If This is Cancer, I Want Some
Cancer - a deluded, egotistical ASS - goes on his own journey of denial, anger, bargaining and acceptance when he discovers that the whole world hates him. That's the description of *This is Cancer?* the play that I'm just about to watch.
Yup the big C word, so there's already an air of unease before anything even starts, and when it does start, it does so very eerily. Through a prolonged black out, we sit in silence, just listening to each other breathe and shuffle.
Suddenly we hear a "Hello". A voice speaks to us through the darkness, very off putting, and setting us up for the grand entrance of our emcee for the evening "Cancer", played by Bruce Horak in a deformed body suit. It's comical, so we exhale a sigh of relief because we feel we can actually laugh now, but hold on, we're talking about Cancer here. Cancer berates the audience, taunting and bragging about all the people he's "fallen in love" with. Of course this love he speaks of usually doesn't end well for the victim. It's all risky comedy and it's uncomfortable, which as a comedy writer I'm fascinated by, especially when it seems to cross the line.
When Cancer realizes that the audience doesn't like him, he asks why and an audience member replies "we don't like you because you kill people." His response: "Well actually it's a lack of oxygen to the brain that kills them." I felt that I was the only one laughing through the numerous groans of this uncomfortable retort. Cancer _is_ an ass and we don't like him, especially in the first half of the play when he's putting on a show for us. He sings and dances to songs from a live band. To be honest, the songs aren't really that memorable, so we're left with a character that we don't like, and we don't like the show he's putting on, but we're still laughing. What the fuck?
In the middle of the show, egotistical Cancer, realizing no one likes him, refuses to continue. Of course he does, leaving the audience even more uncomfortable. This is all a set up for the revelations to come. Forced to be introspective, and perhaps to remember people we know who may have had cancer, we think about our own lives and what we choose to fill them with. You see, even though Cancer is an unlikeable character, the audience is eventually able to see through to the real person underneath the costume: Bruce Horak, a cancer survivor himself. The entire show that we're witnessing is a testament to his survival. He's been able to come out of the storm and create something invigorating and exciting out of something that has caused suffering to millions of people around the world. Horak (now slowly dropping the Cancer guise) asks individual members of the audience what three things they would want people to remember them by. That's not an easy question to answer, and I'm glad I wasn't one of those asked. I would have probably blurted out something stupid and sarcastic like "idiotic, weird, and self deprecating".
What people take away from seeing *This is Cancer?* may hinge on their own personal experiences. I have never lost anyone to cancer but I have lost loved ones in a variety of other ways. To some audience members the pain of similar loss may stick with them through the entire show. That may well hamper their enjoyment of this piece, but then the question is raised "are we supposed to enjoy this?" This is Cancer? Of course for me, it's not cancer that I want, but the creative juice that flows following a traumatic event. So perhaps when all is said in done in my life, the words “creative” and “funny” may come up when describing me, because I'm sure that's what will be said about Bruce Horak.
_This Is Cancer? by Bruce Horak; performed by Horak; directed by Rebecca Northan, with music by the Inoperables. It was presented by the Here Be Monsters Collective In association with Leaky Heaven Circus. For more information on the show why not go_ "here":http://thisiscancer.com/index.html