★ ★ ★ ★
The title of this show is a reference to the fact Jack Hunter, the writer and performer of this show, has a twin. Both he and his twin have cerebral palsy but it manifests differently in the two of them, and Jack is regarded as more ‘able’ than his sister. The show details the story of him and his sister up to the present day.
This show gives a very interesting and novel perspective on disability. Hunter’s perspective allows for more nuance to be brought into the discussion than what you usually get, certainly from non-disabled artists, but arguably also more than you usually get from other disabled artists.
As the only person on stage, Hunter has set himself quite a challenge, in that he is required to switch between playing himself at various points in life, including as a small child. He also has to cover a massive range of quite extreme emotions, and be able to switch between them very quickly, while also keeping the audience engaged with the piece (I was particularly impressed with the speed at which he was able to get everyone on side, and keep them there). He’s also required to interact with a lot of very well integrated sound design elements, while also not messing up his lines as the show is captioned so we’d all know if there was a mistake. Given that he’s able to pull this off, I regard his performance as nothing short of masterful.
Interestingly, arguably the weakest part of this show is that which is most prominently highlighted on its poster: The framing device of Hunter having been broken up with and talking to a Darth Vader Mr Potato Head in a toilet is definitely an intriguing idea. However, I struggled to see how it linked to the meat of the story. I would argue that the framing device isn’t necessarily needed at all as the core material about Hunter’s relationship with his sister is far stronger, and isn’t made stronger by the framing device.
In summary, the main reasons to see this show are the skill shown by its central performance and the perspective it offers on disability. It’s not perfect, but it’s very close.
Review by Ella Catherall
One of Two, Summerhall – Old Lab, 11:45 (1hr) Aug 3-14, 16-21, 23-28, £13.50/10. 14+
