Liverpool-based deaf and disabled charity DaDa are putting on a variety of performances to highlight talent and art from the disabled and neurodivergent community.
Among these performances is the Toilet Paper Diaries, by Porcelain Delaney, at the Unity Theatre which I was lucky enough to secure tickets to review.
I confess I had never even heard of the Unity Theatre before, but I managed to find it nestled away on Hope Street.
It’s a modern welcoming building with friendly staff who showed us to the waiting area. The bar had a warm and inviting atmosphere with an extensive selection of drinks and snacks on offer. Eventually we were lead into the play.
The Toilet Paper Diaries is a one-woman play that show cases the trials and tribulations of the condition endometritis, an inflammation of the lining of the uterus.
I presume the play is semi-autobiographical about the writer’s life and follows the characters from various dates in her life from the age of 9 in 2001 to the age of 30 in 2022.
It begins on a hopeful note as we meet nine-year-old Eloise on holiday. Here she dreams of nothing more than becoming a world-famous dancer.
However, as we progress tragedy strikes and a couple of weeks later, she has sharp abdominal pains that continue to define most of her childhood and adult life.
The play presents these moments as diary entries and we are shown the perspective of Eloise fighting to be heard and live a normal life, and the off-screen voice of the dismissive doctors, who will brush her off and give any other explanation for her condition but never give her the help she needs.
As someone who was almost ignorant of the condition, the play was excellent and informative in showcasing the suffering it can cause and the medical gaslighting that occurs.
Despite the nature of the subject matter, it still made me laugh and the protagonist was very likeable, and you wanted her to win in a system rooted against her.
I was also pleasantly surprised by the inclusivity of the performance as there was a BSL sign language translator and subtitles on screen for those with hearing issues.
Porcelain could convincingly cycle through the emotions of hope and despair all within a space of minutes. The play was 100 minutes long but did not feel like it at all. At the end I was left wanting more.
The performance was a superb blend of dance, comedy and acting and everyone in the audience was either crying with laughter or feeling a second-hand laughter on the part of Eloise.
I thoroughly recommend the Toilet Paper Diaries for anyone who would like to see some good quality local theatre.
The DaDa charity does an excellent job of showcasing underrepresented voices and is great at tearing down preconceived notions we have of people with disabilities.
STAR RATING: Five out of five stars
- For more DADA events visit there link here
Featured image (c) DaDa
