JUST over a year ago David Izod was told he had testicular cancer. For
most of 1994 he was in and out of hospital -- undergoing intensive
chemotherapy followed by major surgery -- and it is this experience, and
his reactions to it, that he explores in The Teratoma Show.
While musician Pete Williams provides an on-stage soundtrack (songs
and guitar) Izod describes, with honesty, insight, and humour, how
cancer invaded not just his body but his emotions and his entire
philosophy of life. It's a personal journey that has resonances for
everyone, since it takes in quite a few fears beyond the obvious one:
dying.
He captures, with a flourish of Hammer horror imagery, the unnerving
effect of clinical briskness on the novice patient. Shifts the fantasy
into chilling reality as he searches for words that will help us imagine
the awfulness of chemotherapy -- yet even here he finds ways of making
us laugh at the debilitating side effects of a treatment which in effect
poisons the entire system to kill off part of it.
He seeds hard fact into lively anecdote, provides significant
background information on testicular cancer and encouraging data on
effective cures. And he tells us about 18-year-old Rajeet, who was
admitted with a tumour the size of a small cauliflower in his scrotum .
. . and a life expectancy reduced to bits of borrowed time. It's the
diagnosis -- or lack of it -- which can kill more surely than the
disease itself.
There's real rage in this show -- Izod doesn't want to die, but he
certainly doesn't want to die from such a mindless, suicidal adversary
as cancer. And there's also great sincerity and gentleness -- as when he
lists the everyday pleasures he most yearns for in hospital or savours
the warmth of a sunlit convalescence he did not always believe he would
reach. This is a performance rooted in personal drama which is neither
self-indulgent, nor whiny with self-pity. Instead it amounts to a
celebration of the human spirit, a celebration of the joy of breathing
in and breathing out. Repeated tonight and at Paisley Arts Centre on
February 17. Pete Williams's music -- he was an original member of
Dexy's Midnight Runners -- is a treat in itself.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article