★★★★
We walk in to find Sophie asleep in her bed. She’s stirred from bad dreams of childhood. Memories of her parents taking her from Brunei to Toronto as a child to have her eyes checked, the surgeries, the fear of cancer, living with Retinal Blastoma. These are heavy subjects, but Jasmine Thien’s theatre piece is full of humour, insight and brilliant direction.
The overarching narrative starts with Sophie finding out she has a tumour in her one remaining eye, and a rather cold Doctor wanting her to have an operation to remove it. This throws up so much emotional turmoil for Sophie, her childhood, dealing with her parents who made her try all sorts of weird remedies in an attempt to ‘cure’ her. We hear the voices of many people in her life, particularly her partner who she often describes affectionately as a ‘twat’.
The play took time to find itself, the first third feeling a little timid, but as Sophie stood more and more in her power, the vividness of her performance, the way she fought against the ableism around her, became more and more compelling. It was a captivating piece, that The Project People company enriched with a lighting design that complimented Sophie’s descriptions of emotions and vibes as colours – where much else was sparse, this idea really allowed for Thien’s writing to shine. I was left feeling that Thien honestly communicated so much of her experience, and it was a privilege to hear her story.
I Dream in Colour is on at Friesian at Underbelly, Bristo Square until the 24th August.
