What I didn’t say is a play about a man learning to live with his new gift; however, this gift keeps on taking.
I start this play as a witness. In front of me was a couple in a car, the man in the passenger’s seat, clearly suffering from something, but all of us, including the man, don’t know what. I see a man in denial, covering pain and discomfort with comedy. Then I suddenly become a participant. Invited to walk a mile in his shoes, when the play chooses to break the fourth wall and involve me in Jack’s (Yafesi Musoke) journey. It is easy to sympathize with Jack at the beginning. When we meet him, he is a charming comedian, full of life, turning life’s lemons into jokes, and laughing at them (better than lemonade).
This is the charming man, his wife Alice (Lucy Wache), knows and still has hope will fight the disease. But it is the hope that kills. We were now witnesses to a story of a man who is coming to terms with the fact that he has Parkinson’s.
Parkinsons is a progressive brain disorder that damages dopamine-producing neurons. Symptoms include tremor, stiffness, slow movement and non-movement issues like depression or sleep issues.
In Jack, one of the symptoms are tremors that eventually affected the quality of his life. Another symptom is Pseudobulbar affect (PBA), which is a neurological condition that causes sudden, uncontrollable episodes of laughing or crying that do not match how a person actually feels. This is ironic because at this point in the play, even as he tries to veil his confusion with comedy, you can tell even he wants to cry at his joke. He becomes a man at war with himself and therefore with the world.
Whether it was intentional or not, most times in the play, Yafesi as Jack was going through things as himself, ki-one man, spotlight on him, while Lucy dabbled as his doctors at various stages of the disease. This shows how the condition can be isolating.
This is just one of the social effects the play reveals about the condition. Not only showing that it affects the individual but also on those around him. Over the course of the play, we also see Jack and Alice slowly lose their sense of control as the disease takes over their lives and therefore straining their relationship.
The direction of the play makes efficient use of the small space that is Manyunyu theatre. One thing Chemichemi players have succeeded in doing is tailoring their space to suit their stories, whether we are in a whale’s stomach on Journey with Jonah or in a neurologist’s office in What I didn’t say, both feel like an intentional arrangement of Manyunyu theatre to suit their world. This arrangement also makes the movement flow, which in turn also elevates the experience of the story world. It was easy to see that we had just been in a doctor’s office receiving not so good news. To walk with him to the house to find Alice gone.
The decision to include Alice’s side of the story was also interesting. This shift from a very disturbed partner finally understanding her reality and an ailing partner walking in oblivious was very uncomfortable to witness. Jack’s describes Parkinson’s as the gift that keeps on taking. It was easy to see why. These moments required a little exhale, which the blackouts helped with. These two seconds to breathe when moments became too heavy and when the reality of the effects of Parkinson’s was a little too heavy were much needed.
Walking in Jack’s shoes during the play was very conflicting. Watching a man at war with his reality does something to your reality. However, that shared experience is necessary because it creates room for reflection and discussion, aka raising awareness. Raising awareness through theatre is something that ChemiChemi players do well, having done In Other Words before, which focused on dementia. This is an important form of theatre because it is easy to imagine Parkinson’s as a faraway problem until you are invited to share in the pain of someone living with the condition.
Next time Chemichemi players invite you to commune, come through?
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