This is a very enjoyable fifty minutes of theatre.
Written and performed by Dean Nash, it’s an autobiographical piece, telling us of his experiences as a person and a performer with cerebral palsy.
In wittily told anecdotes, engaging dramatic recreations and brilliant comic songs, Nash outlines some of the prejudice he’s faced. (He also offers some wonderfully sharp insights into what it is to be an actor.)
The show is presented with Aslan interpretation (Yasmin Dandachi) and audio description (Emma Bedford & Charley Allanah), and these not only aid people who might need these services, but by being fully integrated into the show, also provide terrific opportunities for richness and humour.
The piece as a whole works on a fascinating tension, that between difference and sameness. In one hilarious song, Nash suggests that the only difference between people that actually matters is whether you’re an “arsehole” or not. Ethical responsibility is universal. In another sketch, he tells a casting director that, yes, he has a disability, but it won’t prevent him doing the job. And there’s the show’s provocative tagline: “There are only two kinds of people in the world: disabled people, and pre-disabled people. Dean’s just ahead of the f#ckin curve!”
But counter to these assertions of fundamental human unity is the recorded fact, that for some people, at some times, difference will not be overlooked. And Nash himself clearly suggests representation of difference in the arts is vital.
You might think I’m making too much of the obvious, that the simple way forward is that we should just be open to everyone. But I wouldn’t be the first person to suggest that a glib just being open to everyone can easily result in the erasure of lived experience.
A balance is required, between a faith in the concept of humankind and an acknowledgement of its extraordinary diversity. Nash’s marvelously fun show achieves this balance, simultaneously embracing unity and celebrating difference.
Paul Gilchrist
Dean, Don’t Dance by Dean Nash
At the Old Fitz until 25 Jan
Image by Phil Erbacher
Theatre Red 