Humanity Hallows Issue 4 Out Now!
Pick up your copy on campus or read online.
By Pierangelly Del Rio
In 2013, comedian and poet Jackie Hagan was commissioned to write a solo show. However, in the following month, she was admitted to the hospital due to an extremely painful foot. A cluster of clots in her leg’s main artery required urgent treatment and, consequently, amputation.
This experience inspired Jackie to change the show’s original idea, adulthood, and transform it into what today is Some People Have Too Many Legs. The play, described by its creator as “an amputee comedy,” seeks to undercut disability taboos with smart, creative wit.
Jackie performed last week in Manchester as a part of the 2016’s Women in Comedy Festival. In the Frog and Bucket’s stage, the comedian started her show sitting in a wheelchair, in what resembled a hospital’s ward. She performed the story of her time under medical care, narrating how she coped with her mysterious disease and the journey towards recovery.
“I keep getting called brave every five minutes, for eating a Twix, for going to the shop, and it’s sort of patronizing.” She exposes, in a series of gleeful and awkward anecdotes, how people reacted to her prosthetic leg. “Taxi drivers look at me and tell me ‘you can be a Paralympian.'”
However, not everything was laughter; she also narrated her struggles accepting her amputation and personal losses experienced in her youth.
During the performance, Jackie invites the public to get involved in the show. She takes her prosthetic off showing the audience her slump, which “healed weird” and has a scar that resembles an open mouth. On it, Jackie draws faces of famous people, such as the likes of David Bowie and Marylin Monroe, and invites the public to guess who they are.
Overall, Some People Have Too Many Legs is a unique, powerful play, full of glitter and cleverness that will make the public rethink about the ways society approaches disability.
The 2022 QuietManDave Prize is open to entries until 1st July The QuietManDave Prize is back once again, honouring the life of Dave Murray and his beloved blog, with Dima Alzayat, Kate Field and Shane Kinghorn taking the judging helm. Among the entries of 500 words or less, there are numerous prizes up for grabs,…
As the submission deadline for the 2022 QuietManDave Prize steadily approaches, yet again we are presented with a unique opportunity for flash literature-lovers and aspiring writers all over the world. The competition honours the life of Dave Murray and his beloved blog (of which the awards found its name), a theatre critic, open-mic poet and…
Featured image: Erika Kamano As a freshly turned 22-year-old touring the US with Halsey and gearing up for a sophomore album release, beabadoobee isn’t one to rest on her laurels. After quickly becoming the voice of Gen Z since recording music in 2017, she already has a debut album and five EPs to her name….
Featured image: Georgina Hurdsfield June marks the beginning of summer, and what a summer it will be! The start of the festival season was kicked off with Neighbourhood Weekender and June follows with a vengeance. As Parklife Festival takes over our city this weekend, it doesn’t stop there. Tour season is upon us and it…
Leave a reply