QR Theatre Review: My Left / Right Foot (Edinburgh Fringe)
The Edinburgh Fringe is renowned for comedy, music, and theatre. My Left / Right Foot directed byRobert Softley Gale brings together all these elements. Gale’s production leaves you in hysterics, while with a better understanding of living with a disability.
My Left / Right Foot follows the story of an amdram club preparing for the One-Act Festival, while trying to fit in with the festivals ‘Inclusion’ policy. The club plan to perform an adaptation of Daniel Day Lewis’ Oscar-winner performance in ‘My Left Foot’. The able-bodied dramatic team begin to face the difficulty of how to portray a disabled man. Through working with Chris, a young boy with cerebral palsy (CP), they begin to see what life is really like living with a disability.
At times the production felt difficult to watch, leaving me sometimes unsure whether laughing is a politically correct way to react to some of the jokes. However, it’s clear that this is the intention of the musical. Robert Softley Gale said when talking about the production:
“what better way to reclaim our stories than to create a musical comedy that pokes fun at the attitudes of non-disabled people – both then and now – and makes people laugh hysterically while realising there are other ways to look at things?”
Natalie MacDonald. Photography by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
A highlight for me in the production was Natalie MacDonald’s performance of ‘Nat’ an interpreter trying to learn how to sign for a play – where else would she start but with an amdram club with little awareness for disability! MacDonald’s role was used to highlight the groups understanding (or lack of) of Chris’ life with CP, through very little speech she used sign-language along with evident facial reactions to the groups shenanigans!
It was a real art having so much happening on stage, from the actors dialogue, Natalie's interpretation along with subtitles projected onto the back wall. This did mean that when actors changed the line slightly the subtitles didn't match however, this was only noticeable on one or two occasions.
Lousie McCarthy, John McLarnon, Dawn Sievewright and Natalie MacDonald.
Photography by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
The music that accompanies this story is fantastic, the humour is held within every lyric, from the hilarious Drinking Song, mildly outrageous Spasticity, and the very dramatic The Show is Fucked. It was disappointing that Louise McCarthy (playing Amy) had injured her foot in the previous performance and wasn’t able to do all of her dancing, however, it did bring a fantastic new dimension to the performance.
I’d highly recommend this performance to anyone that’s looking for an evening of laughter, fun and music! It’s a can’t miss at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, but following the sell-out it’s been I expect it’ll be back on stage again soon!
Gavin Whitworth and Louise McCarthy. Photography by Tommy Ga-Ken Wan
By Scott Duffield