CAN YOU SEE INTO
A BLACK HOLE?
“Can You See Into a Black Hole?” was originally commissioned by Upstart Theatre for Shoreditch Town Hall in 2018. It then received ACE funding to tour to CPT and nationally. It was later redeveloped as an outdoor production as part of Iris Theatre’s summer season in Covent Garden.
The show was then published and received an audio adaptation in collaboration with Cast.
WHAT IS THIS SHOW?
When Tom grows up he wants to be an astronaut... or the blue power ranger, they’re kind of the same thing anyway, right? But, aged 8, a black hole opens up inside his head when he has his first seizure and his entire world is swallowed up. Now, Tom must take on an even bigger adventure.
In this solo space odyssey, developed through interviews with his parents and told using innovative soundscapes, Tom tries to reconstruct an invisible part of his life which changed him so much. Performed by 1 actor, "Can You See Into A Black Hole?" is an epic adventure exploring one family’s journey to adapt in the face of celestial scale events.
THE BLACK HOLE PROEJCT
I was diagnosed with epilepsy when I was 8, it changed my life forever and this show is the first show in a body of work exploring that change for me and other people. When I was diagnosed I was told a lot about the medical side of staying alive, but nobody taught us about everything else. I was taught only to survive, and now I think I deserve more than that. I'm trying to disrupt the medical narrative of epilepsy to focus on the emotional, psychological and social impact it has on people.
It is a trilogy of shows about growing up with a chronic condition like epilepsy. "Can you see into a black hole?" is the first show which explores the reality of my journey. The second show is for young people, and is the intervention to change this narrative. The third show is the imagined exploration of what happens if the intervention is successful, where we will send a person with epilepsy to space.
