> Theatre. I was surprised to find that this venue does not feature on SeatPlan’s website, yet the other two do, so when it came to choosing are seats I was not sure as to what I was in for, also\u00a0the way that the seating plan was portrayed on the ticket\u00a0website made it a tad confusing as it looked like some seats that you could choose were quite far from the stage. I went in blind but chose the Circle section, Side View, Row N seats 12 and 13. At the Theatre\u00a0we picked up \"15282072_10153849109065448_2142204103_n\"<\/a>our tickets, and programme (which was themed as a medical report…), we took to the auditorium to take our seats, and I was happy with my choice. Although being a side view, we were close to the stage,\u00a0 with just a small section of stage left missing (but we knew there were doors and what we were missing) I was quite happy with my choice, but also felt that this particular space is another that would give you a satisfactory view for any seat\/price you had.<\/p>\n

Now when walking away from this show, I thought quite a lot as to how on earth do I review a show like this. \"pacifists_production_7_markdouet\"<\/a>With such a powerful focus, and one close to many of the public, how could I do it justice.\u00a0Firstly the show allows you to laugh, smile, and be\u00a0entertained by what you\u00a0are viewing,\u00a0I mean\u00a0when the actors are putting\u00a0toilet trays on their head and\u00a0dancing\u00a0to country music its hard\u00a0not to have a giggle, and would be a challenge to many. The first act allowed you to shed light on a horrific subject\u00a0but then the second half allowed you to\u00a0reflect, and get an insight on the reason on why this musical was created, a complete contrast that worked so well.\u00a0Even with being associated with an illness that is hated by all, made us feel that we were allowed to enjoy this show, but also respect what was being observed.\"pacifists_production_8_markdouet\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Characters in the story were unnamed mainly, but we learn that they are a reflection of people that Byrony Kimmings knew, met, and spoke to, all of whom were all\u00a0diagnosed\u00a0with Cancer, and we\u00a0learn this when the actors and actresses are dubbed by\u00a0those they are portraying,\u00a0although displaying a powerful message, and reflection of how someone who has cancer feels, the American who had a rare genetic Cancer, correcting and\u00a0directing the actresses\u00a0accent, just added that little more that they too find the light in the subject. But also the doctors were honoured\u00a0in this show, and although hard to hear we heard a view of one on dying, having seen\u00a0it many times her take on what happens when we die was surprisingly soothing to hear.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0performers tonight were:<\/p>\n

Naana Agyei-Ampadu<\/p>\n

Amy Booth-Steel<\/p>\n

Jenny Fitzpatrick<\/p>\n

Hal Fowler<\/p>\n

Amanda Hadingue<\/p>\n

Francesca Milles<\/p>\n

Golda Rosheeuvel<\/p>\n

Max Runham<\/p>\n

Rose Shalloo<\/p>\n

Gareth Snook<\/p>\n

Lottie Vallis<\/p>\n

Gary Wood<\/p>\n

It is hard to pick out an actress or actor from this cast as each and everyone did amazingly to what they were performing, and talent all around. To\u00a0perform a show you could tell they all understood as to what they were showing, and you felt\u00a0that everything they did they meant\u00a0and felt every word, and wanted to show the \"pacifists_production_9_markdouet\"<\/a>audience just that. \u00a0It was nice to see Amy Booth-Steel, and Hal Fowler again, having seen them before at the National in ‘The Light Princess’, <\/em>tonight taking on a different role tonight,\u00a0and I must say Amy portrayal of the mother\u00a0of a son who\u00a0has\u00a0testicular cancer\u00a0was moving, showing the desperation of trying so hard to stay strong and help (maybe at times too much, like some\u00a0of us don’t realise we are doing)\u00a0but you know she is hurting just as much inside as her son. Also I do have to mention Golda Rosheeuvel’s singing was beautiful and ‘Silly Girl’ was a highlight in all the songs sung that night.<\/p>\n

This show made me laugh, smile, but also cry, and think, I also was very thankful that I got to honour my granddad within the performance and during the second act, we were allowed to speak the names that we have lost to this cruel disease, but then realise that we are not alone, and we can all relate and sympathise. The Pacifists Guide to the War on Cancer <\/em>was a delight to watch, and I’m so happy that I didn’t miss a chance to watch such a unique piece. It is sadly closing on the 29th November, but I do hope that it comes round again, and shed a happy light, and open others to speaking out about Cancer, instead of hiding in the shadows.<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tTweet<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I would\u00a0have not known that a musical such like this existed had it not have been for my friend mentioning it to me one evening,\u00a0as her partner had\u00a0heard\u00a0a preview of a song on the radio, but it is not everyday that a musical\u00a0is involved with this particular subject. Myself and\u00a0my friend Jess were quite intrigued […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,17],"tags":[437,433,434,34,38,436,432,181,435,33],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":732,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/724\/revisions\/732"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rosereview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}