@ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, until Mon 31 Aug 2015 @14:00
A show that does good too, Goodstock deals with the subject of breast cancer. Presented by Lost Watch Theatre in association with Greenwich Theatre, Goodstock tells the story of 26 year old Olivia facing the prospect of having to have her boobs removed in order to stop them from killing her. Three women in her family have a cancer-causing genetic mutation. One is old, one is her and the other is dead.
Like a growing number of young women Olivia has discovered she has inherited BRCA1, a genetic mutation causing her to have a highly increased risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.
Written by Olivia Hirst, Goodstock stars Hirst playing herself (she’s the one facing a mammogram and having her ovaries removed), university friend, Rianna Dearden, playing a variety of family members, and Illona Linthwaite as Olivia’s grandmother, Elizabeth Roberts.
A metronome sets the scene at the start of the play, illustrating the ticking of the time bomb that’s already killed Olivia’s aunt, has affected her grandmother and now threatens to kill her. A blackboard details the family tree members, each lit in their own box, who slowly get “turned off” as their fate kills them.
Hirst faces lots of life choices and her explanation of what the operations entail, using a transparent apron to draw which bits of the body will be used to make different bits, is dealt with in a humorous way. Her relationship with the genetic counsellor leaves the audience questioning things wider than the choice of the operation, including financial, relationship and emotional issues.
Goodstock is an original piece of educational theatre, where art imitates life. Beautifully crafted and written, it cleverly weaves humour and striking music by both Rianna Dearden (who plays all the instruments too with gusto), and Sigrún Hardardóttir, interspersed with great storytelling to deal with a difficult subject in poignant way. Bring the tissues as you’ll need them but not the non-balm ones you get offered in NHS genetic counselling clinics!
The producers of Goodstock have teamed up with the UK’s largest Breast Cancer charity, Breast Cancer Now, to create the NOW Seat, which is on sale for every one of the performances at the Pleasance Courtyard this year. Costing £615, this is the most expensive seat on the Fringe but represents the cost to the NHS to test one person for BRCA1 and provide the necessary support and counselling. So if you have a spare £615 free, see the show, save a life, save a family, and probably get a really nice cushion. And if you haven’t got a spare £615, they accept lose change at each performance.