Fringe review: Have You Tried Yoga
This show begins with multiple voices, all trying to help someone whoâs disabled, who might not want to be helped, who might not be able to be helped: Have you tried hydrotherapy? Gluten-free? Are you getting enough sleep? Have you tried yoga? â â â â
Societyâs response to chronic illness and disability is certainly well-meaning, but itâs misguided, most often because of misunderstanding. Too frequently people who live with chronic illness and disability donât tell their stories, but can they be blamed? Friends might get sick of the complaining, partners might feel over-burdened and strangers might think their children are crossing the line when they ask someone: âWhatâs wrong with you?â
But thereâs art, like Rachel Edmondsâ two-person theatre production Have You Tried Yoga?, which speaks for those unwilling to speak â and thank goodness for that, because we need this conversation.
Edmonds presents the person in a wheelchair, the person with endometriosis, the person with Crohnâs disease, with trigeminal neuralgia (the âsuicide diseaseâ), arthritis in the toe, etc. (Cue voice: âAt least itâs not cancerâ.) And this is what really drew me into this performance: itâs not about a single personâs struggle with living in a non-conforming body, but about a community of people living with invisible and visible illnesses.
With the help of Martin Astifo, we get the voice of the carer, the lover, the partner and friend, all whom make up part of the Remission Society for which Edmonds is clearly advocating. Sometimes itâs not an easy coupling â the sick person and the nurturer â but thatâs all part of the conversation.
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I was always going to be biased towards this show because Iâve got a chronic illness that wonât allow me to do yoga (and donât even get me started on suggestions of glutenâfree), but I believe itâs an important show regardless of that bias. I hope the audience wasnât filled with people like me who already understand that the funny stories Edmonds tells arenât necessarily funny at all because theyâre so painfully real, because whatâs the point of preaching to a choir?
Offering comfort and empathy is important â I donât mean to downplay that â but normalising can progress policy. Hopefully this show can start a conversation among those whoâve not considered how ordinary these extraordinary people are.
Have You Tried Yoga is at The Mill Gallery until March 9. Read more InDaily Fringe reviews and stories here.
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