FIGHTS. Losses. Survivors. The language of cancer is a battleground littered with violent metaphors, but a new production at London鈥檚 National Theatre plans to change that, with an 鈥渁ll singing, all dancing examination of life with a cancer diagnosis鈥�. Oh yes, a musical. About cancer.
In its very title, Bryony Kimmings and Brian Lobel鈥檚 A Pacifist鈥檚 Guide to the War on Cancer issues an open challenge to public discourse on serious illness. 鈥淸Musicals can] seem like puff pieces of art,鈥� says Kimmings, 鈥渂ut actually if you think about the good ones, they deal with huge issues. Cancer should definitely be a musical.鈥�
Lobel, who was himself treated for cancer at a young age, describes his role in the production as 鈥渘avigating the muck of cancer鈥� there鈥檚 just so much conflicting information and loud political noise鈥�.
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But even violent metaphor can be a useful tool, as Elena Semino at Lancaster University, UK, explains. She analysed the language people with cancer use in online forums, and discovered that the idea of being a fighter is sometimes empowering 鈥� with one key caveat. 鈥淭he crucial thing is that nobody should have that particular way of being imposed on them. If the main way you have to conceive of your illness is as a battle that you need to fight and win, then if you鈥檙e losing it鈥檚 kind of your fault鈥� it can have all sorts of negative consequences.鈥�
With a view to subverting this kind of narrative, Kimmings and Lobel developed the show with an 鈥淚CU鈥� of 10 people who鈥檇 had cancer or were currently in treatment. Sure enough, the inclusion of a quote from Audre Lorde, an African-American writer and activist who had felt empowered by the language of fighting cancer, divided opinion within the group.
While Semino鈥檚 study showed that people are likely to use violence and journey metaphors to describe their experience of cancer, it also revealed, perhaps unsurprisingly, that experiences of serious illness can be deeply individual and fluctuating. Expressions varied from person to person, and even from week to week. 鈥淢etaphor is seen by most people studying it as not just a linguistic but also a cognitive phenomenon. If you give people different metaphors for the same topic, they reason about it quite differently,鈥� she notes.
鈥淭o be asked to hate some of me, to fight some of me, is brutal. It doesn鈥檛 matter how kindly meant it is鈥�
Semino feels that charities strongly dominate the conversation, and they use military language to fundraise, portraying cancer as a common enemy that needs to be defeated.
Yet author and playwright Stella Duffy, whose solo play Breaststrokes explored her first breast cancer diagnosis, felt attacked by this kind of message. 鈥淲hat really struck me was that it was asking me to hate some of myself. To be asked to hate some of me, to fight some of me, is really brutal. It doesn鈥檛 matter how kindly meant it is.鈥�
While under no illusion that one musical will bring about a singular cultural shift, Kimmings is optimistic: 鈥淥ne of our cancer patients said, 鈥業 am counting on this show to change the way that we talk about cancer in the public realm鈥�, and that for me is a huge ambition but at the same time totally possible.鈥� Lobel is hopeful that A Pacifist鈥檚 Guide will allow people to open up about what makes them vulnerable. It is easier for us to voice our own fears about illness and death by agreeing with a character who expresses similar concerns.
Can cultural experiences really change our language? 鈥淚 think they can,鈥� Semino says. 鈥淸Scientific papers are] great in their own right, but they don鈥檛 give you a sense of what it feels like to have those experiences. Narrative has the power to make you feel.鈥� Having reclaimed the narrative of her own cancer through writing and performing, Duffy is eager for more people to own the conversation. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be reduced,鈥� she says. 鈥淲e鈥檙e already diminished when we鈥檙e ill. We don鈥檛 need to be diminished by the language around it.鈥�
[event_info title=鈥滱 Pacifist鈥檚 Guide to the War on Cancer鈥� title_link=鈥漢ttps://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/shows/a-pacifists-guide-to-the-war-on-cancer鈥� venue=鈥漀ational Theatre鈥� venue_link=鈥漢ttps://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/鈥� location=鈥滾ondon鈥� fromdate=鈥�14 October 2016鈥� todate=鈥�29 November 2016鈥砞
This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淥h, what a lovely war鈥�
